@bakerzdosen No; there’s only 90 cotton balls and swabs out of 291 pieces. The list is combining both kits, for a total of around 582 ‘pieces’.
Maybe It Bothers Me More Than It Should, but advertising the number of individual pieces seems to be an effort to distract the buyer from considering the actual value of the collection of pieces. Is the whole worth as much as the sum of the parts?
@bakerzdosen@rpstrong This is how tool set content claims have been plumped for many years now. A 130-piece “socket set” may have 33 allen hex keys and 27 hex-shank screwdriver bits, and a whole bunch of skipped sizes in the actual sockets.
@bakerzdosen@rpstrong@werehatrack It’s so bad I almost expect it now. Recently saw some offer with 6 pieces and it was actually 6 real containers, and you got the extra 6 lids for FREE, yes, buy the 6 containers and if you call now you get 6 FREE lids too! In traditional marketing this would be a 12-piece set.
No burn cream. No triple antibiotic. Lots of cheap filler. Not bad as a starting point if the bandages are good quality and there is enough room for another $20 worth of stuff.
@fateone, triple antibiotic ointment should be removed from shelves. It literally does nothing and contributes to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
@DavidChurchRN I disagree. It is overused but has a place. I’m an Eagle Scout and Scout Leader and it is needed when we are in the wilderness and can’t properly clean a wound. I’m just a software engineer, but my dad is a doctor, my mom was a nurse, my brother was an EMT, my mother-in-law is a nurse, my wife is an MRI technologist. The two guys I had my Eagle COH with are now a surgeon and hospitalist. They all think for first aid usage antibiotics are fine. MRDO’s are primarily from things like triclosan in household soap and laundry sanitizers not from occasional antibiotic use in first aid. For household boo-boos on self-righteous basement-swelling pedants then I agree, it isn’t needed. But a first aid kit with tongue depressers and triangle bandages isn’t a kit designed for typical household owies.
@DavidChurchRN@fateone Yeah that Triclosan thing, is that still around? it was in “literally everything” for a while. (decided to go full-on the “literally” thing). Similar to primary care handing out antibiotics when they had no idea what was really the issue. Happened to me last year. I had a weird skin thing they never figured out what it was so gave me 1 week of antibiotics, which I doubted but took anyway. Then didn’t get any better and then it was 1 week of Prednisone (which I knew about because my wife had to go through a course of it years before, which helped in her case). Luckily it was just 1 week for each in my case, which I’m convinced did nothing. Eventually my body got better anyway, despite the treatments.
@DavidChurchRN@fateone@pmarin For minor bleeding skin injuries (at my age, I get a lot of them) I find that a quick spray with antiseptic, a wipe with an alcohol swab to get the skin dried quickly, and then the application of a good waterproof adhesive bandage leads to the fastest healing by far. Scabs are too easily snagged and ripped free, so leaving them open to clot and scab is usually problematic. This might not work for everyone, but it produces reliably good results for me.
@fateone, well, you’re wrong, and there’s mountains Os research to prove it. You’re a scout leader, not a medical professional. It literally does nothing to help the wound heal or keep it from getting infected. Clean it, dry it, cover it.
@fateone@rpstrong, that comment proves you never received higher education. Literally isn’t abused. You just didn’t receive an education. My sentence was perfectly understandable for anyone with higher than an elementary school level of understanding of the English language.
@DavidChurchRN Citation needed if you are going to make that claim. Research on NIH PubMed contradicts what you are saying. “Topical antibiotics were effective in reducing the risk of infections in uncomplicated wounds compared to placebo or antiseptics” Infect Drug Resist. 2018; 11: 417–425
@werehatrack No, software engineer, as stated above. I’ve worked in data at a clinic but that is largely irrelevant. Point is, anecdotal and hyperbolic claims by a single person professing some unverifiable occupation online holds no weight over peer reviewed published research on the efficacy of topical antibiotics available on NIH PubMed and similar.
