Originally Posted By: hikermor
Training and likely injuries in the environment. A lot of kits focus on penetrating injuries, like gunshot wounds with massive bandages, tourniquets etc. Most of my experience has been with fractures, esp. legs, in the wilderness. Hence lots of splints, etc. and emphasis on less obvious trauma (massive internal bleeding, less obvious spinal injuries, and the like.

A good kit should include a stethoscope, BP cuff, good bandages, at least a splint or two (although these can be improvised). Tourniquets and the like if you are around firearms and other mechanisms that will induce penetrating injuries. A C collar will be useful.

In any case, monitor and record vital signs and transport rapidly to definitive care


This is less an EDC and more of a car kit and requires more significant set of skills to use. How would you pare it down to and EDC?

Environment and situations you are likely to encounter are very important considerations. Splints can be easily improvised in many situations, so I do not carry these as part of an EDC, but I do carry at least 2 triangular bandages, and at times an elastic wrap (packed in a flat roll). Tourniquets can be used to help improvise splints as well, just don't put them on too tight.

If I am participating in an event or activity with many other people I will generally carry what Hikermor describes. As an EDC I carry a lot less, a tourniquet, 2 triangular bandages, 2 compressed gauze, a nasal pharyngeal airway, sometimes an elastic wrap. My vehicle carries a kit along the lines of what Hikermor describes.