Trauma Kits (And why they are a necessity post SHTF)

[Twitchy]

Okay, reading Izzy's post about IV's made me have an eureka moment at 2:55 AM (this doesn't happen too often lol) So I decided despite being in a semi-incoherent state to write this psot about why Trauma Kits are so important post shtf and why everyone should have them stocked.

So you ask, why should I have one?

Simple to answer. In today's world of 21st century medicine, a hospital is almost always within a reasonable amount of times travel in the event of an emergency. In the PAW, this will vanish as the hospital staff are either overwhelmed or altogether leave to protect their own. (This also applies to you guys out in the sticks... You never know when a situation may call for a Trauma kit to save your life.) Not only will hospitals be less accessible, you may be doing more strenuous work and using more dangerous equipment just to make sure you and the ones you are around can survive past a PAW event. This opens up the possibility of Traumatic Injuries. Now enough banter on why the Kits are needed, lets get onto the contents of the kit. Most of the items you read about below are listed elsewhere, but few are listed together to cope with a Traumatic injury such as a compound fracture or similar. Please keep in mind, this is NOT an exhaustive list, in fact I encourage you to list any items you may think are of any significance so we have as complete a list as possible.

Trauma Kit Supplies:

A GOOD bag to carry everything in (a small backpack with compartments would be great, being portable and easy to have around at all times.)

Personal Safety/CPR
10 pair Gloves
1 pair Safety Goggles
1 CPR Microshield® (CPR Mask)
1 Alcohol Hand Sanitizer, 4oz

Minor Cuts and Scrapes
60 Adhesive bandages
20 butterfly bandages
20 - 2x2 Gauze Pads (2 packs)
2 Roll Plastic Medical Tape,
1" x 10 yds
2 Roll Porous Medical Tape,
2" x 10 yds
2 Roll Cloth Medical Tape,
1" x 10 yds
1 roll self adherent waterproof wrap, 1 inch
10 Triple Antibiotic Ointment

Larger Injuries/Trauma
2 pair Trauma Shears
10 - 5 x 9 Gauze Dressing
20 - 4x4 Gauze Pads (2 packs)
5 Trauma Dressing, 10x30
10 Gauze Rolls, 3 in x 75 in
5 Triangular Bandage
8 Elastic Bandages, 2 inch
5 Mylar Survival Blanket
5 Set of 5 Oral Airways
2 Stethoscope
2 Blood Pressure Cuff
2 C-Collar, Adjustable, Adult Size

Other
10 Instant Cold Packs, large
Bandage Scissors, 4.5 inch
5 Insta-Glucose
30 Tongue Blades / Finger Splints
2 Disposable Penlight
2 Splinter Forceps
2 Forehead Thermometer
5X QuickClot Sponge Type
10X QuickClot 5X5 Mesh

Wound Cleaning/Misc.
5 Sodium Chloride Irrigation Solution, 250ml
35 Antiseptic Wipes
50 Alcohol Preps
5 Resealable Plastic Bag
5 Red Biohazard Trash Bags
2 Ink Pens

Intravenous Kit
Several sets of IV's (the catheters, etc.)

5X Lactated Ringers (Ringers Lactate)
5X D5W (Dextrose 5% Water 95%)
5X Saline


ABOVE ALL ELSE, TRAINING PREVAILS! Make sure to have someone in your group trained who knows how to use the contents of your trauma kit. Otherwise, it is useless.

Also, as stated above, add to the list if I missed anything... A bigger list makes for a better kit in the end.

Finally, Practical Trauma™ - Trauma Kit (http://practicaltrauma.com/trauma.shtml) helped me list the items above... I was having a mental block early on into this post :p

[Gunfixr]

Got this area fairly well covered.
Got personal kits as well as larger group-type kits.
Wife is trained as an RN.

[Twitchy]

Got this area fairly well covered.
Got personal kits as well as larger group-type kits.
Wife is trained as an RN.

Sounds like you are pretty set! :)

[GunnerMax]

Don't forget whiskey or bourbon (to dull pain) if you can't get morphine. A couple singles of booze would work, and they are small. Or use the flask you should have for trade/fire starting/drinking.

[realist]

No it is whiskey and bourbon. A couple of singles will work even if there is not pain. Also I'm not sure it I like the idea of using it for fire starting, I think it is a waste of good booze. So I will drink it and think about a fire.........later.

One thing that we all need to make sure is that we have proper supplies. First aid kits are just that first aid. Same goes for Trauma kits. Both are designed to deal with the immediate needs of the patient. However if you have to take care of them long term you need to have major wound care supplies.

[Twitchy]

i was thinking screw the whiskey or bourbon and go with a bottle of everclear... more potent = more uses... also can be used as an antiseptic in place of isopropyl alcohol...

[izzyscout21]

Guys, keep in mind that the booze can sause you to have some clotting problems if too much is ingested.

Not do put a damper on yall (injury is always a great excuse to have a drink), but I would try to go with another form of pain relief before I start giving out booze.

I tend to think of the booze as more of a mental relief than a pain relief. Sometimes you just need a drink to help work it out. I'm all for it.

If the meds yo do have or the booze doesn't help with the pain, you still have to work on the wound.

My suggestion: If one is available, in order to take the focus of pain away from the affected area, bring a hammer down on a hand or another body part. That should re-focus the victims pain receptors.:rolleyes:

[realist]

It would also get the attention of the other complainer who is next in line.........

[Twitchy]

Guys, keep in mind that the booze can sause you to have some clotting problems if too much is ingested.

Not do put a damper on yall (injury is always a great excuse to have a drink), but I would try to go with another form of pain relief before I start giving out booze.

