Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 >
Topic Options
#180298 - 08/24/09 10:41 PM Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK?
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
I am not a medical professional and have only a little, outdated first aid knowledge.

What should I have in my urban FAK, how should it be organized?

Top
#180301 - 08/24/09 10:47 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: dweste]
MDinana Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 2208
Loc: Beer&Cheese country
How big will this be? Where do you plan on keeping it? Personal use, or treating others? If your training is minimal (ie, Boy Scouts or something similar), I'd stick with gauze, tape and a CPR mask.

Top
#180303 - 08/24/09 10:51 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: MDinana]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Personal use primarily and maybe cigar box size.

Top
#180313 - 08/24/09 11:16 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: ]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Mini-triage means what exactly?

Top
#180316 - 08/24/09 11:26 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: ]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
So how would you orgainize the urban FAK?

[And yes I will ask about a wildernass FAK some time and place later.]

Top
#180329 - 08/25/09 02:03 AM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: ]
scafool Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 12/18/08
Posts: 1534
Loc: Muskoka
Note Well: I am not a medical professional and all advice I give about this should be independently verified.

The first thing is to update and hopefully upgrade your first aid training. The kit between your ears matters far more than the kit in your pack.

Gloves should be in your kit. You can do first aid without them, but they give you much more peace of mind when working on strangers.

You should have a watch for reading the pulse rate and a notebook with a pen to write it down with.

A cigar box should be big enough for a pair of crash scissors (bandage scissors?).
If you need to cut clothing they are less scary than a knife.

Sticky band-aids are good for minor cuts.
Include a few aspirins and something sweet. Aspirin is for pain, but also for heart attack victims. At the first symptoms of a heart attack the victim should chew one tablet of aspirin for 1/2 a minute then swallow it. You can use Alka-Seltzer tablets the same way.
Candy or sugar can be given to diabetics if they are going into shock. If they are low on sugar it will help them, and if they have too much sugar it will not hurt them.

You should also have a charged cell phone.
If you regularly carry a cell phone then it is taken care of, but if you don't then you can get an old one just for emergency use. It does not need to have any minutes on it. It does not even need to have an account. So long as it is charged you can dial 911. Even if you have a cord to plug it into a car lighter socket or a wall charger it is fine.
I would not try carrying a lot of bulky bandage material, there is usually more than enough stuff around to use for bandages, padding, slings or splints. A small roll of adhesive tape might be handy.


Remember that you are just doing first aid. If it is at all serious they need to get proper medical attention as soon as possible. Since it is an urban kit this is easier.
So you do not need to spend time cleaning wounds. The hospital will do that and load them up with whatever drugs they think are right too, so no antibiotics, heavy painkillers or even wound cleaning if you can help it.
That eliminates a lot of stuff.

If you (or maybe your family members) have a problem like allergies and need an EpiPen it should be in your kit. The same for any other special meds they might need.
A small pair of tweezers would be good for splinters, but don't dig or cut to get a splinter out. Splinters usually just pus up and come out on their own.


Edited by scafool (08/25/09 03:32 AM)
Edit Reason: grammar
_________________________
May set off to explore without any sense of direction or how to return.

Top
#180365 - 08/25/09 03:48 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: NightHiker]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Of course, I love it when you talk big words that I don't understand. But does "cricothyroidotomy " mean the cut throat to put in air tube procedure?

Top
#180371 - 08/25/09 04:13 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: NightHiker]
MDinana Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 2208
Loc: Beer&Cheese country
Huh? Who doesn't have that in their kit? laugh

Top
#180375 - 08/25/09 04:27 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: dweste]
philip Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/19/05
Posts: 639
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
Another way of organizing your first aid kit is by having what you'll most likely need first on top. If you don't know what you'll most likely need first, there's the first problem. :-)

As another has said, the most important part of the first aid kit is your knowledge of how and when to use the stuff in the box. I've lost track of how many first aid courses I've taken, but it's remarkable how similar they've gotten over the decades. The people who do the training have gotten together and come up with fundamental principles and training, so the basics are being taught pretty much the same. This gives me confidence that I'm at least getting the standard first aid practices.

I'd really recommend a wilderness first aid course, even if you live in a city. I took a 2-day wilderness course that was the most thorough training I've had - much better than a 1-day overview, with lots more time to practice techniques. Practicing application of the bandaging and splinting is very important.

I'm in a CERT group, and our local fire department gives us annual training for free; check your local fire department for their offerings. They include urban search and rescue.

I'm not sure how widespread this opinion is, but the last guy I had a first aid course from did not hold Red Cross first aid training in high regard, and he thought their CPR techniques were behind current standards. shrug - I haven't had a Red Cross course in over 10 years, so I can't compare them to current training.

Good luck and have fun.

Top
#180392 - 08/25/09 06:49 PM Re: Not trained, what should be in my urban FAK? [Re: dweste]
Glock-A-Roo Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 04/16/03
Posts: 1076
Originally Posted By: dweste
I am not a medical professional and have only a little, outdated first aid knowledge.

What should I have in my urban FAK, how should it be organized?


The first FAK-related item you should procure is the receipt from the training class you took. The next item would be the well-read, dogeared textbook from your class.

It's easy to buy gear. It's harder to get educated. Do the hard thing.

Top
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 >



Moderator:  KG2V, NightHiker 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 456 Guests and 71 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.