My 2023 First Aid and Trauma Kit

My 2023 First Aid and Trauma Kit



This could save a life. Most First Aid kits are not equipped to manage serious trauma where you can make the difference between …

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About the Author: Jon Gadget

49 Comments

  1. Thank you, Jon. I have never seen how to apply these tourniquets before. Very educational!
    One certainly can improvise a splint, but I'm wondering if you gave any consideration to a SAM splint?

  2. Thanks so much. The more you're prepared for the better. Firefighter Paramedic for 30 years. Never say never. A good "stop the bleed kit" of properly stocked can address all aspects of trauma. Besides basic first aid stuff, …be prepared to take care of a severe cut, a severe bleed, and amputation or a hole in the body. Life is full of surprises…falling off a ladder onto a halyard tie down on a flag pole and being impaled… falling in the kitchen onto the dishwasher door and landing on cutlery or getting hit by an accidental discharge… stray bullet from the next room. All unplanned realities. Be prepared to call 911 and….do CPR….use a fire extinguisher and escape a fire…perform first aid and "stop the bleed" and lastly have/use narcan to treat an overdose. Never say Never.

  3. do not use the tourniquet for heck sake. pressure bandage.
    take a course, they are like $100-250 with St John's or whatever is in your country and learn the MODERN safety practices

  4. Use North American Rescue as a resource for this equipment in the US. Please consider the CAT tourniquet over other options. Actual, sterile and useful equipment that can…and has saved lives is not cheap. Please refrain from giving or taking meds without having a good grasp of what's happening, pertinent medical history, and know the actions, contraindications and benefits/drawbacks. Last but not least…..TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING. You are protected to the extent you are trained. Do not go above your training level. Do not carry equipment you have not been trained on or are VERY familiar with. Awesome presentation as usual. US Army veteran / Firefighter Paramedic for 30 years.

  5. Hi Jon. Could you add a link so that I can find those small ziplock bags that you used for your meds please? I know that you have featured them previously on another episode but I can’t remember which one.

  6. While I have no special training, I did once come upon a hiker who had fallen down a steep cliff and had a freely bleeding head-wound. I applied a tourniquet around his neck to stop the blood flow which seemed to work. However he expired before further help arrived several hours later. So now I don't trust them as a First Aid Item.
    Just kidding Trolls. Learning first Aid is the most important thing you can do to be a responsible adult in the world.

  7. have you consider some skin glue? I always put a tiny 10ml tube of skin glue in every go-out-pouch, it's way more effective than gauze and bandaids.
    that and surgical tapes, those two thing pretty much seals up most injuries we might come across.

  8. Solid kit. I’d add a medical stapler to close wounds and wound seal powder. The latter is a miracle. I’d also add a SAM splint.

  9. Newer subscriber here, enjoying the content. The breakdowns and the reasoning behind your decisions on gear to use are legit. I use the Wysi Wipe brand of expandable towels, they are super comfortable and strong, I always have one or two with me. I also carry one of those reactive ice packs and a couple of Ace bandages or the self adhering bandage wraps. A friend of mine was a SF medic in Afghanistan , he said they used tightly wrapped Ace bandages as tourniquets on children many times due to their limbs being so small so I guess there is some multi use capabilty for them in a kit. Keep the content coming!

  10. Bear in mind, that those thick, sealed plastic packages are going to be hard to open when covered with slippery, slick blood while your panicking. Stage your stuff. Get it as close to ready and easy assessable as you possible can.

  11. Great kits Jon! Very well thought out. I like the use of the clear pouch for the trauma kit. Living in Australia, the most important addition I would make would be a snake bandage. For outdoor adventure use, I also include some strapping tape, in case somebody needs to hobble out of somewhere with a twisted ankle, and a low-temp thermometer to check for hypothermia, which can be a big killer. A mirror should also be included if there isn't already one somewhere else in your gear, eg on your compass or in your survival kit, as well as a source of light and a small notebook and pen/pencil for medical notes. (I realise you would always have these items in your EDC, but some people might not carry one.)

  12. The big point raised, and that really needs to be hammered home about the CAT Tourniquet is there are a lot of fakes for sale that won’t work or straight out break, if you are going to have one make sure as Jon says it’s the genuine article from a reputable source not Wish, Ali or even Amazon. For life saving items buy the proper items not knock off’s, if you are going to do it, do it right, it’s a trauma kit not cosplay.

  13. Very wise to be 1st aid accident prepared: house hold, work shop, traffic, outdoor etc.!
    I carry daily band aids in my purse and in my daily city bag pack an extra pack with gauze bandage material, bandage scissors. I own two car 1st aid kits which are too big for daily carry, so I keep them:
    1. at home in my bathrooms first aid cabinet beside horse/bruise ointment gel, sun protection and painkillers,
    2. in my travel luggage/bag pack.

  14. Great video! I have a similar kit but do keep it on a Maxpedition TC so I can keep it on my belt if hiking. Some others have mentioned the chest seals for the trauma kit but I’d throw a Mylar blanket in there as well, many paramedics will have this to cover the casualty for both preventing hypothermia and overheating. They are also a liquid barrier in heavy rain and have even been shown helpful in lowering the chances of the casualty going into shock. I’d ditch the swat tourniquet in the other it as it is more difficult to get full occlusion and less than that can be more harmful than beneficial.

