Author Topic: You know what a blow out kit is? You should! (Read 46128 times)

Gunnguy · « **Reply #50 on:** February 03, 2011, 12:46:46 pm »

Quote from: RevDisk on February 02, 2011, 08:55:03 pm

How are the tefla pads? I've been mucking with 3M Tegaderm and very impressed with it thus far. I replaced all of my old bandaids with Nexcare versions.

For anyone that hasn't mucked with it, have a glance at http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/SH/SkinHealth/brands/tegaderm/

Basically, imagine if Gore-Tex and Saran Wrap had a baby named "Transparent Film Dressing", that was sterile, semi-permeable and adhesive backed.

Telfa Pads are great for any wound care that requires something that will not stick or become imbeded (sp?). We've used them for years and are far better than regular guaze pads or the old 3X3 and 4X4 pads.
The Tegaderm pads seem to work very well on surgical sites that have a hard time closing up. (Wife and I used these after the stuff the surgeon used to 'close' her wounds failed miserably. Took a few weeks to finish healing, but it turned out good.)

WeTheArmed.com

Thernlund · « **Reply #51 on:** February 03, 2011, 01:12:31 pm »

Quote from: Gunnguy on February 03, 2011, 12:46:46 pm

...imbeded (sp?)..

Embedded.

-T.

RevDisk · « **Reply #52 on:** March 25, 2011, 12:11:21 am »

Quote from: Gunnguy on February 03, 2011, 12:46:46 pm

Telfa Pads are great for any wound care that requires something that will not stick or become imbeded (sp?). We've used them for years and are far better than regular guaze pads or the old 3X3 and 4X4 pads.
The Tegaderm pads seem to work very well on surgical sites that have a hard time closing up. (Wife and I used these after the stuff the surgeon used to 'close' her wounds failed miserably. Took a few weeks to finish healing, but it turned out good.)

Could have tried sugar. Kinda a last resort type thing, but it works well on hard to close wounds.

Gunnguy · « **Reply #53 on:** March 26, 2011, 09:56:16 pm »

Quote from: Thernlund on February 03, 2011, 01:12:31 pm

Embedded.

-T.

Thank you.

Avenger29 · « **Reply #54 on:** April 03, 2011, 10:49:23 pm »

How do you rig those ratchet strap tie downs as tourniquets?

RevDisk · « **Reply #55 on:** April 03, 2011, 11:56:38 pm »

Quote from: Avenger29 on April 03, 2011, 10:49:23 pm

How do you rig those ratchet strap tie downs as tourniquets?

Have to be careful using tie down straps as tourniquets. You want the strap in contact with the flesh to be more or less uniform over the entire surface and preferably soft ish. Have to make sure the ratchet device won't dig into the flesh. Last thing you want is for a ratchet with a thin sharp edge to start slicing blood vessels above the tourniquet.

In a pinch, use what you got. If you're assuming a kit in advance, it's worth it to buy a real tourniquet. Some times you can scrimp on. Tourniquet ain't one where I'd willingly do so.

Avenger29 · « **Reply #56 on:** April 06, 2011, 02:23:24 am »

Quote from: RevDisk on April 03, 2011, 11:56:38 pm

Have to be careful using tie down straps as tourniquets. You want the strap in contact with the flesh to be more or less uniform over the entire surface and preferably soft ish. Have to make sure the ratchet device won't dig into the flesh. Last thing you want is for a ratchet with a thin sharp edge to start slicing blood vessels above the tourniquet.

In a pinch, use what you got. If you're assuming a kit in advance, it's worth it to buy a real tourniquet. Some times you can scrimp on. Tourniquet ain't one where I'd willingly do so.

