The Boy Scouts of America have been camping outdoors for a LOT of years. Here are the two current recommendations for first aid kit contents:

Personal First Aid Kit - carried by an individual
6 adhesive bandages
2 sterile 3"x3" gauze pads
1 small roll of adhesive tape
1 3"x6" piece of moleskin
1 small bar of soap or small bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizing gel
1 small tube of triple antibiotic ointment
1 pair of scissors
1 pair of disposable nonlatex gloves
1 CPR breathing barrier
1 pencil and paper

Patrol/Troop First Aid Kit - carried by a small group
1 2" roller bandage
2 1" roller bandages
1 roll of 1" adhesive tape
24 alcohol swaps
1 box of assorted adhesive bandages
2 3"-wide elastic bandages
12 sterile 3"x3" gauze pads
4 3"x6" pieces of moleskin
2 packets of gel pads for blisters and burns
1 tube of triple antibiotic ointment
4 triangular bandages (40"x28")
1 small bar of soap or small bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizing gel
Scissors
Tweezers
12 safety pins
1 splint
6 pairs of nonlatex disposable gloves
Protective goggles/safety glasses
CPR breathing barrier
Pencil and paper

Again, I tend to think of several small kids; EDC, bigger for backpacking, and a full box for home & car. The key is knowledge and training, tho. get a book, an app and take a class.

what they are telling you sounds frustrating - but it's right. the only thing that matters is what you can do with the first-aid gear. Otherwise having it there is of little use. So it boils down to training and experience. you can pack your own from any local pharmacy - if ou know what you want.

your best bet is to get a few basic items and don't go overboard for your first trip. chances are that you won't see much more than a sprained ankle and some sunburn - or chapped lips (OK maybe not sunburn at this time of year). you need to start taking some first-aid classes. skip the Red Cross classes ... they don't teach the real stuff any more.

good luck,
Pete2

I carry two small kits, one for trauma that is always on me, and one for the booboos that are more common but not an emergency. You can get away with a small trauma kit if everyone with you carries one with the most important stuff. You do need to take care of the minor cuts and scrapes, but they are not life threatening and can wait a few minutes. The trauma kit is accessible in seconds and always on me, in fact it has become part of my EDC.

Pete is absolutely right - you probably won't have to deal with anything beyond blisters, scratches, and sunburn - routine problems that are easily solved by a few bandaids. Sprained ankles do happen, and unfortunately demobilize the victim. It is also true that you can't usually differentiate between a sprained and a broken ankle in the field, so basically you treat them all the same.

At this point, your planning will pay off. The question isn't just about your FAK - that neat little bundle of goodies you have assembled, but your entire response to an injury that keeps one or more of your party from walking out. Essentially everything at your disposal becomes potential items for treatment- Improvisation is all important.

What would you use for a splint? Usually very fine splints can be improvised (We once did a great cervical collar with a piece of blue foam pad and duct tape). Aluminum pack stays can be pressed into service - on some of my packs I have actually drilled holes at the ends to facilitate their use for this. You need to look over your entire kit and think how you would improvise various items.

Most discussions of injuries always admonish you to treat for shock. This is fairly easy in an urban setting, but can be tricky out in the woods. There will be a delay of at least a few hours, if not a day or so, before your casualty can be transported. Can you keep this person stable for that period? You may need to basically set up camp right there. Can you do that? How will you feed everyone if that is necessary?

Basically you need to plan before hand as to how you will deal with a major injury. Different groups in different kinds of terrain will adopt widely varying strategies, but you should consider everything from immediate patient survey and treatment, to notification and requests for outside assistance, to eventual recovery of the victim. Prior planning prevents poor performance.

Yes and no. I could carry more now that I know more/have higher medical authority. But, I don't - mainly for practical reasons. No point carrying intubation gear if I don't plan on putting someone on a ventilator, right?

Sometimes, the more you know, the less you should carry.

Pick basic stuff. Blisters, minor bleeding (I gaurantee you'll get more use out of bandaids than trauma pads), some 4x4's, some tape, some neosporin. If you feel like an ACE wrap and a trauma bandage, fine. Otherwise, I'd leave 80% of most kits at home.

