First Aid Kit 'must-haves' and how often to refresh

[jeromedawg]

Hey all,

Was curious what some of the "must-haves" in your first aid kits are. I'm sure it'll depend on locale, somewhat, but please do share.

I was also wondering how often you go through and refresh your supplies, especially the 'perishable' stuff (e.g. medicine, ointment, creams, towelettes/wipes, etc). I have a few kits but the creams/ointments/medicines are past due on most of them. I've kind of just assumed that all those will still work fine, for the most part, but have just lost potency. It's probably a good idea to refresh them. On that note, when you guys do replenish your kits, do you order the individual-use packets (like the .9gr sized burn creams, ointments, etc)? Or do you just stick an entire tube of Neosporin, etc in your kit(s)?

[Morning Glory]

I don't have one. Never even owned a thermometer until I had a kid, and still haven't used it. I guess I like to leave work at work. I keep a few Band-Aids in the house, and some OTC meds that get replenished as they are used up. I cut myself seriously once and just used duct tape and paper towels until I got to work and could put a real bandage on it.

[Lady SA]

must-haves:
bandaids
thermometer
tweezers
hot/cold reusable gel pack
Ace bandage (useful for many things!)
aspirin
Neosporin or similar

^that's pretty much it. Only the neosporin and aspirin would be considered perishable, but I haven't been killed yet by using old neosporin. The painkillers get cycled through relatively regularly since I'm a lady and have periods 12 times a year.

[Lepetitange3]

Definitely bandaids. If the neosporin sits unopened I'd say you're food for a long time.  If you open it, you need to cycle it, basically germs can get inside the remaining contents and that's kind of against the point.  If you're really worried about it, buy the individual ones and ignore the throw out date. 

I always keep ibuprofen and Tylenol because they can be used in combination for most anything.  Also agree on the gel pack, especially if you have kids.  My God, the ice pack and a kiss solve 90% of nonsense.  Also Benadryl.  If someone catches a severe allergic reaction to something, forcing Benadryl down their throat could save their life.

I have a thermometer, I would agree with MrsWolfeRN that they are almost superfluous.  I have 4 kids, I basically use mine to confirm what I already know by feeling their forehead- they have a fever.  My husband tells stories at work about how "good" my fever game is because I am usually within +- .5 of knowing how bad it is by just touching them.  I use the thermometer to confirm the temp I perceive to tell the doctor when they go in.  But the doctors office always takes it themselves anyway.  I don't know obviously YMMV.

I have tweezers but they aren't in the first aid kit.  I send a child to my bathroom vanity for them if someone gets a splinter.

Ace bandages are useful.  Hubby is in law enforcement and we are also retired military so we keep Some more unusual things most people won't need.  That being said tourniquet kits are small and really cheap.  While it's unlikely to need one, if you ever do need one, you REALLY need one.  So probably worth having. 

[lbmustache]

I just bought a generic first aid kid - the spiffier one with tweezers etc. in it. I have a sort of "emergency bag" type thing going on - I have a few meal replacement bars, toilet paper, a gallon of water, and a swiss army knife. I actually also have dog food in there too (for my dog, not myself). :)

[bogart]

We live in town, and don't really have one -- we have bandaids, ace bandages, and standard NSaids lying around the house, ditto one or two kids' meds (think fever reducer) and a thermometer.  Somewhere we have tweezers, and I did actually recently buy a hand-held mirror (didn't have one) to deal with those "dammit is that a tick on my back" moments when I'm the only one home.  We don't really replace anything, though we will replace expired meds if/when we notice they are expired -- particularly if by more than a year. 

In all honesty, the likelihood of our having a medical emergency here that (a) requires first aid but (b) does not require professional assistance and (c) includes circumstances where no one's available to drive to the nearby drugstore (or it's closed) and that would (d) matter if we waited 8 hours before getting things taken care of are slim.

We do camp, and for that I care about keeping the above items handy, plus ginger ale and/or apple juice and crackers, because once or twice DS has had a bug while we're camping in a way that those are about all he can keep down/eat.  And having a dehydrated kid out in the middle of nowhere would be, while not a total crisis (we're still not in Death Valley, or, say, rural Romania), a potentially more serious problem, so would prefer to avoid it.

We're not users of neosporin, much (though we do occasionally).  More a fan of soap + water.

[geekette]

We keep nsaids, some cold packs in the freezer, assorted band aids, and bacitracin ointment on hand.  That's about it, but all are used fairly frequently.  Both of us seem to get cuts and scrapes, and if they turn red, I use the ointment. 

Two months ago I tumbled off the edge of the trail and almost ended up in the lake.  That was an "interesting" walk home, with leaves in my hair and blood running down my leg. Thorough cleaning (including the removal of an inch long splinter), and frequent bandaging with bacitracin kept me from the doctor's office.  My knee expelled what I hope was the final splinter of wood two weeks ago. 

Contrast to a few years ago when new bifocals caused me to trip and land on a knee on Mt. Etna's cinders.  We had another week on our trip, so I borrowed some ointment from my sister, but it kept getting worse.  I ended up at urgent care the day we got back.  It wasn't until later that I noticed my borrowed ointment had expired SEVEN YEARS AGO! 

So yeah, a year, it's probably fine.  Seven?  Not so much.