Trauma Kit

[nigelmercier]

... tournquets are back in vogue and we are all isuued with them when deployed.

Recent events have caused me to think about about what equipment I have for trauma and large wounds.

I've just ordered a C-A-T http://bit.ly/C-A-T

I'm considering some CELOX http://bit.ly/CELOX although I'm tempted to get some veterinary wound powder instead. Similarly veterinary superglue.

I also have a Philips HeartStart HS1 Defibrillator http://bit.ly/HS1-AED which I got second-hand on eBay.

What do you have in your First Aid Kit for serious trauma?

 

[TonyBuckley]

Recent events have caused me to think about about what equipment I have for trauma and large wounds.

I've just ordered a C-A-T http://bit.ly/C-A-T

I'm considering some CELOX http://bit.ly/CELOX although I'm tempted to get some veterinary wound powder instead. Similarly veterinary superglue.

I also have a Philips HeartStart HS1 Defibrillator http://bit.ly/HS1-AED which I got second-hand on eBay.

What do you have in your First Aid Kit for serious trauma?

Nothing. Basic first aid kit, and a selection of SERIOUS pain killers and compression aids. Very amazed at you having a defib - surely that needs a regular service. Risks from boating are severed sticky out bits, head injuries, and cold water dunking. Anything else except age and known conditions?

Immersion can shock someone into arrest quite quickly.

Done lots of first aid training; best was how to recognise problems from head trauma but little can be done about that as mayday situation if insensible or coning.

 

[nigelmercier]

The defibrillator just needs new batteries and pads every few years. It does a self-diagnostic when you connect the battery, and every few days. My main reason for buying it was because although I know how to do CPR, my wife doesn't!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The only thing I'd consider in that line would be inflatable splints. Tourniquets are dangerous without medical training; if you DO have to use one, then you can improvise one with a bit of cord and a spanish windlass. Pressure above the wound is safer, though. Bleeding can be handled by compression and towels. If you DO have to use a tourniquet, it must be loosened from time to time or your patient will end up with gangrene.

The defibrillator is a good bit of kit, but although mostly designed to be fool-proof, you should get training in its use - not least in recognizing when to use it. They are dangerous if used inappropriately (though the defibrillator should recognize a heart-beat and refuse to work if it detects one).

Any situation that requires intervention at that magnitude is a MAYDAY. Of course, if you are offshore and days from help, then you need enough kit to allow a medic on the radio to guide you while help arrives. But if you're in coastal waters, slowing bleeding and immobilizing broken limbs is probably all you should attempt, as well as CPR.

Apologies if I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs!

 

[alant]

Recent events have caused me to think about about what equipment I have for trauma and large wounds.

I've just ordered a C-A-T http://bit.ly/C-A-T

I'm considering some CELOX http://bit.ly/CELOX although I'm tempted to get some veterinary wound powder instead. Similarly veterinary superglue.

I also have a Philips HeartStart HS1 Defibrillator http://bit.ly/HS1-AED which I got second-hand on eBay.

What do you have in your First Aid Kit for serious trauma?

Unless you have someone capable of knowing how to use that kit, then possibly next to useless onboard.

 

[TonyBuckley]

CPR won't restart a heart; it is an intermediate measure to keep blood flowing. A defib would be required.

Recently the CPR techniques have been revised. For offshore it sounds a good thing but not something I have considered.

What injury would result in a stopped heart?

 

[st599]

The only thing I'd consider in that line would be inflatable splints. Tourniquets are dangerous without medical training; if you DO have to use one, then you can improvise one with a bit of cord and a spanish windlass. Pressure above the wound is safer, though. Bleeding can be handled by compression and towels. If you DO have to use a tourniquet, it must be loosened from time to time or your patient will end up with gangrene.

The defibrillator is a good bit of kit, but although mostly designed to be fool-proof, you should get training in its use - not least in recognizing when to use it. They are dangerous if used inappropriately (though the defibrillator should recognize a heart-beat and refuse to work if it detects one).

Any situation that requires intervention at that magnitude is a MAYDAY. Of course, if you are offshore and days from help, then you need enough kit to allow a medic on the radio to guide you while help arrives. But if you're in coastal waters, slowing bleeding and immobilizing broken limbs is probably all you should attempt, as well as CPR.

Apologies if I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs!

At work we no longer teach how to use an AED, everyone is just expected to use it as it's so fool proof.