@fateone My reading of the text of that NIH entry supports the assertion that topical antibiotics in general, and Neosporin-type ones specifically, provided a small but significant improvement in outcomes when used on minor uncomplicated wounds. (It also supports my default handling, which includes the use of an antiseptic spray prior to applying a waterproof dressin.) Other sources noted that trying to measure the effectiveness of both topical antibiotics and antiseptics for nonsurgically-caused uncomplicated wounds was difficult due to the lack of an ethical way of providing a control group. I’m still looking for a study of that type. The available summary text of the 1985 study isn’t clear on this, and I don’t have access to the paywalled library.
@DLPanther@MyNiftyPony@pmarin Not necessarily so - I just threw out several boxes of generic band-aids where the wrappers and bandages had fused together over the years.
Suggestion: If you don’t use them regularly, at least pull one apart now and then - see how well they’re aging.
@DLPanther@MyNiftyPony@rpstrong on adhesive bandages I’ve seen the opposite where they basically have little “stick” left. This relates to something I mention in another post where stuff kept in places like a hot car can degrade much faster than things kept in a house.
@DLPanther@MyNiftyPony@pmarin@rpstrong I have learned to keep the 3M “Nexcare” waterproof bandages around. They are not only less obtrusive because of their transparent edges, their adhesive holds very well (on clean, dry skin) but still comes off cleanly when it’s time to remove one. I will note that their “Max Hold” version stands up well to daily washing-up for as much as a week if the area where it’s applied has little or no hair.
My thoughts as a medical professional: This is a surprisingly decent kit for 15 bucks each, especially for lay persons, and I appreciate that this company didn’t slap a bunch of useless neosporin in there. Seriously, triple antibiotic ointment is literally useless, doesn’t help wounds heal anymore than Vaseline does, has no evidence showing it prevents infection, and actually contributes to the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria. Please, stop using it. The CPR mask is great IF you have a 2nd person available or you’re going over more than 3 minutes of chest compressions. Otherwise, leave it alone and focus on compressions. I highly recommend everyone get their BLS (CPR) certification. Overall, seems like a good kit to keep stuff organized easily in your trunk.
@DavidChurchRN “Clean the wound well, keep it covered, and use regular petroleum jelly if you really feel like you have to” should be shouted from the rooftops.
@DavidChurchRN “A double-blind study of 59 patients found Neosporin superior to placebo ointment in the prevention of streptococcal pyoderma for children with minor wounds. Infection occurred in 47% of placebo-treated children compared with 15% treated with the triple-antibiotic ointment (NNT=32; P=.01)” Maddox JS, Ware JC, Dillon HC Jr. The natural history of streptococcal skin infection: prevention with topical antibiotics. J Am Acad Derm 1985; 13:207– 212.
The problem seems to be there is no standard classification for wounds. The efficacy studies finding little to no efficacy of antiobiotic ointments appear to be for “uncomplicated wounds” or for surgical post-op, not the typical cases in which a first aid kit is used.
EDIT on medical knowledge, as of about 1999 recommendation was still to stay away from things like salmon and avocado and nuts. I talked to a cardiologist recently who said “yeah we were wrong on that.”
@DavidChurchRN I disagree, it’s mostly junk that could be bought cheaper but oh well. Also i’m a med profresh too, triple anti oint isn’t literally useless but it also isn’t a miracle drug. I also just ate a burger
@DavidChurchRN@tysontomko When I recently decided to rebuild my off-site/travel first aid kit, I found myself having to scavenge from a bunch of different sources to get the kit that I really wanted. No single consumer-level source except the one I avoid had everything I wanted.
PRO TIP: I’ve been an MD for more than half a century, board certified in emergency medicine.
KEEP IT IN THE KITCHEN! I’ve seen more kitchen injuries requiring a first aid kit then any other home injuries that do
2nd pro tip: do not sharpen knives for carving the holiday dinner after you’ve been imbibing with family and friends all afternoon. DAMHIK, or I’ll show you my scar.
@DavidChurchRN@docflash Seriously, a woman I know recently did exactly that; nearly passed out; luckily her husband was there and quickly brought her to the emergency room. She seemed to be doing well after with just a bandage wrapping on the finger. I didn’t press for details on exactly how much finger was gone or what kitchen implement did it.
