Home Medical Supplies You Should Always Have In Your First Aid Kit

When we are talking about the survival gear, first-aid kits are among the most overlooked attentiveness items out there. It is genuine that they are not as important as survival knives, bug bags, and firearms. But necessarily when there is an actual emergency of these preparedness items, the reality is such that your medical bag will get more use at that time than any other items in your survival stash.

Let us see the most important items that need to be there in your first aid kit.

The Home Medical Supplies You Should Always Have In Your First Aid Kit

Items for the First-Aid Kit

A good first-aid kit is the one that has all the requirements that you might need at the time of emergency. There is no specific size but the first aid kit should be such that it can be customised and fit in with all the requirements. It should include all the needs and emergency stuff.

This involves taking a look or an overview of the members of the family and then on the medications if they are taking any, any health problems if they have, and the necessary medications you would need for them. All first-aid kits are different but there are some elements that are same in every kit.

Home Medical Supplies you should always have in your First-Aid Kit

In the article below we have mentioned some of the important first id kit requirements.

Considering a simple scraped knee or a broken bone, one thing that is sure is that accidents happen. But you can be equipped for such accidents by adding up a few items to the home care armoury. You can also purchase the pre-packaged first aid kits, but it is obviously better off building your own. You can visit your local pharmacy to get the mentioned must-have items for your kit.

First Aid Handbook

The items that are there in the kit won’t be of much help if you are not aware of how to use them. Go through the manual carefully so that you can be prepared to deal with all kinds of emergencies.

Sterile Gloves

Gloves give you protection for both the victim and the one who is rescuing you while treating the open wounds, or while providing a germ-free barrier among the two. You should make use of the nonlatex gloves if you or family members are suffering from a latex allergy.

Sanitizing Agent

There are antibiotic towelettes or you can make use of a mild antiseptic such as hydrogen peroxide that can help you to clean and sterilize a wound.

Adhesive Tape and Gauze

This duo is very important in the first aid kit as both are used to stop bleeding. Use sterile gauze for a bleeding wound, but with a firm and gentle pressure. Once the bleeding stops you can now make use of the tape to grip the gauze in place.

Antibiotic Ointment

If you make use of an ointment for a cut or scrape after cleaning the wound helps fight against infection. It will also help in speeding up the healing and lessen the scarring.

Adhesive Bandages

Cuts and scrapes can be any shape and sizes, so, therefore, your adhesive bandages should also be the same. You can easily use these to protect wounds from being dirty or fractious.

Scissors and Tweezers

Scissors those have round edges help to protect the victim from more injury. Make use of these shears for cutting tape or gauze or to remove clothing if required. The tweezers can also be used for detailing like removing particulate fragments, dirt, or even splinters. But don’t make use of the tweezers for removing the insect stinger as you might end up squeezing more poison into the skin. Instead, you can use the brush for the injured area that has an edge of a credit card.

Elastic Wraps

Not every accident will result in cuts or scrapes. So for that, you can make use of the elastic wraps that can help to calm the wrist, elbow, ankle, or the knee injuries and keep the swelling down.

Triangular Bandages

These are large bandages that can also be used for wrapping the injuries and are specifically helpful as slings for broken down or dislocated arms and shoulders. Also, keep in mind to keep safety pins to help to keep the bandages in position.

Pain Relievers

Some of the medicines that can help in soothing minor aches and pains are Acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and aspirin. With a doctor’s authorization, it looks like a good idea to keep a minimum two aspirin in the kit in case of a heart attack. Make use of these medications only as per the directions of the doctor. Don’t give aspirin to children and don’t use that either to alleviate flu symptoms. Periodically make sure you check the expiration dates of all medications.

Cold Packs

You can also make use of an instant cold compress for helping soothe and treating the burns and other injuries, that also includes insect stings, sprains, and strains.

Thermometer

You must have a thermometer on hand so whenever you’re feeling feverish and hot, you can monitor your body temperature. There are oral thermometers for adults and rectal thermometers for infants. And for electric thermometers, make sure you have extra batteries.

Emergency Phone Numbers

Just like bandages, wraps, and the important ointments, the emergency phone numbers are also required, that includes one of your doctor, pharmacy, and the poison control centre of your area.

Prescribed Medications

Make sure you keep the prescribed medications, that include insulin, inhalers for asthma, heart medicine, and some of the allergy medications, stored them according to directions. If you involve a list of each family member’s allergies and along with that the medications they take could be a lifesaver.

Keep Your Kit up to date

Make sure you check the expiration dates on kit items and ensure that you replace any that are expired.

A Double Dose of Safety

Now you need to be prepared for the emergencies. For this, you can stock both your home and car with the first aid kits.

Conclusion

These were some of the medical items that must be present in your first aid kit. Some more medications should be there which depend upon the allergies or the health issues any of the family members might be suffering from.