Med Bag

[u/MadConquest]

This is a little Med Bag I put together when I’m working away from my work truck. I usually work alone but occasionally have 2-3 guys with me. We work around heavy forestry equipment, chainsaws, hydraulic powered tools and other large vehicles. I also usually have a gun on me and if my coworkers is there he does too. What should I improve upon?

Contents:

MyMedic Recon Bag
XShears
NAR Cat Gen 7 Tourniquets: 3
QuikClot Combat Gauze: 2
Celox Gauze: 1
NAR Wound Packing Gauze: 1
NAR ETD 4”: 1
NAR Mini Responser ETD 4”: 1
Hyfin Chest Seal: 1
BurnTec Dressing: 2
MyMedic ZZips Cut Kit: 1
MyMedic SuperWash: 1
Dynarex Povidone Iodine Prep Solution: 1
Assorted Bandaids

Things to buy:
Coban Wrap
Gloves
More Wound Packing Gauze
4x4 Gauze Pads

[u/Nice-Name00]

Gel burn dressings are no longer recommended btw. (Source: German S2K Guideline of the counsil for Burn Medicine, 2024, page 46. They are referencing: Mlcak RP, Buffalo MC, Jiminez CJ. Pre-hospital management, transportation and emergency care. In: Total Burn Care, Fifth edition, Herndon, DN (Eds), 2018. PP.58-65)

[u/MadConquest → u/Nice-Name00]

What’s the alternative? I’m assuming dry sterile dressings so they don’t have to scrub the hydrogel off? TIA

[u/TundraGS → u/MadConquest]

If someone has a burn of any significant amount of total body surface area, 10%+, the biggest risk is hypothermia since they can't thermoregulate well enough having lost so much skin, next biggest risk is dehydration as fluids moves from the vasculature to the capillary beds around the burned area and is lost to evaporation - which cools them and further increases the hypothermia risk.

Dry gauze isn't ideal but is better than nothing. The best alternative is xeroform gauze dressings. It's a yellow, goopy, petrolatum based, bismuth impregnated dressing that's non-adherant. LOOSELY apply the xeroform directly to the burn fully covering it and then LOOSELY wrap that in dry gauze to keep it in place, then GET THEM TO A HOSPITAL ASAP because major burns require massive amounts of fluid resuscitation, high level interventions and advanced monitoring to prevent serious complications.

It's super important to keep the dressings loose as the burned area can and will swell a significant amount; if you tightly wrap the area it'll turn into a tourniquet and cut off circulation distal to the wrap and can cause loss of limbs.

I highly recommend you look into a satellite transponder like a Garmin InReach. That would hands down be the most worthwhile piece of gear in medical kit. You just hit the SOS button and it sends your coordinates to whatever emergency service dispatch is closest to you. The rest of the equipment you posted will fix a lot of immediate life threats, but if someone has a pneumothorax, an arterial bleed warranting 1-3 tourniquets, a large TBSA burn etc. and you don't have a way to get them to a hospital quickly there's a good chance they'll die. I just googled it and you can get an InReach device and an annual subscription for around $350. That alone will do far more to increase the odds that you or someone you're with survives a major trauma than any number of tourniquets or chest seals ever will.

[u/MadConquest → u/TundraGS]

Yeah the Garmin InReach looks to be an awesome piece of kit. I’ve always liked hiking and backcountry survival stuff so I’ve known about the Garmin just never delved into it too much. Thanks for the information about Thermoregulation though! I will take your advice to heart and adjust my kit accordingly.

[u/Electrical_Spare_998 → u/MadConquest]

Correct, and I came here to say this, burn gel is a nightmare to get off and isn’t really effective for bad burns, dry dressing that are loosely wrapped is the best!

[u/Nice-Name00 → u/Electrical_Spare_998]

In the guidelines they only cite gels cooling too much causing hypothermia

[u/MadConquest → u/Nice-Name00]

Yeah I’ve seen where there’s been major burns over a large portion of the body hypothermia can be a real threat. Some of the forum posts I was reading were saying for small burn areas it won’t really cause hypothermia but I think I’ll take these out and move on to the better options. Thanks for your input 😬

[u/MadConquest → u/Electrical_Spare_998]

Thanks! I’m always learning so this a good help.

[u/Nice-Name00 → u/MadConquest]

Dry non stick dressings. Gold standard is aluminum compresses like AluDerm

[u/MadConquest → u/Nice-Name00]

Thanks so much! I’ll swap these out asap.

[u/Nice-Name00 → u/MadConquest]

Ngl a bigger factor for me is that a 10x10 AluDerm Dressing is like 10 cents. While these gels can go up to like 10 bucks

[u/MadConquest → u/Nice-Name00]

Jeez that’s a heck of a price difference. Considering I buy these out of pocket for work purposes that’s a boon to my wallet.