@docflash@pmarin, well, as an ICU nurse, you know damn well she didn’t go to the emergency room . I helped her dress it better literally that night at work lol
@DavidChurchRN@docflash on the plus side, it did re-kindle a love of the Black Knight from Monty Python. We have had some good jokes about “tis but a scratch” and “just a flesh wound.” I ordered 2 related themed T-shirts I will give for Christmas and an upcoming birthday.
EDIT with better judgement, I resisted the urge to make a joke about “just the tip”
@DavidChurchRN@docflash Oh yeah just remembered that the lady I mentioned was doing some commercial vegetable prep, and said it was the one time she did not use the kevlar gloves.
I worked in Hospitals for awhile. Too long actually and I appreciate the remarks about TAO. I rarely if ever saw that ordered as any kind of wound care treatment. I guess you could use this as a base for creating a more thorough First Aid Kit. Don’t imbibe and use sharp items. Always good advice.
Another thing about the “ointments and cream” is that you have to check them all the time to be sure they aren’t expired. Now, honestly, how many people would do that in the first aid kit? I am very happy that they did not put any of that stuff in here.
@newdar2 within reason, I tend to not worry about expiration dates too closely for sealed packets. But something that I think is important, if kept in a car outside year-round — the heat of an enclosed car (or car trunk) will quickly damage things much more quickly than a kit kept inside in a kitchen or bathroom (I keep a kit in bathroom near the kitchen). For car kits, yes that concerns me. I’ve taken kits out of the cars in the hottest time of the year (which seems to be getting longer), but then that defeats the purpose of having a kit in the car.
For anyone that got these before, how is the interior organized? It looks from a photo like each half is a clear zipper compartment. Is the bag reasonably good quality?
Seems like this would be OK and easy to add your own stuff (or remove too many cotton balls). Best first-aid packaging ever I found was at Costco about 20 years ago. A red zipper-closed binder with pouches like this, but vinyl “pages” you could flip that had bandages and the usual packets of aspirin, other meds, and the dreaded TAO I’m guessing. But easy to find stuff, re-organize, swap out stuff, etc.
@bmajazz Thanks, yes, the fabric bag looks better than I expected. One benefit of these (as opposed to one in a hard plastic case), is it can often squeeze in under back of driver seat or behind a back seat. (like the red fabric binder one I mentioned earlier).
As I said a kit carried with you is much more useful than one you didn’t take because you cleaned your car and there was no place to tuck it away.
Excited to see this deal again. I also bought the portable tire inflator they sold a while back, with the intention being that I’m planning to build a “Roadside Rescue” kit, so that I can simply grab a backpack and hop on my motorcycle or in my car to go rescue a friend who is stranded.
@SamFlynn You’re always better-off having a kit like this with you, than not having anything.
I always have a battery-powered inflator with me, but it’s really just for maintaining pressure to spec levels (which drop in cold weather – just ask the New England Patriots ). I had a truck tire “explode” really and at that point no inflator is going to help. So sometimes outside help is needed if it’s roadside service, or paramedics. Something like a bright emergency red flasher or two helps keep things safe if you are by the side of the road. Some are pretty wimpy and basically useless.
EDIT also the reflective red triangles are good to carry. I had one and I set it out near the road. Didn’t stop cars and trucks flying by at 70mph though, but maybe at least got a bit of attention. I think they are required in commercial vehicles but I always carry one or preferably a set of 3. The good ones are large and have to be heavy because they need a weighted base to be steady in the wind (caused by trucks flying by at 70mph).
My great aunt once made a dish for guests. (Memory says quiche but I don’t recall) She was wearing rubber gloves when cutting onions (why she was wearing gloves to cut onions I don’t know).
After she put the quiche in the oven she noticed she had cut one of the finger tips off the glove (near miss of her finger).
Horrified that the tip must have gone into the quiche. She made a second one for her guests and over the next few days she ate the “finger tip quiche” herself very carefully looking for the tip of her glove.
… She ate the whole thing and never found the finger tip, so the glove either melted in the dish, or she ate it whole.
No fingers were severed in this story, but the anecdote seemed to fit with the finger cutting theme.
@OnionSoup lol. Good story! I’d be tempted to eat the quiche myself as well, but not after realizing it (the rubber? glove tip) could’ve been melted into the food, never located, no matter how carefully you picked at the dish.
