I may have mentioned this before; I have an unusual hobby. I like to build and customize first aid kits. I have six kits, three of which I have built or modified.

Anyone here who does that? What do you include in your custom kits?

Jeanette Isabelle

I surely do.

Before I go on, it's worth noting that as a firearms instructor, I take a CoTCCC-focused trauma class about every year, with the intention that I should be able to treat survivable traumatic injury well enough to keep a patient alive until I can get him or her to definitive care. Also, as my username denotes, weird things happen around me, and it seems that I'm constantly patching people up and/or driving them to the ER.

I have a small kit for my laptop bag which has a comprehensive OTC med module (but not many doses of each), a fairly robust boo-boo fixing capability, and light trauma capability. I can't put anything in here that will cause me (more) problems with the TSA, so that limits what can go in there.

Each car first aid kit has a comprehensive OTC module (multiple doses of each), comprehensive boo-boo kit (good for many boo-boos), foot care module, and trauma kit with all the tools I know how to use. My main outdoor backpack has the same, but just one or two doses of each OTC med.

There's a boo-boo kit in one of the bathrooms, and a comprehensive disaster medical kit in one of the bug-out/bug-in bins.

Finally, I have a small boo-boo and trauma kit (similar to the one in my laptop bag) in a pouch on my bicycle.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was Safety Officer in the office (about 40 or so employees) and thus in charge of the first aid kits which were quietly gathering dust in various nooks and crannies.. On occasion, they had been opened and their contents disturbed. About the only items that were used were bandaids and similar items used for boo-boos.

I restocked them and decided to place a band aid box next to, and outside the FAK so that thee contents would be in good order for more significant emergencies. This in turn led me to place about three or four band aids in my wallet, so that I could tend to the common incidents quickly, with no theatrics.

Doing SAR in that same galaxy, I developed a more heavy duty FAK more attuned to the situations we encountered, usually trauma as the result of falls - elastic bandages, leg splints, lots and lots of sterile dressings. Through time, I developed a smaller version of that kit for personal excursions. I have two or three such kits in handy locations around the house and car. My wife has even more, I found out the other day.

I would say that the most important component of any FAK is the training and experience of the person opening it. I would rather be treated by a trained person and no dedicated kit, than by a layperson with any kit you care to provide. The best situation is both an ample kit and a trained responder....

like Chaos, I carry some trauma supplies clipped my gun cart, and with my carry bag...contents are fairly similar... Kerlix, compression bandage,tourniquet, clotting sponge, Vaseline gauze for occlusive chest seal, NPA, syringe, gloves.... EMT shears added since picture...a new sling bag which has more room for some additional supplies replaces the older JanSport bag... it would be nice if Olaes were in a smaller pack

I do that. I like to make FAKs and Survival kits of different sizes and for for different applications. In fact, I like to make "kits" for various other purposes, too, like shooting range kits and repair kits, for example.

I have taken to carrying a sealed pouch of 325 mg. powdered aspirin in my wallet, in case someone shows the signs and symptoms of a possible heart attack.

QuikClot Sport sponges do not work well for penetrating trauma, as you cannot usually put them inside the wound where the bleeding is happening -- if a penetrating trauma wound is that big, it doesn't bode well for your patient. QuikClot gauze is the way to go. Be aware that I've recently seen it on sale but the sale package was for a four foot roll, the green-packaged versions I've seen (and use) are four yards long.

The CAT is the tourniquet of choice for non-professional responders. The SOFTT-W is very good for buddy aid but the CAT is the easiest to self-apply. In the most recent CoTCCC class I took the instructor showed us the difference between a real CAT made by North American Rescue and a cheap knockoff. To my horror I found that the one I kept in my wife's car was a cheap knockoff. Look for a lot number and a manufacture date stamp. If you can't find those things, I would recommend that you replace it and demote the knockoff to training duty.

I haven't advanced that far in first aid kit modifications. In my years of practicing first aid, I have dealt with scraped and banged-up knees, cuts, burns, a door closed on a hand and one or two sprained ankles. In most of those situations, I rendered first aid on myself.

Jeanette Isabelle

Mine are focused on trauma applications as well. As for the cuts and scrapes, I just amp up an off the shelf kit.

Nutnfancy's youtube channel has some excellent stuff on building FAK's. https://www.youtube.com/user/nutnfancy