Why A Personal First Aid Kit Is Essential

You should keep a personal first aid kit at hand at all times. Consider keeping it on your person, in your car, at work or at home just in case you need it. Let's face it, sprains, cuts, insect bites and other injuries can occur without warning. Make sure that you properly treat these, and prevent a minor occurrence from turning into a major mishap.

Why A Personal First Aid Kit Is Essential

A good personal first aid kit contains all the equipment and supplies you will need to address a minor medical situation. It is a stopgap measure, until you can seek professional medical care. Items that should be contained within the kit include support for a fracture, provisions for pain relief, breathing control mechanisms and even something to help in opening a breathing passage, should the situation be serious. The location, need and purpose will dictate the contents off the kit.

We should all take time to understand basic medical care needs. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is something that we should all take time to learn. We should be able to recognize common medical symptoms and a good way to find more information is to study a variety of first aid books or look at medical emergency videos.

Here is a list of important items to put into your personal first aid kit. A variety of bandages, tweezers to remove splinters, alcohol pads, antiseptic ointments, sterile gauze, burn creams, butterfly closure strips, antihistamine, pain medication, moleskin, elastic bandage wraps, a face mask for performing CPR, paper, tape, scissors and non-latex gloves.

When you are planning a hunting or wilderness adventure, the contents of your personal first aid kit will need to reflect the challenge. The basics will not be sufficient for you, and you should add items such as anti-itch ointment, rehydration salt, treatment for anaphylactics shock, advice on the treatment of gunshot wounds, arrow injuries or fishhook removal. Adjust the contents of your kit according to the length of your outing.

It is often daunting to think about making your own, so most people opt to purchase a ready-made medical kit. In this way, everything that they will initially need is included and they will just need to replenish as they go. The kits will also come in a sturdy waterproof container.

Check your personal first aid kit periodically and make sure that you replenish those items when needed. Check expiration dates often and look to see that no items are damaged, or a sterile package is torn, as you will need to replace these immediately.

One of the most essential tools that you can have is your personal first aid kit. You will be surprised how often you will turn to this to treat such common elements as minor trauma, infection, blisters, headaches, allergies, wounds and colds. The kits will be specially useful if you have young children, and should be in an easy to find location.