If someone stops breathing 20 miles from the trailhead, you're SOL. If you want to try CPR for a while, fine, but that person likely won't be walking out of there. Burns don't need burn dressings, just clean dressings. Bandages can be left in place while you evac someone if it's a decent bleed/laceration/burn/etc. Some cord and a few sticks makes a decent splint; a solid branch a passable crutch.

I carry a AMK 0.9 or some little thing. I threw in 1 ACE, 1 trauma bandage, and a pair of scissors. I've rarely used anything but neosporin or bandaids. If something bad happens, I'll be improving.

It all depends. CPR for example - CPR on a coronary 15 miles up the trails is a losing cause; CPR on a hiker struck by lightning however will save his life more often than not. So don't throw that arrow out of your quiver.

I carry about a pound and a half of dedicated first aid supplies, based on what I need in the event a Scout goes down - I can't in good conscience treat them with an AMK 0.9 and band aids. Its the first aid supplies that I also carry that are improvised from my hiking gear that can make the difference long term - the neck collar traced on my blue pad, ready to cut out and wrap around his neck to help immobilize his spine; the rest of the blue rest pad to use to pad his arm or leg fracture; clothing to cushion splints; my hiking poles for splint materials; warmth, warmth, warmth, to stave off the effects of shock. That sort of thing. Add it all up, you can and should carry a lot more than whatever fits in your little bag with the first aid cross on it.

It depends on what you know, or what you're ready to treat.

I've always made my own kits. But then, I was an ambulance paramedic for many many years (expired/retired now).

You can save money by not buying tons of sterile dressings. A few sterile 4x4's backed up with some sealed packages (but not sterile) 4x4's can save some money. Back in the days when I worked on an ambulance, we had Kling and Kerlix for bandaging materials (everybody hated the Kling, but it was much cheaper than Kerlix). Now-a-days there's this neat stuff called Coban. You will go broke trying to buy much of that stuff from a pharmacy. Buy it from an online horse supply store instead. 1/4 the price for the same stuff, and it comes in more cool colors and sizes for horses! And those individual packs of Tylenol or Advil doses that come in pre-made first aid kits are expensive. I just use a very small bottle and stuff it with my own Tylenol and Advil (and Benedril and Sudafed, etc.) You're not supposed to mix meds together in the same bottle - I always told my patients that - but of course I do it myself. The day I can't tell a Tylenol from an Advil from a Sudafed by looking at them is the day I shouldn't be wandering out into the wilderness anymore either.

Seeing this thread made me go and restock my home kit/medical supplies. Much of it was outdated (including a bottle of hydrogen peroxide that had turned back into water, haha). $100 later and I'm restocked.

Not to mention, I cleaned out my bathroom, so now I can easily find everything (regardless of whether it's in the kit or not).

The only thing I have to do is talk to my doctor about getting a script for an EpiPen. I don't really need it for anything in particular, but having seen someone go through Anaphylaxis years ago I would feel a lot better having one available to me.

i did not read thru all of the posts about this but my answer,which is like some others i would guess,is not but a kit but make your own.
on my first wilderness canoe trips i had everything,and i mean everything.big skin scrub pads,suture stapler,wads of 4x4's and even larger,enough band aids for a Scout troop..so on.the kit in two zip locks and a plastic lock box was at least 4 by 8 inches and heavy.i carried the silly thing in my pack where of course it would be safe and hard to get too!!
now i just have Quick Clot and a Army wound bandage in my day bag where i can get it fast.a couple band aids,Neosporin and eye wash are in the day bags mesh outside-top pouch.in the pack i have meds that have been talked about here and some back up small items that i may use up like band aids.
working in a hospital i did pick up some ideas one of which was rather than try and sew up a wound put a 4x4 over it and warp up in a elastic bandage,now you would use those self stick wraps,and get to a hospital.at the hospital they wanted to move the wounded person out of the ER to a ward where the work would be done.
first aid is very tricky and outside of taking a known pain med or stopping bleeding i would not try anything as it might make things worst---think about trying to splint a busted bone only to move it and have a bone splinter cut a artery!!!