First Aid Kit/Trauma Bag:
Thought I’d share what I put together in my first aid kit & trauma bag.
A few years ago I splurged on an Adventure Medical Marine 3000 medical kit. It’s styled to be stowed in a marine vessel for occasional treatment for illness or injury of a crew member. It came in a huge blue suitcase (pic at the end) and each category was in a zipper bag.
The plastic in the bags eventually ripped loose and it was difficult to manage, stuff getting scattered out and spilling out of the pouches. It was meant to be what I grabbed when one of the kids got hurt or a neighbor needed help or something.
I moved some general first aid supplies to the new bag, for my go to bag, and the suitcase bag will now be stocked with all the extras – the more extensive trauma treatments, extra gauze, etc. This bag is much easier to store, easier to grab, easier to carry and MUCH easier to find what I need. I’ve also stocked up on a large variety of gauze and other supplies, the contents of the Marine kit are only a small part of the supplies.
My focus is mostly on frequently needed items so it’s heavy on gauze, bandages, steri strips, splints, burn cream, etc.
*****Know how to use every single item you place into a first aid / trauma kit. Practice the skills often. Knowing how to use the contents is more important than the contents themselves.*******
Left side pocket:
–cpr mask/shield
-2 emergency blankets
-1 pressure dressing
Right side pocket:
-2 QuikClot gauze packs
-1 Trauma Pak Pro which contains a SWAT tourniquet, another QuikClot, various gauzes and general supplies.
-1 pressure dressing
-3 non sterile but sealed nitrile glove sets
-1 ampule sterile water
Lid Flap
– hand sanitizer
-3 ampules sterile water
-1 bottle liquid bandage
-1 spray bottle hydrogen peroxide
Front Left Pocket
-Otoscope
-bag of non sterile general purpose nitrile gloves (for cleanup etc)
– 1 tube burn cream
-1 lip balm
-1 bottle swimmers ear drop
– 1 bottle insect repellent
Front Right Pocket
Front Loops
-Trauma shears and various scissors/clamps/tweezers
Front Pocket
–Stethoscope (get a decent one, it’s difficult to use the cheap ones usually included in first aid kits. I like Littman.)
– dental tools kit (across bottom of pocket)
– glucometer
Middle 1st Row Left Side:
-variety of gauze rolls
-2 triangular bandages
– medical tape
– lidocaine cream
-2 pair sealed nitrile gloves
Middle 1st Row Right Side:
– wide variety of gauze pads. Sterile and non sterile, all sizes. Tegaderm, Combine pads, cotton tip applicators, oval eye pads.
Middle 2nd Row:
-Ziplock of lots and lots of bandaids.
-10 packets of triple antibiotic ointment
-skin staple kit
-small pack of a variety of sutures
-1 surgical scrub brush
-2 sterile single use scalpels
-2 packets Povidone iodine
-variety of syringes, some for wound irrigation, some sealed for injections.
Back row:
-large Sam splint
-medium Sam Splint
– 2 small Sam Splints
-ace bandage
-2 cold packs
-6 Trioral Oral Rehydration Salts
– arm sling
-misc single dose otc medications
-small ziplock assorted size safety pins
Interior Side Pocket Left Side:
-variety of oral and nasalpharyngeal airways and lube (inserted into nose or mouth to help clear the airway such as when someone is having an anaphylactic reaction and experiences swelling.)
Interior Side Pocket Right Side:
-ziplock with approx 100 steri-strips (butterfly bandages) and 7 wound seal powder tubes.
-1 roll leukotape
-bag of 50 alcohol swabs
-pack of sterile forceps (tweezers)
The * stuff
*This trauma kit is not at all intended to be a complete kit, a professional kit or anything else. It’s personalized to my needs based on my years as a volunteer EMT (no longer certified) and as a mom for 24 years now. It’s also not “finished” as I will prob remove some things and add some things until it works for us.
**I should probably get a larger bag, but I got a deal on this one at Botach, $19 and it was the style I’d been looking for. I like the medium size and manageability of it but for what I’m carrying, it’s a tight fit.
***I do carry some items that are out of scope of practice for an EMT, in no way should it be assumed that I’m randomly using these items on the general public. I do know how to use them and they are there more for the “what if” scenario. Comments about being qualified to use them are not necessary. In no way do I advertise myself as an EMT or anything else.
****I do not carry this in my car and try to be that overly eager person that jumps out and tries to act like a paramedic at car accidents, lol. This is for my personal use for friends and family. I carry a much more basic first aid kit in my car.
Nice bag! One thing that most do not think about is if you need to take care of an injured person for more than one day, how many supplies will be consumed. I injured my arm, ripped skin, for the next week I used many gauze pads, gauze rolls, tapes and ointments. It was amazing how the supplies were consumed. Your bag is outstanding but I would have another that is stuffed with bandages and tapes.
Hi Jed! I’m the owner of the bag. I do actually have another whole other soft sided suitcase type badge that is full of more gauze and bandaids and stuff. Basically bulk supplies. This bag is what i grab to treat everyday stuff but if we ever had to evacuate or anything I’d be grabbing both for sure. I keep a shelf with boxes and boxes of gauze and gloves and all sorts of stuff!
The dressings, assuming they are packaged properly, should last indefinitely. But in a kit as large as this, how can you possibly keep the items with expiration dates current? Don’t most of those items have to be periodically replaced?
Good point. I go through my kits once a year; twice if they’re in the car where there’s a lot of temperature change. Most of the drugs (like anti-inflammatories and allergy meds) are cheap; I buy in bulk; repack into small labeled ziplocks, and replace when they age out. Iodine-based and antibiotic/vaseline based wound creams are more shelf stable and don’t need annual replacement. Alcohol lasts forever if it’s in an airtight container (the single use envelopes dry up after a few years). Bandaids and tape have adhesive go bad, so I check it when I redo the kits and replace if they’ve gone bad. Turns out most of the kit (tools, sterile dressings, splints and such) has great shelf life anyway.