mercop

Select the kit for you expected applications-Trauma/Boo Boo
Carry it
Have the knowledge to use it

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PastorPack

Thanks for the thread Mercop. Perhaps the slow response is that a lot of us are thinking, "gee, we haven't taken concrete steps in this area."

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Shotdown

I purchased one of the AMK Field Trauma Kits. Since we go out shooting in the desert a lot (without phone service), I thought this was a good/necessary kit.

AMK Tactical Field /Trauma - Go Time Gear, LLC

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Bark'n

Really, for the price, that is not a bad little comprehensive first aid kit.

Don't forget, for kits like that, you can always supplement it by purchasing any special items you might need and add to that kit.

For instance, you can get a few items like a pocket mask, maybe some nasal airways, a combat tourniquet.

I just caution that people learn to use the items they have in their kits appropriately.

Now, mercop started this thread regarding "special purpose" kits geared specifically towards treating gunshot and or stab wounds.

There is rational behind kits geared only towards specific injuries like that.
1) It keeps the kit small so you are more than likely to have it either with you or physically on your person.
2) In a critical incident, it allows you to focus more on what you need and allows you to save time digging through stuff trying to find the stuff you need or keeping down on confusion.
3) With life threatening, uncontrolled hemorrhage, having what you need, and only what you need helps economize time and movements thus saving precious seconds and also helps you focus.

However, the kit you have can certainly handle a gunshot wound, but also other things in a more comprehensive nature which you have selected to fit your specific needs.

So, +1 for being prepared! Stay Safe.

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"The gun is the great equalizer... For it is the gun, that allows the meek to repel the monsters; Whom are bigger, stronger and without conscience, will prey on those of us who without one, would surely perish."

mercop

It's funny you say that, not long ago at a gun show a good buddy cut his finger on a kerambit. Everyone was digging into their bags and pulling out Quik Clot etc. Because I separate my Trauma and Boo Boo kits I was able to pull out gauze and tape. These prepacked kits are a great idea, just make sure that you have Boo Boo stuff that you are willing to use day in and day out. A slice across the pad of your thumb is an attention getting and requires attention as well.- George

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paramedic70002

FWIW I should have an article published in "Concealed Carry" magazine in January addressing this particular topic. Can't paste it in here since it had to be 'unpublished'.

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joshe

I just started my EMT-B course and was planing on getting a kit together once I start CC.

Shotdown

That's what I plan on doing. I want to add a CAT and an Israeli bandage among a few other items.

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Geno

This will show my age, but what about tourniquets? Even as youngsters (back in the day) we were shown how to make and use them. My Dad said they were effective if you knew how to use them.

Bark'n

As an EMT & Paramedic instructor, for decades, tourniquets were always taught to be used only as a last resort. The fear was because of crushed tissue damage underneath the ligature as well as the build up of lactic acid to the area distal to the tourniquet from the lack of blood circulation would result in the likelihood of the limb having to amputated.

Now just this year the National Registry of EMT's has just completed a new set of training standards being included in all the national curriculum for "bleeding control and shock management" to include the use of tourniquets. I actually saw this coming because as a swat medic, I keep up on all the current trends in combat casualty care.

In pre-hospital EMS care, what is learned in the military on the battlefield, eventually makes it's way to become standard care in EMS after about a decade of study.

Well we are almost 8 years into the war on terror in both Afghanistan and Iraq and they have had wide spread successful use of tourniquets to control severe bleeding and shock management without loss of life and a significant number of cases where use of tourniquets did not require limb amputation. They have had such a success with use of tourniquets that each combat troop is issued their own personal combat tourniquet and companies like Blackhawk are now manufacturing BDU uniforms which has a built in tourniquet in the arms and legs of the BDU.

The standard of care for bleeding control and shock management for the last 3 - 4 decades has always been, apply firm direct pressure to the wound and elevate the limb higher than the level of the heart. If that doesn't work, apply pressure to pressure points of major arteries against the bone underneath the artery to slow the blood flow enough to allow clotting. Tourniquets were only used as a last resort.

What the military has found during the war on terror is that there is no significant evidence to support that direct pressure, elevation and pressure points has any significant benefit to control massive bleeding encountered from gunshot wounds to the extremities where vessel damage usually occurs deep within the structure of the arm or leg. And also no significant evidence to control severe bleeding with blast injuries and massive hemorrhage encountered with mines and IED's

What they did find out is that tourniquets, if applied correctly and utilizing a purpose built tourniquet that it does control bleeding quite effectively and that tourniquets can be applied for up to six hours with very limited risk of having to amputate the limb if the wounded soldier or Marine if they able to reach surgery within that six hour time period.

In the civilian world, six hours is more than ample time for an injured person to get to an operating room with vascular and trauma surgeons to treat the person who has a tourniquet applied.

So, now, the new standard of care is going to be, if direct pressure doesn't immediately control severe uncontrolled bleeding, you will go immediately to use of a tourniquet as the next step to control bleeding.

So, it is always best to get training for the proper use of a tourniquet but it is currently being integrated into EMS training today. I just finished teaching my last EMT class in July of this year and taught the old method, but my next class I will be adding the new "Bleeding Control and Shock Management" treatment and use of tourniquets to all new EMT students.

EMT and Paramedic textbooks are being updated now to include the new changes.

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Semper Fi

"The gun is the great equalizer... For it is the gun, that allows the meek to repel the monsters; Whom are bigger, stronger and without conscience, will prey on those of us who without one, would surely perish."