I personally ordered an IFAK with a SOF-T tq from Chinook, but I could use some stuff for my hardheaded relatives and friends who won't spend money on dedicated tourniquets and such, but everybody I know has plenty of ratchets around.

xsquidgator · « **Reply #57 on:** April 09, 2011, 01:27:19 pm »

I don't know that I have much I could add here, other than a "thanks" for the good information and discussion. After my recent range accident which was more of a first aid situation than a true "blowout", I've stocked a more proper first aid kit in my car. After reading this thread, and talking with a shooter friend who's an ex-Army medic (he has a mega-blowout kit and first aid stuff), I purchased a blowout kit that arrived today. Perhaps another reply from a "regular guy" poster who just got a blowout kit,who's not a medic, will help get some other regular guys off the fence and to get one, too. If you're going to be prepared for life's emergencies with a defensive gun, food and water, etc, something like a blowout kit is cheap insurance against not being able to deal with say a bad range accident.

Simple stuff for me, as I'm not a medic and not CPR-trained. Couple of Israeli bandages, some Celox, rubber gloves, sucking wound seal, more bandages, and a tactical tourniquet. The blowout kit is kept simple and in it's own bag, separate from the first aid kit.

Thanks again for all the discussion on this thread. Until I saw this thread, the notion of a blowout kit was totally unknown to me. What I learned here got me off the fence and there was plenty of good info here about where to procure these kind of things too, that you just don't find in the corner drugstore. BZ on putting out this information.

Avenger29 · « **Reply #58 on:** April 09, 2011, 10:42:19 pm »

Quote from: xsquidgator on April 09, 2011, 01:27:19 pm

I don't know that I have much I could add here, other than a "thanks" for the good information and discussion. After my recent range accident which was more of a first aid situation than a true "blowout", I've stocked a more proper first aid kit in my car. After reading this thread, and talking with a shooter friend who's an ex-Army medic (he has a mega-blowout kit and first aid stuff), I purchased a blowout kit that arrived today. Perhaps another reply from a "regular guy" poster who just got a blowout kit,who's not a medic, will help get some other regular guys off the fence and to get one, too. If you're going to be prepared for life's emergencies with a defensive gun, food and water, etc, something like a blowout kit is cheap insurance against not being able to deal with say a bad range accident.

Simple stuff for me, as I'm not a medic and not CPR-trained. Couple of Israeli bandages, some Celox, rubber gloves, sucking wound seal, more bandages, and a tactical tourniquet. The blowout kit is kept simple and in it's own bag, separate from the first aid kit.

Thanks again for all the discussion on this thread. Until I saw this thread, the notion of a blowout kit was totally unknown to me. What I learned here got me off the fence and there was plenty of good info here about where to procure these kind of things too, that you just don't find in the corner drugstore. BZ on putting out this information.

Red Cross and storebrought first aid kits aren't worth s___...they are boo-boo kits at best. You know, the 3 boxes of bandaids, roll of gauze, and tape I keep in the bathroom does exactly what standard "first aid" kits do. My "first aid" course was 8 hours of how to put on a bandaid. Nothing about stopping heavy bleeding. Nothing about how to fashion and apply tourniquets. Nothing about how to treat serious wounds.

IMerrell · « **Reply #59 on:** January 04, 2012, 05:10:21 pm »

Old topic I know, but great info. Just a couple of little things I wanted to add. First, tourniquets are "in" as far as trauma medicine goes right now-in a big way. The professionals from the sand box are telling us that up to 4 hours a limb is still viable with tourniquet applied, many saved outside the 4 hours but your good until that point. If you are going to carry one, get one, a real one, don't improvise, this is life saving equipment. There is a reason engineered tourniquets aren't tie down straps. Enough on that. Next as far as the angiocaths, if you feel you have the knowledge, skills and the balls to perform a needle decompression, than carry the equipment, however a 16 guage as pictured above won't cut it. You need to have a 14 guage that is at least 2 inches long, and carry more than one if it is 2 inches because you will need to do it again, 2 inches is barely enough to get into the pleural space and once you remove the needle so the chest can vent through the catheter any movement of the patient and you will have lost it. Ideally carry a 3 1/2 inch, that will stay in place, but you have to look around they are hard to find. Doing a needle decompression is about a 4 minute procedure. It really only takes less than a minute to do, however it takes 3 minutes to work up the balls to shove that big of a needle into someones chest in public!