@mehvid1@OnionSoup Would definitely eat the quiche with possible finger (crickets, fingertips, all just protein). Hannibal recommends. Plastic glove parts not so much.
@mehvid1@werehatrack I got a “safer” mandolin that came with a blade retractor and a hand guard. The problem is, they put these two sharp metal spikes in the hand guard to help hold the food. I stabbed myself with those spikes so many times I don’t use it anymore and got a cut glove instead.
@DLPanther That’s why I linked the one I noted above; used as designed, your fingers never get near the sharp bits. It takes a bit of experience to use it well, but it’s loads safer than the regular style.
@DLPanther@werehatrack@pmarin. Damn. I’m sorry I contributed to the misspellings of “mandoline.” But more importantly, here’s some news you can use that just came in today, coincidentally!
What a waste of time reading and SMH. Go take accredited college classes offered by your fire department, level one trauma hospital over your arguments. Past pararescue, flight medic and wilderness medicine instructor for Drs on Nepal junkets or war zone volunteers. This kit has bad advertising, but would probably work in your kitchen while someone calls 911 if it’s that bad and then you throw it away after five years because the adhesives don’t work anymore, the Keflex doesn’t hold anymore, just a short term minor injury kit.
@craigcush I have long since learned to write the date of acquisition on first-aid items, whether in a kit or just at hand where they’re likely to be needed. OTOH, I now go through my preferred type of bandage faster than they can get too old to be useful. The same is not true for rolls of adhesive tape and such, and yes, their usefulness declines sharply with age. For stuff over three years in-house, I test a sample before replacing. Most fail at 5 years.
Specs
Product: 2-Pack: Thrive 291-piece First Aid Kits
Model: FirstAid291
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$75.98 (for 2) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Aug 26 - Tuesday, Aug 27
Maybe I’m bad at math, but thankfully that list adds up to more than 291 pieces. It’d kinda suck if 180/291 were cotton balls and cotton swabs.
@bakerzdosen No; there’s only 90 cotton balls and swabs out of 291 pieces. The list is combining both kits, for a total of around 582 ‘pieces’.
Maybe It Bothers Me More Than It Should, but advertising the number of individual pieces seems to be an effort to distract the buyer from considering the actual value of the collection of pieces. Is the whole worth as much as the sum of the parts?
@bakerzdosen @rpstrong This is how tool set content claims have been plumped for many years now. A 130-piece “socket set” may have 33 allen hex keys and 27 hex-shank screwdriver bits, and a whole bunch of skipped sizes in the actual sockets.
@bakerzdosen @werehatrack And don’t get me started on counting lids as separate items in kitchen collections.
@bakerzdosen @rpstrong @werehatrack It’s so bad I almost expect it now. Recently saw some offer with 6 pieces and it was actually 6 real containers, and you got the extra 6 lids for FREE, yes, buy the 6 containers and if you call now you get 6 FREE lids too! In traditional marketing this would be a 12-piece set.
Cotton balls and swabs with some bonus first aid supplies included.
I got these in a previous sale. I put them in my cars. Pretty good selection of first aid implements! Already had to use the cold pack
No burn cream. No triple antibiotic. Lots of cheap filler. Not bad as a starting point if the bandages are good quality and there is enough room for another $20 worth of stuff.
@fateone, triple antibiotic ointment should be removed from shelves. It literally does nothing and contributes to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
@DavidChurchRN @fateone If it ‘literally does nothing’, then it cannot contribute to anything.
@fateone @rpstrong it does nothing to heal your wound. It absolutely contributes to MDROs. We were taught context clues in jr high.
@DavidChurchRN @fateone And ‘we’ were taught basic vocabulary skills - that one should use words correctly, as you did in your second post.
I think that ‘literally’ is literally one of the most currently abused adverbs out there.
