Having a basic first aid kit when you go camping is a must. However, you’ll need a trauma kit also when you go to the gun range, shooting or anywhere there’s a chance of a massive trauma. Even working on cars can dangerous enough to keep a basic well-stocked trauma kit around.
We all hope to never have to use a trauma kit. The fact is things happen, and not being prepared when it’s life or death is bad. This means you should be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. Always carry a first aid kit and a trauma kit with you when you are doing anything where there is potential for life-ending injuries.
Carry a Trauma Kit No Matter Your Training?
Many people might think they don’t know how to use these things so why carry them? Just because you don’t know how to a tourniquet doesn’t mean someone around doesn’t. Plus they may have forgotten to bring their kit. There’s also the idea that if you are involved in a mass shooting, having your own trauma kit may be what saves you when other supplies run out. Granted you should learn how to use each everything in a trauma kit, but just having one is a good place to start. If nothing else make sure you add these things to your First Aid Kit for when you need something for more than a simple cut.
Tourniquet
For many years people were told don’t use tourniquets. They can cause a person to lose a perfectly good arm or leg. It will take hours for a tourniquet to cause permanent damage. However, it only takes 3 minutes to bleed out and die from a cut to a major artery.
The fact is when you have a knee replaced the doctor uses a tourniquet on your leg. This stops the bleeding and make it easier for the doctor to see. This means using a tourniquet to save a person from bleeding out is not going to cause them to lose a limb. Not using one may cause them to die.
Always Have A Spare
When you supply your trauma kit you want to have 2 tourniquets. This is so if you don’t get the first one on tight enough to stop the bleeding. You can always put a second one on, but taking one-off to tighten it, won’t always work.
Different Types of Tourniquets
There are a few different types of tourniquets. CAT Tourniquet, RATS Tourniquet, SOFTT-W Tourniquet, and the SWAT-T tourniquet. They all claim to work if you know how to use them. The CAT Tourniquet is the only one recommended by most EMT’s and medics
No Improvised Tourniquets
Many People think they can improvise a tourniquet out of shoelaces, or a belt. This is a terrible idea. Improvised tourniquets have a nearly 100% failure rate. Even if you use good materials, tie knots correctly and use something to tighten it past your ability to pull it tight. It’s still only about 25% effective. You don’t want to risk someone’s life because you don’t have the right tool. Buy a good high-quality tourniquets for your trauma kit. If you want to save money buy a cheap one to practice with.
Emergency Trauma Dressing
Emergency Trauma dressings are better known as pressure bandages. These bandages are designed to keep pressure on a wound without you having to hold it there.
You can just use gauze and ace wrap. However, tying ace wrap off so it doesn’t loosen up can be hard. Whereas emergency trauma dressing comes in 4″ or 6″ versions when the gauze and a clip to hold it tight built-in.
These work great for large wounds. However, there is a better trauma bandage than the standard emergency trauma dressing. It’s called an Israeli battle dressing. It has a clip and a cleat that gives you pressure on the wound. If you’ve never seen one, check out how they work in this video. Having at least a trauma dressing in your trauma kit is a must, buying an Israeli Battle dressing is a better option.
Gauze
Gauze is the first thing you grab for any bleeding wound. It comes in all sorts of sizes. All designed to cover a wound and not stick to it. However, for a trauma kit, you’ll want gauze with a homeostatic agent in it. This is designed to help stop bleeding faster than just plain gauze. For deep puncture wounds or bullet wounds to the neck, armpit, or groin area. You’ll want to stuff the gauze in the hole then apply a pressure bandage on top of the gauze. Do not stuff in a chest cavity wound because you’ll just be pressing against vital organs.
You can buy the homeostatic agent as a powder, but the gauze with it built-in is better as it doesn’t have to be scrubbed out later at the hospital.
Depending on the size of the bag you have you can buy gauze in a roll or a Z-fold. Either way, you’ll want around 5′ but the folded is going to lay flatter in your bag and take up a little less space. It’s really a personal choice. If you don’t have the extra money for the homeostatic gauze, just standard sterile gauze will work. Just not as quickly.
Chest Seals
Holes in a person’s chest can quickly become a huge problem if they suck in air and collapse the lung. Which means you need to seal chest wounds as soon as possible.
The best way to do this is with a vented chest seal. They have a special adhesive on them the will make sure they are stuck to the skin. However, sometimes a person is very hairy and it won’t seal properly. If that happens, pull it off quickly the hair will come with it. Then apply a new seal.
Chest seals come in packages of 2 because the bullet almost always goes all the way through. Cover both holes. It’s a good idea to have a couple of packages of chest seals if one didn’t stick. If all else fails, take the outer packaging of the seal, and tape it over one of the holes. You want to make sure no air is entering the chest wound when the person is breathing.
Airway Tube
There are ways to clear an airway on an unconscious person without an airway tube. The problem is most of them involve holding the person’s head, and chin. Not something you can do if you are still trying to deal with wounds. Thus, having an airway tube in your trauma kit is a must.
Survival Blanket
When someone loses a lot of blood they can go into hemorrhagic shock. While the best way to treat this is to replace the fluids, but you’ll have to wait for medics to do that.
What you want to do is keep the person warm so they don’t get hypothermia on top of the shock. When the body has a hard time just keeping the blood it has flowing it won’t be able to regulate its temperature. So keep a survival blanket in your trauma kit to help keep the person warm until medics get there.
Gloves
While gloves aren’t necessary to help save an injured person’s life. They will help protect you from any bloodborne pathogens. Thus having a few pairs in your trauma kit are for your protection, and well worth a few dollars. When choosing gloves make sure you get latex-free gloves. Since you never know who’s allergic to latex, the last thing you want to do is add an allergic reaction to the trauma that’s already there.
Shears
While many people carry a pocket knife, you don’t always want to use a knife to cut clothing off. The last thing you want is to accidentally cut someone worse. This means having a set of medical shears to cut clothing, shoes or whatever is a must. You won’t have to worry about cutting anything you don’t want to. Yet, they still have the ability to get things out-of-the-way to treat the person easier.
Permanent Marker
While a marker isn’t necessary you’ll want something to write what time you applied a tourniquet. Not to mention if you happen to have multiple victims writing on a person’s head what you found wrong or any basic information for medics will be helpful.
Bag
Of course, you will need something to carry all these supplies around with. You’ll need a bag big enough to fit everything and keep it organized. What you don’t want is something so big you won’t want to carry it with you. The bag is really personal taste. Just make sure you can fit everything.
Store-Bought Trauma Kits (IFAK)
If buying all this individually seems like a lot of work, or too expensive. You can buy a trauma kit already put together. These kits are usually called IFAK(Individual first aid kit). These kits are often lacking a second tourniquet and maybe a few other things. They are a good starting point and will get you buy. Just a reminder of something to think about. When a life is on the line do you really want to buy budget supplies? This is why you should buy a kit from somewhere you trust. At least double-check the list of what comes with it, and know you may have to add to it.
Conclusion
When it comes to dealing with gunshot wounds or other mass trauma having training is top of the list of things you need. The problem is all the training in the world won’t help you if you don’t have the supplies to go with it. Get some training. Learn how to deal with these kinds of medical emergencies, and carry a trauma kit with you when you are out shooting, or anywhere, that you may need it. Just like carrying a gun for protection. It’s better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it. You’ll never regret having these skills or supplies, but you may regret not having them.