Monday Tip - First Aid Kits

Off the shelf kits like this Adventure Medical Kit 'Day Tripper' vary in quality, but can be augmented with additions of your choice, but building up your own kit means you can carry exactly what you feel you need.

Add your own extra bits - clingfilm won't feature in many ready-assembled kits, but is an option for treating burns or grazes.

This week's Monday Tip is about first aid kits and what you should be carrying on the hill to cope with the sort of medical issues you're likely to encounter. Bear in mind though, that the most important aspect of first aid in the hills is knowledge - the most comprehensive selection of medical supplies is near useless if you don't know what to do with it.

Ideally everyone would do a specialist mountain first aid course, but learning from a good outdoor first aid manual is a start and carrying a small, lightweight one isn't a bad move.

Bought Or Made-Up?

You can, of course, buy off the shelf kits, and some are very good. Bear in mind that you can always 'edit' them by adding your own extras and taking out bits you don't feel you need. One thing to bear in mind is that irritatingly, few first aid kits sold as outdoor-specific are supplied in a proper waterproof pouch. Buy your own, preferably clearly marked as 'first aid' so anyone rifling through your pack in an emergency can find it easily.

Obviously you can also make your own kit by buying the contents off the shelf then storing in a waterproof bag or pouch. That also means you can reduce duplication, for example, why carry scissors if you already have a perfectly good multi-bladed knife or multi-tool? In addition, it'll probably work out cheaper too.

Basic Kit

For general hill use, we'd consider carrying the following basics for a lightweight kit:

• antiseptic wipes
• non-adherent dressings
• tape - duct tape and Transpore medical tape
• butterfly closures (Steristrips)
• plasters
• ibuprofen or aspirin tablets
• elastic or crepe bandage for sprains
• blister pads or similar
• safety pins
• tweezers (if not on your knife)

On top of that, for a more extensive kit - maybe for a multi-day trip - you might consider adding the following

• triangular bandage (you can improvise with clothing if you don't have one)
• anti-histamine cream
• gloves
• larger dressings
• clingfilm - for burns and grazes
• more of the basics above like butterfly closures, wipes and so on

Big Trips

If you're off somewhere genuinely remote on a multi-day trek or expedition, you might want to add a few more extras like...

• wide-spectrum antibiotics (prescription)
• anti-giardia drugs
• emergency dental kit if you're concerned on that front

Finally, just to emphasis our initial observation: a first aid kit is useless without relevant medical skills, so make the effort to lean the basics of first aid, which will in turn, help you make informed decisions about what to carry in your first aid kit.