GeorgeHill · « **Reply #60 on:** January 04, 2012, 11:46:09 pm »

Good info, Merrell. Great insight.

I'll have to get you to look through my Blowout Kit to make sure I have what I need. 14 gauge needles though - probably not what I need.

Guys, Merrell is a professional life saver, he knows his trade and has saved the life of one of our Members here. He knows what he's talking about.

huey148 · « **Reply #61 on:** January 05, 2012, 10:39:23 am »

I always keep my BOK separate from any other first aid kits, its geared towards a single purpose and God willing if for some reason I ever take one and its on me, whoever gets to me first will know how to use it and not have to wade through a mess of band aids, moleskin and motrin bottles to get what they need immediately...generally I have a small cuts and scrape type pack (band aids and neosporin) on me when either at the range or camping...a separate "don't bother the doc" kit with moleskin, gauze and sports wrap, and OTC meds (motrin, cold/flu, tums, pink stuff) for those "drive on" moments and the BOK is (these days) normally attached to the outside of my range bag (its a countycom EOD utility bag) for really bad stuff....

Good info on the needle stuff IMerrell....never even got close to doing one after the training at Beuhring...never would of thought about the length..and true about tourniquets as well...I remember the CENTCOM or 3rd Army commander asking for the length of time it was taking casualties to reach the CSH locations and it came to us and we got an answer from a CSH in Baghdad and they reported that it was something really low like 30 minutes or less from when their MEDEVAC bird took off to when it hit the pad again with the casualty...CASVAC took longer but still the CAT and its like saved a whole bunch of lives over there by simply just shutting the blood off to shot up limbs...

IMerrell · « **Reply #62 on:** April 11, 2012, 10:39:12 pm »

So I finally got mine finished. It took a few months of scavaging but here it is. This is designed to treat penetrating trauma in the initial field phase of care. That's why no blood pressure, stethoscope, IV etc. Its to, in the first 5 minutes be able to mitigate the 3 preventable causes of combat trauma death: 65% bleeding out from an extremity wound, 29% pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and 6% airway obstruction. Those are the 3 things people die from we can fix, all the others it was just their time. If you are interested in learning more of what's in the kit and how it's used post as much and I'll put up more detail.

DRZinn · « **Reply #63 on:** April 13, 2012, 03:25:38 pm »

Nice going - more complete than mine, I need an airway.

Coronach · « **Reply #64 on:** April 14, 2012, 01:41:43 pm »

Merrill, I'm interested in seeing a list of what you have in there and its intended use.

Mike

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seanp · « **Reply #65 on:** April 14, 2012, 06:12:02 pm »

Me too. I'm also interested in what you would recommend for training for someone that wants to learn how to use stuff like that, but doesn't plan on becoming a professional. My last first aid course barely touched on trauma. It was basically eight hours of how to perform CPR, use an emergency defib, and call an ambulance... $:-\$

Coronach · « **Reply #66 on:** April 14, 2012, 06:41:29 pm »

You should see the training we receive. It's about the same. Fortunately, our medics usually beat us to scenes, so our need for FA use is pretty low. Of course, the one time you really would need it would be the run where a cop gets shot, since the medics would probably not be anywhere close unless it was a tactical team deployment...

I joke that my medical training is as follows:

1. Air goes in and out.
2. Blood goes around and around.
3. Deviation from this is bad.

Mike

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IMerrell · « **Reply #67 on:** June 24, 2012, 09:58:16 am »

Thats really all there is to it, plug the holes and keep air moving in and out.

Nick Cage · « **Reply #68 on:** June 25, 2012, 11:01:59 am »

Took a first aid course for shooting instructors and range officials a couple of months ago.
Went over emergency plans, tourniquets, bandages etc. A lot of it was review for me as I spent most of my youth and all of my college days as a lifeguard in fairly active pools.

