Packing a First Aid Kit

Tom RaderStaff - June 2, 2021

One of our most requested demonstrations is how to pack all of the material from The Prepared’s Individual First Aid Kit into the recommended pouch. R
[See the full post at: Packing a First Aid Kit]

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What’s your ankle holster kit like?

 

Ah I think this is it, right?

 

Your link is broken, but two examples of ankle holsters are Rescue Essentials and The Wilderness.

 

You mentioned putting liquids in the hard pelican case, but the NPA doesn’t go in the pelican. Are you not concerned about the NPA lube bursting?

 

You could certainly separate them if you’re concerned (I do). But I’ve seen medics not worry too much about the NPA lube, since it’s still within another larger bag (thus wouldn’t make everything else messy) and it’s okay if the lube gets all over the NPA tube within that larger bag.

 

It’s great watching an expert explain how and why they pack their kit. Watching it all get packed away also helps reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed, moving from “That’s a lot of gear!”, to “oh, that’s not so bad. That makes sense”.

Doing an overview like this right at the start – complete with naming each item and describing some of their uses – is a good method of quickly diving in to show detail, but then stopping. This may give helpful context for later, so you can remember.

This is a good way to show off the kit builder, especially with the weight and cost.

 

Love this section. It’s good to understand the “why” rather than just the “how” so I can pack my kit into whatever bag I happen to be using. rather than just shoving everything in, good to think “okay, put less critical items at the back/tucked away.” makes kit utilization much more straighforward.

one thing I might add if time/funds allow would be an article on different bags you can use, a la the guide to bug out backpacks (which was super helpful). there are so many different brands out there. I’m currently using the bag that came with my Red Cross FAK but will be upgrading to a MOLLE-compatible one in the near future for more versatility (and I’ll be honest, that tacticool look lol).

 

We definitely want to have a gear roundup page for the best IFAK bags. Anyone is welcome to help start putting a list of products together to get the ball rolling in the meantime 🙂

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DCS6MFV/

I purchased four of these when putting my IFAKs together for two BOB’s and two GHB’s.  The Fox bag seems to always be sold out, so I searched around and found these, which are very similar, maybe a hair smaller.  I was able to get everything on your list plus a few extras, minus the saran wrap, into them and get them shut.  That was over a year ago, all four are stuffed very full, but none have exploded yet, so they must be at least decent quality.  No stuck zippers or burst seams.  The two GHB kits have been outdoors for two Wisconsin winters, and nothing has exploded in them, either.  I’d recommend adding this one to your gear roundup.

 

Great intel, thanks Nick. Have you tried looking at the component pieces, now that they’ve been packed and stuffed for a while, to see if anything was damaged from over-squeezing? 

 

I opened all four in early fall when I did my bi-annual prep review and switch all my bags from summer to winter setup, and everything seems intact, nothing broken.  

 

Great bonus video!  In part, because “how to pack a first aid kit” is probably the ONE consistently glaring omission from every first aid course that I’ve previously taken.  In particular, I appreciated the emphasis on grouping like-items together and being intentional about prioritizing access to time-critical items like tourniquets and pressure bandages.

One question:  Does anybody use a tourniquet pouch to attach your tourniquet to the OUTSIDE of your IFAK?  It seems like this would give the tourniquet itself a bit more protection from day-to-day wear and tear without compromising rapid accessibility.

A suggestion:  Some of my backpacking friends carry a small bleed kit either in pouch attached outside their packs or in a Ziploc baggie inside the front or top of the pack where it can be quickly grabbed in an emergency.  The rest of their first aid supplies, then, go in a larger pouch safely stowed inside the pack.  Of course, this probably just comes down to being a matter of personal preference–how to organize things in a way that works best for you.  But for those who, for whatever reason, may not want to attach their entire IFAK to the outside of their BOB, this seams like a reasonable alternative method of organization.

 

Thank you for your feedback on this bonus video. It is a valuable lesson because we get all the gear but don’t know the best way to pack and store it. Learning from the experts who have gone through much trial and error over the years, fast tracks us to the ideal load-out.

I do store my tourniquet in a tourniquet pouch on the outside of my EDC backpack. Like you said, it protects against every day wear and tear, and is much faster to access than at the bottom of my pack. And in situations when you would need to access a tourniquet, every second matters.

Forgive the frilly padded cushion my bag is on. Haha, it looks quite funny seeing a tactical bag on such a surface. It’s my wife’s and isn’t my favorite…

Another tip is to practice every 6 months deploying your tourniquet and applying it to yourself. Make sure you know how to remove it from it’s pouch quickly. If you are stuck fumbling with the pouch, then the tourniquet might as well be at the bottom of your pack.

 

Thanks, Gideon!  Very helpful.

Practice, practice, practice . . . probably one of the most important but easiest-to-forget steps in prepping.

As for actual tourniquet pouches, do you recommend a particular product?  Or are they all basically the same thing regardless of brand and pricing?

 

There are so many options out there. Just take a look when you search ‘Tourniquet Pouch’ on Amazon. There are hard shell ones, fabric ones, ones with TQ or a red +, and like the one you linked to it has a place for some shears.

I just got a cheap $11 one from Condor.

If I had to rebuy one, I would probably go with one that is more enclosed like this one.

Having my tourniquet open and exposed, like the one from Condor, leads to it getting dusty at times. Having it more enclosed and protected would help the durability and probably prevent some contamination if you were to apply a dirty tourniquet to an open bleeding wound.

 

I use the ITS TQ pouch https://store.itstactical.com/products/tourniquick-rapid-tourniquet-deployment-pouch for attaching to the outside of my IFAK and vehicle kit, as well as my primary self-defense plate carrier.

 

What field guide do you recommend?

 

This is the field guide that was shown in the video: The Field Guide of Wilderness & Rescue Medicine