Similar argument for diphenhydramine and loperamide. IIRC, Usual dose for antihistamine is 25-50 mg every 4 hours, antidiarrheal is 2 tabs after first episode and one after each succeeding episode to a max of 4 per day. You have about one days treatment for one patient in each category. Is that enough? depends on the severity of the illness, and if the patient can get to a definitive care provider within a few hours. May not be economically feasible to provide more than this in a first kit.
I should mention that the kit comes with compartments for medications which are the same size as the compartments for the alcohol pads and sting relief pads. The antiseptic towelettes would not practically fit in these compartments so they are located somewhere else.
Therefore, if I remove the alcohol pads (which takes up two compartments) and sting relief pads (which takes up one compartment), I would have room for a total of sixty packets of medications. The kit came with a total of fifteen packets of medication (Antacid Packets, Aspirin Packets and Non-aspirin Packets). If I do not remove the medication, the alcohol pads and sting relief pads the kit came with, I can add thirty more packets of medication. How much diphenhydramine and loperamide should I include for a ten-person kit?
Hemostats are useful for removing bigger splinters, and have a high general utility value: emts and nurses generally carry both, and it's probably hard to get into trouble with them.
I still have my doubts about using a hemostat. The kit comes with those cheap “plastic tweezers” which I have considered replacing with Uncle Bill's Tweezers. Should I have both the plastic tweezers (in case they provide some benefit) and Uncle Bill's Tweezers or completely remove the plastic tweezers?
Oh-coban/vet wrap is great for securing dressings, not so good for elastic bandage applications: hard to reuse coban, while an ace lasts a long time.
I have space for one roll of CoFlex or one elastic bandage, not both. Removing the two gauze rolls the kit came with would not save space as the compartment for them is not much use for much of anything else. What small items that can fit in that space is likely to fit in other parts of the kit.
On the other hand, I have considered adding a 2” roll of duct tape. If I do not add the duct tape, I could put in a 2” elastic bandage in addition to the one roll of CoFlex. In short, I have a choice of duct tape, one roll of CoFlex and an elastic bandage: I can pick two.
Jeanette Isabelle
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