The interesting thing the guy said over and over was that if EMTs were less than 20 minutes away the MOST you needed to do even in the event of a massive bullet wound was to put ~~pressure~~ PRESSURE on it (Specifically talking about extremities not COM torso hits, those are a bit more interesting) and wait for the cavalry.

I've got a trauma kit, but all the places I shoot would have a bus at our location about the time I finish the 911 call so I consider the most important part of the kit to be the gloves in there to protect myself from all the nasty pathogens floating around in the rest of yall's blood haha.

Avenger29 · « **Reply #69 on:** June 25, 2012, 11:22:50 am »

Quote from: IMerrell on January 04, 2012, 05:10:21 pm

Old topic I know, but great info. Just a couple of little things I wanted to add. First, tourniquets are "in" as far as trauma medicine goes right now-in a big way. The professionals from the sand box are telling us that up to 4 hours a limb is still viable with tourniquet applied, many saved outside the 4 hours but your good until that point.

One of the issues I'm running into with educating people is the belief that TQs are regarded as evil, horrible devices and you will lose the limb when the TQ is applied.

Omaha In June · « **Reply #70 on:** June 28, 2012, 09:45:53 am »

Great topic all. I'm in the process of putting together a few "good" kits now. I didn't realize how much I was missing the last time I went through my bag. I'd also like to put a kit in the wife's SUV. My question is that since I'm starting from zero essentially, is it better (cheaper) to buy two or three IFAK's already stocked from say Chinooks, or to buy all of the items separately and put them together.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

freeman1685 · « **Reply #71 on:** June 28, 2012, 10:24:41 am »

Quote from: Omaha In June on June 28, 2012, 09:45:53 am

Great topic all. I'm in the process of putting together a few "good" kits now. I didn't realize how much I was missing the last time I went through my bag. I'd also like to put a kit in the wife's SUV. My question is that since I'm starting from zero essentially, is it better (cheaper) to buy two or three IFAK's already stocked from say Chinooks, or to buy all of the items separately and put them together.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Start with a good, basic pre-stocked kit, and add to it. That way you can customize it a bit.

wowser · « **Reply #72 on:** May 22, 2013, 12:42:24 am »

if this is about shtf prep, there aint gonna be any doc, and for sure, there's gonna be no followup care for months like you'd need. About all that's going to be feasible, to "help" the seriously wounded, is a coup de grace thrust of knife into the base of skull.. can't waste the ammo or make the noise, you see. if leg or arm is cut or blown off, I can't see it taking 20 seconds to kill you, or more than a very few seconds before you pass out?

JesseL · « **Reply #73 on:** May 22, 2013, 02:01:14 am »

Quote from: wowser on May 22, 2013, 12:42:24 am

if this is about shtf prep, there aint gonna be any doc, and for sure, there's gonna be no followup care for months like you'd need. About all that's going to be feasible, to "help" the seriously wounded, is a coup de grace thrust of knife into the base of skull.. can't waste the ammo or make the noise, you see. if leg or arm is cut or blown off, I can't see it taking 20 seconds to kill you, or more than a very few seconds before you pass out?

I'd say it's a good sized leap to assume this discussion is geared strictly toward SHTF. There are plenty of everyday scenarios that can leave you with the need for a kit like this and it will make the difference between life and death.

Avenger29 · « **Reply #74 on:** May 22, 2013, 05:15:58 am »

Quote from: wowser on May 22, 2013, 12:42:24 am

if this is about shtf prep, there aint gonna be any doc, and for sure, there's gonna be no followup care for months like you'd need. About all that's going to be feasible, to "help" the seriously wounded, is a coup de grace thrust of knife into the base of skull.. can't waste the ammo or make the noise, you see. if leg or arm is cut or blown off, I can't see it taking 20 seconds to kill you, or more than a very few seconds before you pass out?

Dude who the hell are you?