  15. If you can, I would recommend attending a Stop The Bleed class to learn about proper applications of TQs, packing, compression, and assessment. Not sure if this is in the US only, but to your American viewers, it's definitely worth the training.

  16. EMT here. A few other considerations worth making would be:

    A pocket CPR mask. Compression only CPR was created to reduce the hesitancy of bystanders to render aid, but a healthy person might only have as much as 8 minutes of oxygen in their blood. If breaths aren't being delivered then after that time all the pumping you're doing isn't really helping all that much.
    This of course would also require CPR training… which is now available online!

    Diphenhydramine/Benadryl. This is another lifesaving OTC medication, but I personally use it most often for pet allergies.

    Glucose. Pick your poison: gel, frosting, honey stick, etc. The more liquidy stuff can be be applied to the inside of a persons gums if they're unable to swallow. Too much sugar isn't going to kill someone right away, but not having enough very well could. Where I'm currently located our protocols don't even have us taking a blood glucose level before giving sugar.

    A pulseoximeter. This one is a bit more fluff than the first 3, but still potentially useful. A basic one only costs $10-$20, but it can give you two useful metrics to pass along to a dispatcher.

    Cheers!

  17. I would throw an extra pair of gloves or two into the kits. Being able to change gloves, or in a trauma situation having multiple people assisting safely can be a big help.

  18. For the med part, I'm just missing some active charcoal for poisoning situations. I bring it up, because I've been in a situation where I needed it during a hike. Apart from that: excellent kit. Steristrips are a blessing

  19. Another great video. Nice to see the distinction between Owie Kit (little sick) and Trauma kit (Big sick)!
    Been carrying both for years for work and now doing first aid cover (FREC 3) at events – all the same stuff just more of it!
    My minimum trauma kit is 2x Zfold gauze, pair of gloves and a chest seal. Can be put in pockets / jacket on a night out with minimal bulk.

  20. I've been looking for a decent UK med kit for ages and I think Jon you've summed it all up 🙂 thank you very much. Could you possibly tell us roughly how much it cost to put together?

  21. Okay, your credibility just shot up. Very well researched and potentially life saving. Most "first aid kits" will barely deal with "booboos" but most things can wait until you get home to basically disinfect to avoid infection. Real life threatening stuff is all about stopping someone from bleeding to death and to keep oxygenated blood circulating. Both torniquet options and also the Israeli bandage will save a life if you and your kit are first on the scene or if you're a time away from trained help. The only thing you could have added was encouragement to take at least a basic first aid class as i did in my youth. That has saved several people already so worth every moment

  22. I made a similar kit after a lot of research and a first aid course from the Red Cross. My FAK is attached by Velcro to the driver’s headrest of my car and can be pulled off it’s mount quickly, folds open, includes both the smaller stuff and the trauma kit, and also includes a folding aluminum splint. I tried to get a CAT but they are sold out many places. I’m thinking I’ll get the SWAT tourniquet as it’s multi-purpose. Aggressive driving is a huge problem here in the US, as well as gun violence, leading to many traumatic injuries and deaths. It’s rare to be far from my car except when hiking, so the kit comes with me when in the backcountry. I really think everyone should take a first aid course to train how to do CPR, stop life threatening bleeding, choking, and other simple life-saving actions. It’s only a few hours.

  23. As someone with medical training I applaude your choices. First class. I also carry a couple of mini tampons for wound packing. I might disagree with the supposition that gunshot would be the primary cause of a penetrating chest wound. I'd have thought stabbing would be much more common in the UK .

  24. 11:46 What is happening to the video here? Watch how it morphs. Glitch in the matrix or a brief malfunction of the holographic tech that keeps people from seeing the true visage that lies behind the hologram? You know, like the way the reptilian aliens disguise themselves as humans. 😂

  25. Bought from Mere and can advise they are excellent company to deal with, quick responses on instagram and quick delivery (and well packaged) when ordering from them. Can recommend.

  26. Celox DOSE have increased survivability especially in a combat setting. It is now used by paramedics and also police officers when dealing with stabbings etc.

  27. Being a trauma surgeon I really appreciated that but I do think that everyone carrying such a kit should follow a Stop The Bleed course and be trained and educated.

  28. Some good advice and gear 👍. A permanent marker attached to the kit works for writing T(for tourniquet) and time on the casualty forehead as you can't always be when help arrives. Paramedics will always check airways so will see the tourniquet warning (or M for morphine). Airway management is usually the key to survival, even without an aid , ie passive management. Good stuff thanks 👍

  29. Im a paramedic in the USA and I have a cheep pair of tramma siccors in the back of my multi tool pouch and my raptors are in my trauma bag and first aid kit

  30. Those are both great kits. I have just a few suggestions:

    – A large triangle bandage is super versatile, can be a tourniquet, a sling, a wrap to support a sprained ankle, a large bandage for bigger wounds, etc.
    – Glucose tablets can be a life-saver if someone is having a diabetic emergency.
    – A plastic eye shield is lightweight and can protect an injured eye that you may not want to apply pressure to.

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