 

[st599]

Unless you have someone capable of knowing how to use that kit, then possibly next to useless onboard.

Apart from the CAT, the others are easy - pour CELOX into wound, open AED box and follow voice prompts.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I rather doubt that a defib is likely to be much help on an off-shore boat. Whilst it might bump start your ticker, if the cause of the failure is not addressed pretty quickly then you are off to Davey Jones' Locker anyhow.

FWIW I carry a first aid kit which is designed for agricultural use. I figured that the kind of injuries that a farmworker might encounter may be similar to what might happen on a boat. I also carry the St John's Ambulance first aid book which is probably more likely to be of help than all the bandages and plaster I might have.

 

[TonyBuckley]

Recent events have caused me to think ...

There is clearly some reason for this thinking and question.

I hope the 'events' were not too serious.

But I hope you can feel able to share why the kit you have described and now carry would have helped.

Particularly interested in the cause and effect from the risks of sailing.

You could pretty much carry an entire A&E kit and get trained to use, but where does one decide to stop.

 

[nigelmercier]

I hope the 'events' were not too serious...

The missing crew of Cheeki Rafiki. I just started thinking about major incidents, and decided there was one area where I could be better prepared: a proper First Aid Kit.

My younger son did a one week "First Person On Scene" course, so I'm also talking with him.

 

[jdc]

We carry Animalintex and Vetwrap. Animalintex is a large sterile dressing, and Vetwrap is bandage which sticks to itself and can be used on wounds or to support sprains and could even hold splints in place. They are nominally for horses, but much better than the piffling little bandages in the average first aid kit!

I intend to purchase a suture kit (and learn how to use it) before our next adventure.

 

[chalky]

I'd use Celox impregnated gauze rather than the powder - easier to use and more effective in my experience.

Tourniquets are ok and the CAT is as good as any. The problem with them are that in order for them to work you have to do it up really tight - and that is extremely painful. Without really strong pain killers, I doubt you'd tolerate it for long enough to get gangrene. They work best in traumatic amputation through blast injury (IED injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted their re-emergence) but they might be useful if you've severed a major artery in your leg or arm.

AEDs are simple to use. Not that useful in trauma as the heart doesn't often go into the chaotic rhythem that AEDs can shock you out of.

 

[LittleSister]

If I don't recognise the acronyms you're all using, I'm probably not going to know how to use the kit they refer to!


(p.s. 'Veterinary wound powder' sounds like a euphemism along the lines (sic) of Bolivian marching powder!)

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I rather doubt that a defib is likely to be much help on an off-shore boat. Whilst it might bump start your ticker, if the cause of the failure is not addressed pretty quickly then you are off to Davey Jones' Locker anyhow.

FWIW I carry a first aid kit which is designed for agricultural use. I figured that the kind of injuries that a farmworker might encounter may be similar to what might happen on a boat. I also carry the St John's Ambulance first aid book which is probably more likely to be of help than all the bandages and plaster I might have.

I have Kurafid, a book designed for use by people in Antarctica. Very practical and down to earth!

 

[alant]

Apart from the CAT, the others are easy - pour CELOX into wound, open AED box and follow voice prompts.

Ah, but would everyone know how to do that?
Were you shown?
In most cases, the only time most people (other than the guy who bought it) look at kit, will be when an accident occurs, which is obviously a bit late to start training/learning.

I stand by my original post - unless you know how to use it, even the best equipment, is as good as a chocolate teapot.

 

[alant]

I rather doubt that a defib is likely to be much help on an off-shore boat. Whilst it might bump start your ticker, if the cause of the failure is not addressed pretty quickly then you are off to Davey Jones' Locker anyhow.

FWIW I carry a first aid kit which is designed for agricultural use. I figured that the kind of injuries that a farmworker might encounter may be similar to what might happen on a boat. I also carry the St John's Ambulance first aid book which is probably more likely to be of help than all the bandages and plaster I might have.

Might be a better idea to read it in advance.
Think I'd lose confidence, if the 'first responder', was thumbing through an instruction manual.

 

[alant]

I have Kurafid, a book designed for use by people in Antarctica. Very practical and down to earth!

How many fingers affected by frostbite, happen in the Solent?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

How many fingers affected by frostbite, happen in the Solent?

Well, hypothermia is certainly a potential hazatd.

 

[afterpegassus]

How many fingers affected by frostbite, happen in the Solent?

Probably quite a few burnt fingers, the injury being essentially the same