I tend to think of the booze as more of a mental relief than a pain relief. Sometimes you just need a drink to help work it out. I'm all for it.

If the meds yo do have or the booze doesn't help with the pain, you still have to work on the wound.

My suggestion: If one is available, in order to take the focus of pain away from the affected area, bring a hammer down on a hand or another body part. That should re-focus the victims pain receptors.:rolleyes:

lol... amazing! Simply amazing! :P

I think having any alcohol, it should be a very high proof as it has more uses than just drinking...

[bacpacker]

Damn Izzy, make sure I never let you work on me! I can see why you never made it at Med school.
:)

[izzyscout21]

Damn Izzy, make sure I never let you work on me! I can see why you never made it at Med school.
:)


I'll be gentle.... well, as gentle as dirty medicine can be. I can patch you up, that don't mean it's going to be pretty.

I've got a really neato staple suture gun and this really cool high-speed pen type cauterizer.

And I wouldn't wake it in med school because most patients don't appreciate you telling them to "suck it the f&^% up, shut the hell up, and quit acting like a bitch."

I also don't believe they encourage you to comment on how cool the scar is going to look.

I DON'T HAVE GOOD BEDSIDE MANNER.

[Twitchy]

I'll be gentle.... well, as gentle as dirty medicine can be. I can patch you up, that don't mean it's going to be pretty.

I've got a really neato staple suture gun and this really cool high-speed pen type cauterizer.

And I wouldn't wake it in med school because most patients don't appreciate you telling them to "suck it the f&^% up, shut the hell up, and quit acting like a bitch."

I also don't believe they encourage you to comment on how cool the scar is going to look.

I DON'T HAVE GOOD BEDSIDE MANNER.

hahahahaha!!!

I dunno about that, your bedside manner might just scare them to forget about the pain :D

[The Stig]

One aspect of trauma kits that can be overlooked: they can be used to patch you up too.

You may well be injured to the point of not being able to tend to yourself. Having a IFAK or tourniquet easily available means someone else can patch you up.

[Twitchy]

One aspect of trauma kits that can be overlooked: they can be used to patch you up too.

You may well be injured to the point of not being able to tend to yourself. Having a IFAK or tourniquet easily available means someone else can patch you up.

yep... good point...

a good tourniquet should be with you at all times when working with dangerous equipment in the god forsaken event that you cut something off... That goes for even today... you can bleed out a lot faster than you would think...

[bacpacker]

Great point. I have a bunch of chain saw work coming up. Back in the earlier days of the forum there was a great thread on using chain saws. I think the same thread had some good discussion on med prep for chain saw use.

[The Stig]

Great point. I have a bunch of chain saw work coming up. Back in the earlier days of the forum there was a great thread on using chain saws. I think the same thread had some good discussion on med prep for chain saw use.

After nearly slicing my leg off with a chansaw this summer (as detailed in a post around here somewhere) I started carrying a trauma kit with me anytime I worked with any dangerous tools out in the yard.

[mitunnelrat]

For those who may be interested, Surefire's Fall 2011 edition of their "Combat Tactic's" magazine has a good article on this and interesting pieces on a few other things we discuss here (morality in a disaster and bug out bags).

The article pertaining to this thread is titled "What's In Your Trauma Kit?" and walk's readers through the process of selecting or building a kit relevant to their circumstances and situation. It says that "proper kit design and content selection should begin with a three-question process."


What role is the kit to perform? Or to put it another way, what is the mission profile for which the kit might be employed?

We've discussed in the weapons forum the tendency for people to select firearms based on the "cool guy" factor. i.e. AR's over shotguns because our troops look badass carrying them. The article warns against doing the same with our IFAK's/ trauma kits.


Realistically assess your needs and remember that one kit likely won't fulfill every situation. A kit in your range bag will look very different from one that you take on a backwoods hunting trip.


What is your medical skill level?

I know for a fact that we here tend to justify having components that exceed our level of training, and know we all agree already that some form of training is a given. I think this goes back to what kit you're carrying, and why. I know I personally carry more gear than I'm qualified to use because I don't have too many kits set up yet, and while it might be to my benefit to have an NPA and such in a range kit for firearms classes, where there may be a qualified individual on site that can use it effectively, I cannot. I'd set myself up for legal issues if I tried. Further, many of those same components are a waste in a woods kit for me, where I know that neither I nor the people I hike out with will know how to use the stuff. Good food for thought for when when I get around to expanding my medical response. As they stated, medical components can be expensive, so I agree its better to tailor each kit to the activity at hand rather than fill it with everything I can.

The third selection question is

How is your kit to be carried?

The author states

Assess what carry method you will most likely utilize and then have that kit with you when you might need it. I have access to any number of high-speed kits, yet my daily carry kit is a simple affair that's vacuum sealed and fits in my back pocket.

He also makes the point that a basic trauma kit on hand is better than an ambulance 10 minutes away, and
a cool military MOLLE bag makes no sense if you aren't wearing MOLLE in your deer stand and the kit is hooked to you tactical vest back home.

The article goes on to say that there are some common items to every kit though, with a focus on controlling blood loss. The article provides information on each piece, and I won't get into all of that here, but the items are a tourniquet, combat gauze, pressure dressing, protective gloves, a blanket, cpr mask, and some miscellaneous items like trauma shears, tape, 4"x4" gauze pads, band aids, and burn gel.

At the end it has a list of contacts that one could use to source the items they need. I found it an informative, well thought out and written article. Paired with the other articles I mentioned its a decent resource to provoke thought or learn about a few things, and while I wouldn't recommend that everyone run out and buy it, if you're interested in the overall content to begin with, it would be a worthwhile issue to pick up over some of the other gun mags on the rack.