personal medical kit contents

[Surgicalcric]

1. Gloves (PPE)
2. Nasal Airway 7.0 (secure Airway)
3. (2) large safety pins (secure bandage, sling, or to secure airway in a pinch)
4. 14 ga or larger 3” catheter (needle drill)
5. Cinch Tight “H” bandage (large bandage)
6. (2) Cinch Tight priMed gauze roll (smaller vaccum sealed Kerlix)
7. Duct tape (no kit is complete without it)
8. Quick Clot, HemCon, or TraumaDex as you prefer (duh)
9. Tourniquet SOFT-T(there should also be a minimum of 1 more on the soldiers centerline which he can get to with either hand (2 is 1; 1 is none)
10. Pill Pack (Mobic 15mg, Acetaminophen 1000mg, and Gatafloxacin 400mg)
11. Chest seals (Package from item 5 & 6 can be used for occlusive dressings along with duct tape thus saving weight and space)

I think that about covers it.

I am rethinking what I am having my guys carry. There may be changes to this list as I test out a few newer bandages...

Crip

[swatsurgeon]

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

1. Gloves (PPE)
2. Nasal Airway 7.0 (secure Airway)
3. (2) large safety pins (secure bandage, sling, or to secure airway in a pinch)
4. 14 ga or larger 3” catheter (needle drill)
5. Cinch Tight “H” bandage (large bandage)
6. (2) Cinch Tight priMed gauze roll (smaller vaccum sealed Kerlix)
7. Duct tape (no kit is complete without it)
8. Quick Clot, HemCon, or TraumaDex as you prefer (duh)
9. Tourniquet SOFT-T(there should also be a minimum of 1 more on the soldiers centerline which he can get to with either hand (2 is 1; 1 is none)
10. Pill Pack (Mobic 15mg, Acetaminophen 1000mg, and Gatafloxacin 400mg)
11. Chest seals (Package from item 5 & 6 can be used for occlusive dressings along with duct tape thus saving weight and space)

I think that about covers it.

I am rethinking what I am having my guys carry. There may be changes to this list as I test out a few newer bandages...

Crip

Surgcric,
what do you do with the chest seal ...and what is it's intended use....and why use it? What is the reason you would want to apply one?
ss

[swatsurgeon]

Gentlemen,
No one has listed the science/theory behind each component they want to carry.....we need to put real medical theory/facts into play here. Everything you want to carry takes up space and is weight on your person. Everything should have a "real" purpose, not a perceived purpose.
I could carry saran wrap and duct tape and nothing else from what I am reading in these posts......
Your life could and will depend on what you choose to carry. Let's make it the absolute right equipment..for the right reasons and the right uses.
Next.....

ss

I will begin to argue your choices with facts that you may/may not have thought about or heard before, from a trauma surgeons point of view. As an example, 2 significant studies demonstrated that a 3 inch chest decompression needle will make it into the majority of male chests and over a 4 inch could cause serious injury to either lung or heart if placed incorrectly. Less than 3 inches has a 35-40% miss rate into the thoracic cavity.

[Surgicalcric]

Originally Posted by swatsurgeon

Surgcric,
what do you do with the chest seal ...and what is it's intended use....and why use it? What is the reason you would want to apply one?
ss

I use the outer packaging from the "H" bandages (Israelis) for occlusive dressings (with the duct tape.) Chest seals (improvised, BCS, ACS, defib pads, etc) are applied to penetrating trauma between the umbilicus and chin.

As for the remainder:

1. Gloves (PPE)
2. Nasal Airway 28fr (used as a NPA or can be used for a cric in a pinch)
3. (2) large safety pins (secure bandage, sling, or to secure airway (pin thru tongue then cheek))
4. 14 ga or larger 3” catheter (needle drill)
5. Cinch Tight “H” bandage (pressure dressing, large)
6. (2) Cinch Tight priMed gauze roll (packing wound tracks)
7. Duct tape (no kit is complete without it)
8. Quick Clot, HemCon, or TraumaDex (this depends more on what is available at the time of order than what I want)
9. Tourniquet SOFT-T(there should also be a minimum of 1 more on the soldiers centerline which he can get to with either hand (2 is 1; 1 is none)
10. Pill Pack (Mobic 15mg, Acetaminophen 1000mg, and Gatafloxacin 400mg; for battle wounds where the soldier is conscious, in pain and the medic isnt there, SR, Recon, etc...)

Again, I have been rethinking the kit my guys carry and this is also METT-TC dependent, meaning the kit changes depending on whether we will be fighting in an urban environment (short patrols with medevac/casevac assets close) vs the jungles of South America or the mountains of A-stan (they carry much more stuff (personal sick-call meds, Antimicrobials, IV kits, etc) in the jungle and would on extended patrols in the mountains of A-stan, etc...)

There really isnt a one size fits all solution to this, atleast for the SOF soldiers. We can narrow it down to a bare essentials list for most everything but the truth is the kit will vary greatly depending on the where and for how long factors. The civilian side (LEO) should be much easier to cover though...

Crip

[Peregrino]

Keep going guys - we're all learning here. This is a timely discussion from my perspective because I have a couple empty IFAK pouches I need to set up. You're already influencing some of my initial choices. To backstop SS - lets get some "rationales" for the whats & whys. Us "knuckledraggers" need that if we're going to be convinced to carry anything more than the most obvious minimums. I always went with whatever the team medic handed me without a lot of questions. Now it's time to (I have to) do a little more thinking on my own.