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I am a volunteer firefighter / EMT in my town and I am on the Emergency Response Team at work, so I can get called for a medical incident just about anytime and anywhere.
I carry two CPR microshield pouches with me all the time. One has the CPR shield in it, the other has a set of nitrile gloves. I have a small jump kit in my truck in case I respond directly to the scene of a call in town, and a company issued jump kit at my desk at work. While at work all members of the team carry small radios, and in town I have a pager.
Other things I carry that are not necessarily medical related are a Leatherman Charge TTi, Benchmade Osborne 943, Fenix PD30, and a Fischer Space Pen, which happens to fit very nicely in the pockets on either side of the leather leatherman belt case.
I am a volunteer firefighter / EMT in my town and I am on the Emergency Response Team at work, so I can get called for a medical incident just about anytime and anywhere.
I carry two CPR microshield pouches with me all the time. One has the CPR shield in it, the other has a set of nitrile gloves. I have a small jump kit in my truck in case I respond directly to the scene of a call in town, and a company issued jump kit at my desk at work. While at work all members of the team carry small radios, and in town I have a pager.
Other things I carry that are not necessarily medical related are a Leatherman Charge TTi, Benchmade Osborne 943, Fenix PD30, and a Fischer Space Pen, which happens to fit very nicely in the pockets on either side of the leather leatherman belt case.
Yeah, a good rule of thumb is if you don’t have any higher certification, at least get CPR/AED certified, and carry gloves, bandages, gauze, and a CPR barrier.
I’m an EMT-B, so I carry a bit more, but not much. Suture kits should, IMO, only be carried in a country where you expect clean medical supplies won’t be available, or if you’re trained to use one.have to admit I couldn’t read all 9 pages, but do any of you paramedics, EMTs of first responder guys really think about what your saying when you say never need more than a couple of 4 x 4 and some roll gauze and tape, its because your on the way to further immediate care, I think a lot of folks that carry sutures and more heavy supplies in their packs is because the hospital might be a ways a way and not a quick ambulance ride code 3……professional medical help might be days away or more .
I think a lot of folks also would rather have the supplies on hand, in case the super doctor comes skipping down the path and finds you laying there after the bear attack over having them rummage through your pack to find nothing
have to admit I couldn’t read all 9 pages, but do any of you paramedics, EMTs of first responder guys really think about what your saying when you say never need more than a couple of 4 x 4 and some roll gauze and tape, its because your on the way to further immediate care, I think a lot of folks that carry sutures and more heavy supplies in their packs is because the hospital might be a ways a way and not a quick ambulance ride code 3……professional medical help might be days away or more .
I think a lot of folks also would rather have the supplies on hand, in case the super doctor comes skipping down the path and finds you laying there after the bear attack over having them rummage through your pack to find nothing
have to admit I couldn’t read all 9 pages, but do any of you paramedics, EMTs of first responder guys really think about what your saying when you say never need more than a couple of 4 x 4 and some roll gauze and tape, its because your on the way to further immediate care, I think a lot of folks that carry sutures and more heavy supplies in their packs is because the hospital might be a ways a way and not a quick ambulance ride code 3……professional medical help might be days away or more .
I think a lot of folks also would rather have the supplies on hand, in case the super doctor comes skipping down the path and finds you laying there after the bear attack over having them rummage through your pack to find nothing
First aid is primarily about life saving until further help can arrive, preventing permanent serious injury or dealing with minor incidents directly to avoid any need for further care. It should take into account how long that further care can take. Sutures are always a second phase solution as they can wait a long long time before they are needed. Depending on space and what I am doing I carry a fiar bit but I only carry sutures for use in non sterile hospitals when I travel. It’s nearly always bad first aid because sutures need to be applied to a very clean wound in a very clean environment if both of those condition exist then you are usually in a clinic or a hospital. Head wounds are the obvious possible exception, but they will still not be life threatening.
First aid is primarily about life saving until further help can arrive, preventing permanent serious injury or dealing with minor incidents directly to avoid any need for further care. It should take into account how long that further care can take. Sutures are always a second phase solution as they can wait a long long time before they are needed. Depending on space and what I am doing I carry a fiar bit but I only carry sutures for use in non sterile hospitals when I travel. It’s nearly always bad first aid because sutures need to be applied to a very clean wound in a very clean environment if both of those condition exist then you are usually in a clinic or a hospital. Head wounds are the obvious possible exception, but they will still not be life threatening.
AreaWarLord – For one, sutures are way above my level of practice. For another, in all of the locations I’ve been in in the past several years, I haven’t been more than a 30 minute code 3 ride away from a hospital, so sutures are incredibly excessive: my FAK is there to stabilize someone on the way to the hospital. That’s it, and unless you’ve got high level training, that’s all you really should do… you don’t want to :censored: someone up worse than they already are.
Yes, if you’re days away from medical help then sutures aren’t a bad idea, but I’d still suggest knowing how to use them. But for clarification, my tips are meant for the good 75-90% of people in the US who are regularly no further than half an hour from medical treatment.
P.S. Even if super doc finds you after a bear attack, the first thing he’s gonna look for is the 4x4s and the gauze… If you’ve taken any first aid courses, first things you do are stabilize Airway, Breathing and Circulation in that order (ABC).
I always carry Gorilla tape (rolled around itself and or a partial roll), a belt and or a bandanna that can be used for a tourniquet and super glue .
If I cannot achieve emergency first aid with that then I’m in trouble .BE WELL .. GH
LilTakkun said: ↑
I don’t carry any first aid items. It’s called a phone people, use it sometime.
Believe it or not many of us EDC for preparedness reasons,I can think of dozens of senarios where phones won’t do your bleeding bud a bit of good.I live in an area that occasionally has a hour response(not delivery to the hospital)depending on where in the surrounding area you are.It takes 4 minutes for someone to die from a major bleed.Even in a major metropolitan area 4 minutes is an extremely good response time(most dept’s goal is less than 10).You of course are free to do as you wish,but even in normal times you can’t rely on someone else to save you.If they are not breathing or you or they have a catastrophic bleed then that had better be one hell of a phone. Call for help first but in the first 2 cases a priest would be a better use of the phone if you are otherwise going to do nothing 🙂
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