Any time can be an emergency. To protect yourself and your family, it is crucial to be prepared at home and on the go. Many common illnesses and injuries can be successfully treated at home with the correct supplies, even if some crises necessitate medical attention. It would be best if you kept filled first aid kits in your home, place of business, and vehicle to assist you in staying prepared in an emergency. Emergency supplies can be kept on hand in addition to first-aid kits to assist you in staying safe during natural disasters or power outages.
Look at your kit’s top 10 essential first aid supplies.
1. Tweezers
Regardless of their use, tweezers should be included in first aid supplies since they can be useful for clearing wounds of foreign objects like dirt, splinters, or glass.
2. First Aid Guide
A first aid manual may provide straightforward instructions on how to handle wounds, sprains, bites, and other typical injuries. However, before a crisis arises, it is crucial to ensure that everyone who has access to the kit reads the instruction booklet to treat any injuries properly.
3. Antibiotic cream
Antibiotic ointment is crucial for treating various wounds and is made to aid in properly healing injured areas. While antibiotic cream can help prevent infections, it must first be properly cleaned with alcohol swabs before being applied to a lesion. Therefore, it is one of the most important items that should be present in your first aid supplies kit.
4. Healing tape
Gauze bandages or wraps can be readily secured in place with medical tape. To ensure that you always have enough, the medical tape is typically available in a large role that is specifically made not to leave a residue.
5. Liquor swabs
It is crucial to clean the area with alcohol swabs before applying antibiotic ointment or bandages to a wound. In some circumstances, anaesthetic and alcohol swabs can be used to disinfect medical equipment, such as tweezers, before and after use.
6. Cotton bandages
Sometimes, adhesive bandages won’t be big enough to cover a wound completely. That is why it is essential to ensure that your medical equipment kit contains gauze bandages that can be used to absorb blood. Since gauze bandages come in various sizes, you should be sure to include an assortment of sizes in your first aid kit.
7. Velcro or elastic bandages
Elastic bandages should be included in every first aid kit to keep injured joints immobilised and prevent swelling. This bandage can be wrapped around elbows, ankles, knees, and wrists and has either hook-and-loop or metal closures.
8. Plastic gloves
It’s dangerous to treat wounds. So, before starting any therapy, you should always put on disposable gloves for your protection and the protection of your patient. It will shield you from dangerous infections in the patient’s wound and stop open wounds from getting infected by bacteria or germs on your hands.
9. Thermometer
While a person’s normal body temperature might vary somewhat throughout the day, an abruptly high temperature may indicate an infection or disease. By keeping a thermometer in a handy place, you may check for fever in yourself or another family friend and decide what to do next.
10. Quick-heat and instant-chill packs
You risk falling, tripping, and bumping your head, even at home. In addition, pain may result from these wounds. Instant heat and cold packs can be helpful if you don’t have ice packs in your freezer (or if your power goes out and you can’t use your microwave). Squeezing them will activate them while you keep them at room temperature. Then, as the water and salt combine inside the pack, a warming or cooling reaction occurs.
11. Medical PPE product
In emergencies, medical staff is in close contact with patients, and at the same time, droplets from patients can easily cause infection in medical staff. Thus, they need PPE product that protects them from potential transmission.
You must not forget your first aid kit
Many people purchase a first aid kit for themselves but use it occasionally or never. However, it’s crucial to remember your first aid kit, even if you haven’t used it in a while.
Your first aid supplies kit should be locked and out of children’s reach in a cold, dry location. If possible, replace any used products immediately to ensure they aren’t absent from your emergency kit in a crisis. Additionally, some of the supplies in your first aid bag may expire. Items that have expired should be discarded and replaced since they may no longer work and can begin to decay, making them.
What shouldn’t be included in a first aid kit?
Items that have expired or are no longer fit for use, such as those that are no longer sterile or that have been filthy or moist for whatever reason, shouldn’t be included in your first aid supplies.
Any kind of tablet or medication should be included in first aid kits. If the seal on the sterile water or sterile normal saline (0.9%) in your first aid kit is broken, you should discard the water and don’t use the containers again.
Takeaway
Never forget to maintain a simple first-aid manual with the goods in your first-aid box. Every person should receive basic first aid training since it goes beyond saving lives to improve technique and pave the road for a safe and healthy lifestyle.
Ellen Diamond did her degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. She is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