@DavidChurchRN I disagree. It is overused but has a place. I’m an Eagle Scout and Scout Leader and it is needed when we are in the wilderness and can’t properly clean a wound. I’m just a software engineer, but my dad is a doctor, my mom was a nurse, my brother was an EMT, my mother-in-law is a nurse, my wife is an MRI technologist. The two guys I had my Eagle COH with are now a surgeon and hospitalist. They all think for first aid usage antibiotics are fine. MRDO’s are primarily from things like triclosan in household soap and laundry sanitizers not from occasional antibiotic use in first aid. For household boo-boos on self-righteous basement-swelling pedants then I agree, it isn’t needed. But a first aid kit with tongue depressers and triangle bandages isn’t a kit designed for typical household owies.
@DavidChurchRN @fateone Yeah that Triclosan thing, is that still around? it was in “literally everything” for a while. (decided to go full-on the “literally” thing). Similar to primary care handing out antibiotics when they had no idea what was really the issue. Happened to me last year. I had a weird skin thing they never figured out what it was so gave me 1 week of antibiotics, which I doubted but took anyway. Then didn’t get any better and then it was 1 week of Prednisone (which I knew about because my wife had to go through a course of it years before, which helped in her case). Luckily it was just 1 week for each in my case, which I’m convinced did nothing. Eventually my body got better anyway, despite the treatments.
@DavidChurchRN @fateone @pmarin For minor bleeding skin injuries (at my age, I get a lot of them) I find that a quick spray with antiseptic, a wipe with an alcohol swab to get the skin dried quickly, and then the application of a good waterproof adhesive bandage leads to the fastest healing by far. Scabs are too easily snagged and ripped free, so leaving them open to clot and scab is usually problematic. This might not work for everyone, but it produces reliably good results for me.
@fateone, well, you’re wrong, and there’s mountains Os research to prove it. You’re a scout leader, not a medical professional. It literally does nothing to help the wound heal or keep it from getting infected. Clean it, dry it, cover it.
@fateone @rpstrong, that comment proves you never received higher education. Literally isn’t abused. You just didn’t receive an education. My sentence was perfectly understandable for anyone with higher than an elementary school level of understanding of the English language.
@DavidChurchRN You aren’t a research scientist.
See the conclusion of the study Infect Drug Resist. 2018; 11: 417–425. Available on NIH PubMed.
@DavidChurchRN Citation needed if you are going to make that claim. Research on NIH PubMed contradicts what you are saying. “Topical antibiotics were effective in reducing the risk of infections in uncomplicated wounds compared to placebo or antiseptics” Infect Drug Resist. 2018; 11: 417–425
@fateone
Are we to assume that you are a research scientist with specific experience in this particular issue?
@werehatrack No, software engineer, as stated above. I’ve worked in data at a clinic but that is largely irrelevant. Point is, anecdotal and hyperbolic claims by a single person professing some unverifiable occupation online holds no weight over peer reviewed published research on the efficacy of topical antibiotics available on NIH PubMed and similar.
@fateone My reading of the text of that NIH entry supports the assertion that topical antibiotics in general, and Neosporin-type ones specifically, provided a small but significant improvement in outcomes when used on minor uncomplicated wounds. (It also supports my default handling, which includes the use of an antiseptic spray prior to applying a waterproof dressin.) Other sources noted that trying to measure the effectiveness of both topical antibiotics and antiseptics for nonsurgically-caused uncomplicated wounds was difficult due to the lack of an ethical way of providing a control group. I’m still looking for a study of that type. The available summary text of the 1985 study isn’t clear on this, and I don’t have access to the paywalled library.
Last picture of celebrity endorsement makes me a bit concerned.
@pmarin It encourages me. She is trying to cut down on her workload.
@pmarin @yakkoTDI
No expiration dates mentioned anywhere… Hummm…
@MyNiftyPony @pmarin as long as the packaging is sealed, it is sterile and OK to use, especially in the actual emergency you need it for.
@DLPanther @MyNiftyPony @pmarin Not necessarily so - I just threw out several boxes of generic band-aids where the wrappers and bandages had fused together over the years.
Suggestion: If you don’t use them regularly, at least pull one apart now and then - see how well they’re aging.
@DLPanther @MyNiftyPony @rpstrong on adhesive bandages I’ve seen the opposite where they basically have little “stick” left. This relates to something I mention in another post where stuff kept in places like a hot car can degrade much faster than things kept in a house.
