First Aid Kit

An important component to any Bug Out Bag, as well as a good thing to have on hand in the house and in your car, is a First Aid Kit, sometimes referred to as a Personal First Aid Kit (PFAK).

Contents 1 Utilizing a First Aid Kit 2 Building a First Aid Kit 3 Example Contents for First Aid Kits 3.1 Basic First Aid Kit 3.2 Home First Aid Kit 3.3 Car First Aid Kit 3.4 Desk First Aid Kit 3.5 Diaper Bag First Aid Kit 3.6 Range Bag First Aid Kit 4 Page Curator

Utilizing a First Aid Kit

If you want to ensure you know where your First Aid Kit is, what it's stocked with and how it's organized, you need to use your First Aid Kit often. That's not to say people need to be injured around you often, just that you need to find cause to dig around in it often enough to breed familiarity. Many people have band-aids and a bottle of their pain killer of choice in their bathroom medicine cabinet, but it would be better if they pulled these items out of their First Aid Kits. It doesn't take much to ensure you know where your First Aid Kit is, just getting a Tylenol out of it every few weeks would do the trick. There is the added benefit in that this method ensures everything in your First Aid Kit is fresh and up to date.

Building a First Aid Kit

A good and often times economical place to start when building a First Aid Kit is with a pre-assembled kit. These can often be found in your local big box retailer (such as Target and WalMart), sporting goods stores, as well as online. However, these types of pre-assembled kits are only a starting point, since they often times don't have everything you might want in a kit.

When expanding one of the pre-assembled First Aid Kits, it's important to think about how you will be using the kit. Often times, it makes sense to have different kits that are used in different situations. For example, it might make sense to have a small kit in your desk drawer at work, a larger kit to take with you camping, and a specialized kit in your range bag to deal with gunshot wounds.

Below you will find some examples of First Aid Kits designed for various purposes. One note on the equipment included here: Make sure you are properly trained in using the equipment you have. If you do not know how to use it, don't attempt it as you can possibly make things worse. However, that does not mean you should pack anything you don't know how to use, since somebody else who does know how to use your equipment might be around in an emergency and simply not have the necessary equipment.

Example Contents for First Aid Kits

Basic First Aid Kit

Trauma shears (inexpensive) Tweezers Irrigation syringe Small flashlight Headlamp Chemical cold packs Purell hand sanitizer Thermometer

Space blanket Cotton swabs Aspirin Epipen Ibuprofen Aloe vera gel Hydrocortisone ointment Pocket mask with one-way valve

Non-latex Gloves Band-aids, assorted sizes Sterile gauze pads Paper medical tape Butterfly closure strips Israeli Battle Dressing (inexpensive) Saline

Home First Aid Kit

Home defibrillator

Car First Aid Kit

Desk First Aid Kit

Diaper Bag First Aid Kit

Band-Aids Antibacterial spray Child Sunscreen Child safe insect repellent

Child’s thermometer Hydrocortisone cream Diaper rash cream Irrigating eye wash

Tweezers Ice pack Nasal aspirator bulb Infant acetaminophen or ibuprofen

Range Bag First Aid Kit

Page Curator

Grant Henninger