Let’s start with #1 this time.
#1 – Training, Training, Training – simple right? Hard to provide aid or save someone’s life without training. Without training all you can really do is call 911. But it doesn’t have to be the case going forward. Here are some great training resources for you.
Fieldcraft Survival – Emergency Medical Treatment Training - Medical - Fieldcraft Survival
Warrior Poet - Med 1: Medical Combat Training Course (warriorpoetsupplyco.com)
Red Cross - Emergency Medical Response (EMR) | Red Cross
#2 – Tourniquet (2 each) – 80-90% of the time direct pressure works. Learn how to make a pressure dressing from available materials and your individual first aid kit (IFAK). If direct pressure is not enough go to the tourniquet. If you recognize arterial bleeding, go to the tourniquet.
But before any of the above, get Training with the style of tourniquets you carry and refresh it every year.
#3 – Trauma dressing 6 x 6 with long tails. Permits dressing any limb with a simple ace bandage application that reduces the need for fine motor skills in high stress situations. Can be used as a sling and in many other applications.
#4 – Survival blanket – Shock is a sign that something is not right, moist, pale, cool clammy skin along with increased heart rate and breathing rate are your indicators. Often due to blood loss, there are many reasons for going into shock. The idea is to keep the patient’s temperature in a normal range which helps with clotting and gives the patient a better sense of I will be okay.
#5 – Trauma shears – There are a thousand uses for trauma shears from cutting a seatbelt to cutting the patients clothes to assess their wound(s) to cutting your clothes to make a pressure dressing.
To be honest I carry 25-30 items in my first aid kit. But I have 16 weeks of combat medic and lots of OJT with teammates who have completed the yearlong Special Forces 18D training.
Get the training, be competent with your IFAK and vehicle kits. Know your limits and call for help as soon as possible. Hopefully you will never need to practice your skills, but hope is not a strategy.
Be trained, be ready, and be thankful if you don’t need to apply them.