@DLPanther @MyNiftyPony @pmarin @rpstrong I have learned to keep the 3M “Nexcare” waterproof bandages around. They are not only less obtrusive because of their transparent edges, their adhesive holds very well (on clean, dry skin) but still comes off cleanly when it’s time to remove one. I will note that their “Max Hold” version stands up well to daily washing-up for as much as a week if the area where it’s applied has little or no hair.
Am I crazy? Didn’t they recently have this sale? Maybe two weeks back?
@goldnectar During the mehrathon on August 9, yes:
@goldnectar @narfcake It was in the most recent meh-re-thon
@goldnectar @narfcake @RPVMom thinking of getting this anyway, but no IRK credit
@goldnectar @narfcake @pmarin @RPVMom You’re right, apparently, they did. (But that doesn’t mean you’re not crazy.
)
@goldnectar @narfcake @pmarin Yes this was the only thing I could find to spend my money on after committing to the IRK!
My thoughts as a medical professional: This is a surprisingly decent kit for 15 bucks each, especially for lay persons, and I appreciate that this company didn’t slap a bunch of useless neosporin in there. Seriously, triple antibiotic ointment is literally useless, doesn’t help wounds heal anymore than Vaseline does, has no evidence showing it prevents infection, and actually contributes to the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria. Please, stop using it. The CPR mask is great IF you have a 2nd person available or you’re going over more than 3 minutes of chest compressions. Otherwise, leave it alone and focus on compressions. I highly recommend everyone get their BLS (CPR) certification. Overall, seems like a good kit to keep stuff organized easily in your trunk.
@DavidChurchRN “Clean the wound well, keep it covered, and use regular petroleum jelly if you really feel like you have to” should be shouted from the rooftops.
@DavidChurchRN “A double-blind study of 59 patients found Neosporin superior to placebo ointment in the prevention of streptococcal pyoderma for children with minor wounds. Infection occurred in 47% of placebo-treated children compared with 15% treated with the triple-antibiotic ointment (NNT=32; P=.01)” Maddox JS, Ware JC, Dillon HC Jr. The natural history of streptococcal skin infection: prevention with topical antibiotics. J Am Acad Derm 1985; 13:207– 212.
The problem seems to be there is no standard classification for wounds. The efficacy studies finding little to no efficacy of antiobiotic ointments appear to be for “uncomplicated wounds” or for surgical post-op, not the typical cases in which a first aid kit is used.
@DavidChurchRN @fateone 1985 is 39 years ago. That’s a very long time in medical research. Do you have anything more current?
@DavidChurchRN @fateone @madamehardy
Damn, 1985 was 39 years ago? That was one of the best years of my life! WTF I must be getting old!
EDIT on medical knowledge, as of about 1999 recommendation was still to stay away from things like salmon and avocado and nuts. I talked to a cardiologist recently who said “yeah we were wrong on that.”
@DavidChurchRN I disagree, it’s mostly junk that could be bought cheaper but oh well. Also i’m a med profresh too, triple anti oint isn’t literally useless but it also isn’t a miracle drug. I also just ate a burger
@DavidChurchRN @tysontomko When I recently decided to rebuild my off-site/travel first aid kit, I found myself having to scavenge from a bunch of different sources to get the kit that I really wanted. No single consumer-level source except the one I avoid had everything I wanted.
PRO TIP: I’ve been an MD for more than half a century, board certified in emergency medicine.
KEEP IT IN THE KITCHEN! I’ve seen more kitchen injuries requiring a first aid kit then any other home injuries that do
2nd pro tip: do not sharpen knives for carving the holiday dinner after you’ve been imbibing with family and friends all afternoon. DAMHIK, or I’ll show you my scar.
@docflash hahaha, this. One of my fellow ICU nurses here just sliced the entire tip of her middle finger off prepping veggies
@DavidChurchRN @docflash Seriously, a woman I know recently did exactly that; nearly passed out; luckily her husband was there and quickly brought her to the emergency room. She seemed to be doing well after with just a bandage wrapping on the finger. I didn’t press for details on exactly how much finger was gone or what kitchen implement did it.
