rcaffin wrote:If the problem is so big that you would need a large FAK, you would be MUCH better off using a mobile phone. The police and ambos never mind helping with a genuine problem. (They prefer helping a live body to hauling a body bag.)
Me - some BandAids, some micro-pore tape, a few grams of burn cream, a Bic, an unopened scalpel blade (no handle), some BFI.
Plus - wads of TP, a clean hanky, and if necessay bits of clothing. Beyond that - phone.
Caution: Aspirin and other NSAIDs can kill if the patient is allergic to them. This happens a surprising amount.
Cheers
The purpose of a FAK in the wilderness is primarily accommodating the most likely non-serious events (to keep one going until the problem goes away or until you exit the bush) and accommodating the most likely serious life/limb threatening events until extraction arrives (hopefully facilitated via PLB or phone) - all with due recourse to some kind of risk assessment.
I think that your FA kit is too sparse - at least for the more remote mountainous scale of walking. It is true that their is a tendencey to go over the top with first aid kits for every possible scenario and you can treat many serious injuries with the stuff on your back, but if I have an injured walker with actual severe bleeding is is impressive how much difference that a dedicated FA dressing and elastic bandage can make to haemorrhage control.
Why am I mentioning bleeding? I judge that severe bleeding to be the nexus of severity, and likelihood in extended or remote walking - because this is the only scenario that I can think of that is a consequence of a likely event(i.e a slip when scrambling), that can be treated by a first aider (for example, internal bleeding or a head injury cannot be treated via first aid) and must be treated urgently.
Dedicated first aid products are useful in this circumstance because It's not just the time it take to find and tear up your spare jocks and shove it into a bleeding cavity, it's the mechanics of securing a dressing onto a *&%$#!, sweaty, muddy human (haemorrhage control in an austere environment is surprisingly difficult to do).
If you're waiting hours for extraction (which you will be) I'd prefer to be setting up a shelter and sleeping bag to care for the casualty then manually holding a dressing in place or struggling to manage with torn up jumpers - all at the expense of a 100gram 10 dollar roller bandage.
A roller bandage is not 'stupid heavy' and should not always on the list of 'unnecessary items' (although plausibly it could be - it comes down to risk assessment after all). If I'm carrying a PLB in the mountains I am carrying bleeding control.
Addit: 'Aspirin and other NSAIDs can kill if the patient is allergic to them. This happens a surprising amount.' is not true.
Aspirin and NSAIDS should be used with caution in those with asthma - actual allergies are very uncommon. It is possible that someone could die if you gave them aspirin or an NSAID but it is not very likely. The most common problem is with someone with pre-existing asthma - in which it is a precaution, or in repeated doses over time, when bleeding/stomach ulcers are a concern.
