Very small belt-mounted Immediate Trauma Kit?

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Background:

As some of you have noticed, I’m based in England (the UK), I have a reasonable pack-mounted trauma kit that I carry when at work, and in the back of my car.

However, I also work with three other guys in a voluntary team to do with mid-to-large-size public events, where my current TFAK is going to be at least five, often more, minutes away by foot (you can’t carry a backpack at many of these events, and we’re supposed to be reasonably low-key), so I and the rest of my team are looking for a TFAK of small essential items only, with a low training requirement (for them, that is, as I’ve had the training already!).

These TFAK elements will be mounted in as small a belt-carried pouch as possible, since the kit we already carry takes up a bit of space on our belts under our blazers already – other standard belt kit includes defensive spray, torch (flashlight), two-way radio, handcuffs, and search gloves; this doesn’t include what we have to carry in the blazers, such as notebook, pen, seat belt cutter/glass breaker, etc.

So, I think I’ve got the listing nailed down:

• Standard small first field dressing (FFD) (NOT Israeli pattern)
• Vented Chest Seal pack (pair of seals per pack)
• SOFTT tourniquet
• Triangular Bandage

Rationalisations:

The belt-mounted STK (Small Trauma Kit) will be an interim solution to help until a more comprehensive set of kit is available, or until professional medical help arrives on-scene. The idea is to preserve life, not fix it, in the interim.

• The basic First Field Dressing is not going to be the new form of Israeli combat dressing; this is your old fashioned ‘absorbent pad on a ribbon’ kind of thing, much like the British FFD of old, or the old style US “dressing, first aid, field, camouflaged”. New commercial version of this exist, so that’s an easy add.
• The Vented chest seals are available, but most are fairly big – the smaller the better is the key here, so ideas on this would be welcome.
• The SOFTT tourniquet is small, easily deployed, and available (I’ve got on myself), so that’s what we’ll look at here.
• The triangular bandage is for the more common public event injury – broken bones, sprains, and dislocations, where immobilising the affected limb is the key, until the casualty can be moved to a more suitable treatment location.

A pouch for this should be no more than five or six inches long, two to three inches tall, and absolutely no deeper than one and a half inches when packed (low profile, remember?).

Problem:

There does not appear to be a cheap (the other guys are also volunteers, remember, and don’t have a lot of money to throw at something like this) pre-made STK of the nature described above, which I find rather surprising. So, acquiring the components four of these kits is not that much of a problem; what IS a problem is the pouch. It has to be small, easily removed from the belt to allow for deployment, and able to maintain retention ON the belt when not needed.

Any ideas?

[admin]

Background:

As some of you have noticed, I’m based in England (the UK), I have a reasonable pack-mounted trauma kit that I carry when at work, and in the back of my car.

However, I also work with three other guys in a voluntary team to do with mid-to-large-size public events, where my current TFAK is going to be at least five, often more, minutes away by foot (you can’t carry a backpack at many of these events, and we’re supposed to be reasonably low-key), so I and the rest of my team are looking for a TFAK of small essential items only, with a low training requirement (for them, that is, as I’ve had the training already!).

These TFAK elements will be mounted in as small a belt-carried pouch as possible, since the kit we already carry takes up a bit of space on our belts under our blazers already – other standard belt kit includes defensive spray, torch (flashlight), two-way radio, handcuffs, and search gloves; this doesn’t include what we have to carry in the blazers, such as notebook, pen, seat belt cutter/glass breaker, etc.

So, I think I’ve got the listing nailed down:
Standard small first field dressing (FFD) (NOT Israeli pattern)
Vented Chest Seal pack (pair of seals per pack)
SOFTT tourniquet
Triangular Bandage
Rationalisations:

The belt-mounted STK (Small Trauma Kit) will be an interim solution to help until a more comprehensive set of kit is available, or until professional medical help arrives on-scene. The idea is to preserve life, not fix it, in the interim.

The basic First Field Dressing is not going to be the new form of Israeli combat dressing; this is your old fashioned ‘absorbent pad on a ribbon’ kind of thing, much like the British FFD of old, or the old style US “dressing, first aid, field, camouflaged”. New commercial version of this exist, so that’s an easy add.
The Vented chest seals are available, but most are fairly big – the smaller the better is the key here, so ideas on this would be welcome.
The SOFTT tourniquet is small, easily deployed, and available (I’ve got on myself), so that’s what we’ll look at here.
The triangular bandage is for the more common public event injury – broken bones, sprains, and dislocations, where immobilising the affected limb is the key, until the casualty can be moved to a more suitable treatment location.

A pouch for this should be no more than five or six inches long, two to three inches tall, and absolutely no deeper than one and a half inches when packed (low profile, remember?).

Problem:

There does not appear to be a cheap (the other guys are also volunteers, remember, and don’t have a lot of money to throw at something like this) pre-made STK of the nature described above, which I find rather surprising. So, acquiring the components four of these kits is not that much of a problem; what IS a problem is the pouch. It has to be small, easily removed from the belt to allow for deployment, and able to maintain retention ON the belt when not needed.

