How to assemble your own first aid kit

Make sure that your first aid kit is fully stocked up!

A first aid kit consists of medical supplies used to help stabilise a person who is sick or injured until they can be treated by a trained healthcare provider like a nurse, paramedic or doctor. You can also use these emergency supplies to treat minor illness or injuries that don’t require advanced medical care, like indigestion, headaches, minor scrapes and insect bites.

Whether you’re buying one and enhancing it, or building your own from scratch, here’s a list of basic supplies your kit should contain.

Check the instructions before you use medicines

If you decide to include medicine in your kit, make sure you also include the instructions which show dosage, interaction and contraindication information. Even your kit is just for home use, you might have to treat a friend or visitor who takes chronic medication or who has an allergy. Be especially careful when administering medicine to children.

Medicines in individual packets are ideal for first aid kits as they’re more compact, encourage correct dosing, and protect unused portions of the medicine from oxidation. You can also consider using generic medicine as it works just as well but is more cost-effective.

Medicines to consider including in your kit

  • Sore throat soothers
  • Antacids for indigestion
  • Painkillers and fever-reducing medicine like paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin. Remember that aspirin can make bleeding worse, so don’t give it to someone with a bleeding disorder or open wounds.
  • Oral rehydration sachets containing electrolytes
  • Medicine for the relief of nausea and vomiting
  • Medicine for an upset stomach to stop diarrhoea and cramps
  • A laxative for constipation
  • Antihistamine tablets to relieve allergies and a topical cream for insect bites and stings
  • Decongestant for a stuffy nose
  • Saline eye drops for dry or itchy eyes

Equipment to consider including in your kit

  • A thermometer
  • Plasters of different sizes
  • Antiseptic ointment to prevent infection in minor cuts and abrasions
  • Gauze
  • Disinfectant
  • Bandages
  • A topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory gel, cream or spray
  • Products for burn care
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Wound-closing strips

We also put together a list of important factors to consider for a first aid kit. Keep these factors in mind as you decide exactly what goes into your first aid kit. Then use our lists above as a reference point to make sure you’re well-equipped and ready for a household accident.

Having a kit in your home is a wise and conscientious measure to take, but less so if you haven’t looked at its contents since you acquired it! When you really need a first-aid kit, what you don’t generally have it the time to hunt through a mess to find the equipment you need, and to clue yourself up on how to use it. Carefully planning what you include in a first aid kit will ensure it’s as helpful as possible if the time comes to use it.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for first aid kits. This is why it’s important to assemble your own one after taking these four factors into account:

1. Who will have access to the first aid kit

When deciding what to include, consider the level of medical and first aid training you and the people around you have, or are willing and able to get. Having equipment which nobody within range knows how to use simple simply as waste of money and space. For instance, most first aid kits contain a triangular bandage, but if you haven’t had any first aid training, you would probably won’t know what to do with it.

Medicines in a first aid kit is a tricky situation. On the one hand, they can be useful in treating a number of problems. On the other hand, they have expiration dates (usually just a year or two from the date of manufacture) and can be affected by heat while it is in your kit. Other potential problems with medicines include allergic reactions, overdosing and interactions between different medicines. As such, a lot depends on whether those with access to the kit know when and when not to use what’s in it.

2. How far you are from your nearest doctor or pharmacy

Another factor that determines the size and contents of your first aid kit is where you stay. If you are in a big city where there is a pharmacy, doctor and casualty ward around the corner, you’re less likely to need a big, comprehensive first aid kit.

If you stay in the countryside where advanced medical care is less accessible (or at least, not as reliably or quickly available as in an urban area) you’ll need to include more supplies in your kit.  Expand your first aid set into a more comprehensive medical kit so you can better help people until they can get to the nearest healthcare facility.

3. How big your family is and what kind of emergencies you expect

Consider the kind of accidents that are likely in your household, and the number of people who may need help at the same time.

Examples of situations for which you may need a kit include minor cuts, scrapes, allergic reactions and burns, splinters, non-life-threatening insect bites and stings, blisters, rashes, sprains and strains, something stuck in the eye, hypoglycaemia, aches and pain, and digestive system problems (nausea, indigestion/heartburn, diarrhoea or constipation).

If you stay on a farm or in the countryside, you may also have to prepare for situations like farming accidents, snake bites, broken bones and heat stroke.

4. Existing conditions and allergies of those who need help

You know your family’s health conditions, so consider how you can best cater for them. If you have visitors who get hurt or you’re looking after more people than just your immediate family (like others on a farm), find out if there are any chronic illnesses (like glaucoma, bleeding disorders, heart problems and kidney problems, for which many over-the-counter medicines is prohibited).

Then ask about allergies and any known adverse reactions to medicines. Learn how to handle an allergic reaction (i.e. to a food group or a bee string) and how you can avoid giving them something which can trigger an allergic reaction. Finally, ask about conditions like asthma, diabetes and epilepsy and how you can help them if they have an attack or incident.

These are useful factors to remember when a household accident occurs.

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