Backpacking First Aid Material

[qwazse]

This is one of those that doesn't come up until after you need it.

The standard first aid kit for backpacking is pretty adequate, except ...

Materials for splints!

I wasted a good half-hour foraging for a decent piece of dry wood to form a splint for a kid with a sprained wrist. (We had just hiked in to an isolated site. It was getting dark fast. No bleeding or bruising to justify a panic. And in my experience, even when X-rayed, you never know if there's a break until you repeat the exam in a day or two.) And after all the fussing we realized that a camp towel folded and rolled around the little gomper's arm and anchored with bungees did the trick and kept his hand warm at the same time.

 

I was thinking that kit boxes could be long and skinny, and the lid could hold some cardboard that be used for a splint if needed. What do you all recommend?

[Beavah]

Most common thing yeh see are da aluminum SAM splints. Work OK, and yeh can cut 'em to size. That or a couple of air splints are da best way to go if yeh want to kit it.

 

Most good field splints are best made from improvised soft bulky materials da way you describe, though. That seems to work best. For stiffness da aluminum frame stays from an internal rame pack can be used, or cut and rolled foam pads. Duct tape and water bladders can even make a serviceable air splint.

 

Best to look to that sort of gear. Branches and such generally require way too much woodworking to be both effective and comfortable.

 

B(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[Stosh]

Rolled clothing/towels and duct tape/neckers work just fine for splints. If one keeps their head in the game, there are a lot of resources already available that one doesn't always think of. Another nice frac-strap is the BSA belt. It can be cinched down to any size needed. Collar bone break? Necker and belt. Broken leg? Pad between and use the other leg as a splint, the boy isn't going to walk anywhere anyway. Too often we think only in ways we are told, rather than thinking outside the box. I've never carried anything more than a personal first aid kit while backpacking. All other materials I either wear, carry as something else, or find in the area. Stretcher? 2-3 coats and 2 walking sticks/small trees.

 

Stosh

[Eagle92]

Stosh,

 

I like the way you think. I remember my First Aid MB class and how the MBC took us on hikes and gave us scenarios on the trail. Could only use what we had on hand and what we could find. Best first aid class I ever took, and I wish the AHA first aid classes had more hands on today. Kinda boring watching a video, and having limited action.

[topshot]

Like Stosh, I carry limited stuff (< 2 oz), knowing I can improvise for anything else I'd need short of major trauma perhaps. As a leader on a trek, I'd take a bit more than my solo personal kit though.

[Stosh]

Major trauma like neck/back injury? External frame comes with the activity, just put a brace behind the neck, wrap towel around neck and tape him to the frame. Put the whole thing on a stretcher and away you go.

 

Major cut/laceration? Collect up all the neckers you have and start with clean pad/hankie...only need enough to keep sanitation over the wound, the rest doesn't need sanitation, and never release pressure. Amputation? Go with the tourniquet. They tell you not to use tourniquets because it cuts off circulation and you "could lose the limb". Well, you already lost it, deal with the bleeding.

 

Major punctures, i.e. knife fights, pack the item to control bleeding and then tape the object in place with duct tape.

 

Sucking chest wound? Who doesn't have their gear sealed in ziplocks? Cover the wound with plastic and tape down.

 

Sprained ankle? Duct tape! Sport trainers do it all the time.

 

If given enough thought, every backpacker should be a walking hospital.

 

Any other major trauma is pretty much not treatable in the field. This is why safety before the situation occurs is everyone's #1 priority.

 

Don't forget your duct tape.

 

Stosh

[le Voyageur]

 

 

yep...duct tape works great for sucking head wounds...and compression for venomous barunah bites from extreme noodling...

[packsaddle]

As a person who's never needed a first aid kit, ever, in the woods, you guys are scaring me.

[Tampa Turtle]

Packsaddle,

 

As a person who impaled his arm in the woods without a First Aid kit I am now a believer.

 

I was wondering if in a pinch some tent poles could work? Have to redo the elastic later but not a biggie. I like the inflatable splints, you can use them for a pillow too. Water Bladders a good idea, too Beavah.

 

 

[shortridge]

Knife fights?!? While backpacking?? Stosh, what trails do you hang out on?

[Eagle92]

Short,

 

I know someone who use to bring automatic weapons on scout camping trips. But the scouter was working with Vietnamese Boy Scouts durign the war.

 

I still remember Sec. Gates speaking at NLTC in '98 about his expereince on a father-son camp out with his son's troop while head of the CIA. If memory serves, he said he had a platoon's worth of security people with Uzis and two communications vans in the background around the campsite.

 

 

 

[resqman]

Inflatable splints have a number of issues.

 

- Often they cover or encase the fingers and toes preventing checking capilary refill by squeezing the nail bed to blanch and waiting for color to return.

 

- They don't work well on open fractures because A) sharp bone can punture the air split, B) open fractures often have angulated orientation and do not fit inside a normal limb orientation.

 

- You have to carry a wide array of splits because they each splint only fits a single specific body part.

 

- Although each is relatively small deflated, they are relatively heavy when considered for backpaking.

 

- They are a single purpose item and cannot be modified in the field to fit changing circumstances or be used for other needs.

 

- They can be punctured prior, during application or while applied rendering them useless.

 

- They can be over inflated and create a tamponade effect hampering circulation.

 

- They have generally been discredited by the medical community as more problems than their are worth.

 

SAM splits are small in size and low in weight. They come in a variety of sizes and colors (safety orange, rescue blue & olive drab), are padded, moldable, reusable, and disposable.

 

It is generally taught that splints can be made from a variety of found or re-purposed gear. A thermorest pad wrapped around or folded and craddling a broken limb bone and secured with rope, duct tape, shoe laces, hoodie drawstring, bandanna, etc is similar to a single purpse inflatable and just as effective. Extra clothing from the vicitms pack can be piled around the broken limb and secured.

[Stosh]

shortridge:

 

I was just trying to placate the urban scout movement that National is targeting for the future of scouting in America. I didn't want to put in gunshot wounds in the sucking chest wound category so as to not sound totally politically incorrect, but maybe I should have.

 

 

To add to resqman's comments, when I was with the ambulance service we had air splits onboard the unit, but the only time we used them was to apply direct pressure on open wounds if they were sever enough. For breaks, we used other splints in that they were easier and more reliable than air splints.

 

Stosh(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[qwazse]

resq,

 

I was thinking of cutting up a sleeping pad, then I saw that my camp towel folded several times was the length of the kid's arm! Thanks for the SAM splint suggestion.

 

Thanks for the ideas guys! I'm glad we weren't too far off the mark in terms of equipment. I think what hurt us was the preparedness factor. All of the boys present learned "inside the box" first aid. (The trained boys who were on Philmont contingents graduated last year, leaving us a little inexperienced.) This made it hard for them to help figure out what would work best.

 

The SM and I are thinking of a few first-aid competitions to change that.

[Eagle92]

While I know a WFA may be cost prohibitive, I'ddefinately get a copy of the teh BSA's WFA book. It's about $6, and fits in a first aid kit. I know it is already out of date in some things, it was published in 2010 and AHA changed things a bit in 2011 in regards to CPR, but what I've read so far, it's a good deal. Also the use of competitions and havign them think outside the box are excellent.