 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
What would you carry in your pack? As far as I can see most commercial kits are pants - I don't need sticking plasters and a triangular bandadge, I want somethng like a field dressing to staunch something that's dripping blood, steri strips if it's a cut, something to clean around the wound and a big plaster for a graze. This is assuming I'm within 30 minutes of a road.
What's the STW recommendation?
This crops up a fair bit on here, and needless to say is rarely ever resolved.
My approach, as nursey of 20 odd years, is duct tape.
Basically, you can use duct tape (or duck tape), to splint busted limbs, to hold wound edges together and to fix various other scrapes and bangs.
It's also a very good indicator of severity of injury; if you can't fix it with duct tape, call in the professionals.
Obvious caveat; you need to know what you are doing....
Daft things; antiseptic wipes, 'sterile' dressings, space blankets.
Been done a few times. Knowledge is the key thing. No point having steristrips unless you know how to apply them.
Local rides within 1/2 hr of the road - I don't bother
Longer rides - i carry a fairly comprehensive kit made up myself.
its a small range of injuries that you can do much about. Small injuries - ignore. Large ones - evacuate or get the pros in. Lots of stuff can be improvised. Only a few examples can you do a repair that avoids the need to go to A&E or stops it ending the ride.
When I do carry a kit.
Steristrips,
hydrocolloid (like compeed but bigger) and film dressings,
some gauze,
a bandage
Some heavy duty elastoplast on a roll
Antihistamines, minor painkillers, major painkillers,imodium ( be aware of the legalities of giving drugs to people)
Sterile needles and scalpel blade
As above...if you have 'the knowledge' then you'll have a pretty good idea of what you need to carry.
One recent thing I learned, which I should have figured out for myself to be honest, is that if you do find yourself in a position where you have to call for the assistance of an outside agency then the time you spend with the casualty could well be measured in hours. For most of the year in the UK this is enough time for the casualty to start suffering from exposure so if you're going down the route of being a 'group ride medic' then carrying several pieces of extra clothing and a roll mat is a good idea.
2xSanitry towels, cotton triangular bandage, crepe bandage whenever I do carry things which is rare.
I never used to like triangular bandages but cotton ones can be used as abosrbant dressings or to hold on an absorbant dressing.
Think about spare food and water if it's hot and something to keep you/casualty warm if it is cold. As always some sort of training so you know what to do would be most useful.
I did once use a triangular bandage - when a mate broke his arm. I didn't have one but another mate did. I would have had to improvise with tearing up a shirt other wise