Any ideas?

[admin]

Just curious what kind of injuries you’ll be treating and what kind of environment you’re working in?

I have a Prometheus Medical, Russell Chest Seal, which packs down small enough to fit in my TFAK. I have no idea of the cost (work buys them) but the size is good.

Can I ask why you are going with an FFD and not a more modern dressing?

[admin]

Projected casualties types for events we’ll be attending are primarily crushes, dislocations and breaks, maybe a stab/pneumothorax, where the priority is to either plug, patch, or immobilise the injury prior to professional medical assistance arriving.

What’re the dimensions of the Prometheus seal?

We’re going with FFD rather than modern combat dressings due to space restrictions. Modern combat trauma dressings (eg Israeli dressings) are way bigger (fatter) than the equivalent FFDs in their packed state.

[admin]

This is the size, but it can be folded at the top and the bottom and it still lays pretty flat.

I take your point on the FFD, I like to carry one when I can, but I still prefer the Modular Bandage type dressings for their ease of use. You have some unique size requirements though it seems.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

[admin]

Yeah, the size requirement is due to needing to fit a fair amount of kit on the trousers belt. As a result, the STK has to be smaller than you’d normally have. The maximum length is going to be dictated by the SOFTT tourniquet windlass, but everything else should either be smaller, or foldable to size. Ideally, it will pack into a small pouch that, when you’re seated in a car driving seat acts like a form of lumbar pad, so as not to distract from the driving, and when out of the car, doesn’t detract from the fall of the blazer, to retain the low key unobtrusive appearance we have to maintain. Not an easy nut to crack, I agree.

[admin]

Excuse the dumb question, but why do you need to be so undercover about it all?

[admin]

https://medtree.co.uk/first-aid/act-pak-personal-aid-kits/act-pak-for-individual-carry

The advanced are 150x150x50mm

[admin]

Just read the OP again, it seems odd to me. Handcuffs and “self defence spray”, in England? That seems a little odd.

BTW, I was on the Royal Rota yesterday and the Queen’s PPO’s carry a very small FAK with a TQ, homeostatic dressing and a izzy….

[admin]

ProjeKtWEREWOLF said: ↑
Excuse the dumb question, but why do you need to be so undercover about it all?
Click to expand…
Hardly undercover, but low profile. There’s a not unsubtle difference 🙂

Mainly, it’s to meet local requirements on how we present ourselves while we’re doing what we’ve been asked to do (safety, med, and Multi-Purpose assistance).

[admin]

Journo said: ↑
Just read the OP again, it seems odd to me. Handcuffs and “self defence spray”, in England? That seems a little odd.

BTW, I was on the Royal Rota yesterday and the Queen’s PPO’s carry a very small FAK with a TQ, homeostatic dressing and a izzy….
Click to expand…
Defensive spray, not self defence. It’s used in the UK only, and is a defensive marker spray, leaves a uv trace on an aggressor. Can’t use anything more serious here, but we can when abroad.

OK on DPG kit. I’ll have a look into that, thanks.

[admin]

Thanks for your reply. I thought that might be the case with the spray. I think you will still need to be careful with the cuffs (and carry a copy of your training certificate and proof of insurance for their use).

It’s not DPG, I think it’s called RaSP Command now. I am doing it again next week and will try and get a photo of the med stuff.

What kind of events are you covering Roger?

[admin]

Heh. The more things change, etc 😉 Look forward to seeing the photos of that med kit 🙂

We’re a team of ex-RMP; It’s mai ly public safety event coverage, H&S, med, and similar, both here and abroad. Abroad, we have a little more latitude in how we can do things, of course. OK on certs and in, yeah, have to re-up on all of those again this year,along with the med cover certs etc. No job’s ever done, until the paperwork is completed (shuts the toilet door)… 😉

[admin]

RogerStenning said: ↑
Problem:

There does not appear to be a cheap (the other guys are also volunteers, remember, and don’t have a lot of money to throw at something like this) pre-made STK of the nature described above, which I find rather surprising. So, acquiring the components four of these kits is not that much of a problem; what IS a problem is the pouch. It has to be small, easily removed from the belt to allow for deployment, and able to maintain retention ON the belt when not needed.

Any ideas?
Click to expand…
I roll my own kits mostly using vacuum packing, but pre-made solution is…
https://www.blueforcegear.com/www.blueforcegear.com/micro-trauma-kit

The Blue Force solution is very elegant, but not cheap.

[admin]

HardToHandle said: ↑
I roll my own kits mostly using vacuum packing, but pre-made solution is…
https://www.blueforcegear.com/www.blueforcegear.com/micro-trauma-kit

The Blue Force solution is very elegant, but not cheap.
Click to expand…
Hmm. Size and attachment are both good. However, the glaring omission on supplied med kit in this would be a tourniquet. That’s a bit surprising, all things considered 😮

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