@docflash @pmarin, well, as an ICU nurse, you know damn well she didn’t go to the emergency room
. I helped her dress it better literally that night at work lol
@DavidChurchRN @docflash on the plus side, it did re-kindle a love of the Black Knight from Monty Python. We have had some good jokes about “tis but a scratch” and “just a flesh wound.” I ordered 2 related themed T-shirts I will give for Christmas and an upcoming birthday.
EDIT with better judgement, I resisted the urge to make a joke about “just the tip”
@DavidChurchRN @docflash Oh yeah just remembered that the lady I mentioned was doing some commercial vegetable prep, and said it was the one time she did not use the kevlar gloves.
@docflash I keep a compact trauma kit on my fridge. I hope I’ll never need the tourniquet, but it’s there if I do!
Y’all, the only emergency I’ve truly had was the time I almost cut my fingertip off cutting green beans when I was drunk. I recently learned about the “t-ring finger cut kit” which is essentially an easy to user finger tourniquet. Any home wannabe chef needs one. https://www.amazon.com/The-T-Ring-Finger-Cut-KIT/dp/B00ZDUTFJO?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A2ARKDQYPSRASS
I worked in Hospitals for awhile. Too long actually and I appreciate the remarks about TAO. I rarely if ever saw that ordered as any kind of wound care treatment. I guess you could use this as a base for creating a more thorough First Aid Kit. Don’t imbibe and use sharp items. Always good advice.
Another thing about the “ointments and cream” is that you have to check them all the time to be sure they aren’t expired. Now, honestly, how many people would do that in the first aid kit? I am very happy that they did not put any of that stuff in here.
@newdar2 within reason, I tend to not worry about expiration dates too closely for sealed packets. But something that I think is important, if kept in a car outside year-round — the heat of an enclosed car (or car trunk) will quickly damage things much more quickly than a kit kept inside in a kitchen or bathroom (I keep a kit in bathroom near the kitchen). For car kits, yes that concerns me. I’ve taken kits out of the cars in the hottest time of the year (which seems to be getting longer), but then that defeats the purpose of having a kit in the car.
For anyone that got these before, how is the interior organized? It looks from a photo like each half is a clear zipper compartment. Is the bag reasonably good quality?
Seems like this would be OK and easy to add your own stuff (or remove too many cotton balls). Best first-aid packaging ever I found was at Costco about 20 years ago. A red zipper-closed binder with pouches like this, but vinyl “pages” you could flip that had bandages and the usual packets of aspirin, other meds, and the dreaded TAO I’m guessing. But easy to find stuff, re-organize, swap out stuff, etc.
@pmarin There’s a video on the Amazon page referenced where they show the interior.
@bmajazz Thanks, yes, the fabric bag looks better than I expected. One benefit of these (as opposed to one in a hard plastic case), is it can often squeeze in under back of driver seat or behind a back seat. (like the red fabric binder one I mentioned earlier).
As I said a kit carried with you is much more useful than one you didn’t take because you cleaned your car and there was no place to tuck it away.
Excited to see this deal again. I also bought the portable tire inflator they sold a while back, with the intention being that I’m planning to build a “Roadside Rescue” kit, so that I can simply grab a backpack and hop on my motorcycle or in my car to go rescue a friend who is stranded.
@SamFlynn You’re always better-off having a kit like this with you, than not having anything.
). I had a truck tire “explode” really and at that point no inflator is going to help. So sometimes outside help is needed if it’s roadside service, or paramedics. Something like a bright emergency red flasher or two helps keep things safe if you are by the side of the road. Some are pretty wimpy and basically useless.
I always have a battery-powered inflator with me, but it’s really just for maintaining pressure to spec levels (which drop in cold weather – just ask the New England Patriots
EDIT also the reflective red triangles are good to carry. I had one and I set it out near the road. Didn’t stop cars and trucks flying by at 70mph though, but maybe at least got a bit of attention. I think they are required in commercial vehicles but I always carry one or preferably a set of 3. The good ones are large and have to be heavy because they need a weighted base to be steady in the wind (caused by trucks flying by at 70mph).
Regarding the write up…
My great aunt once made a dish for guests. (Memory says quiche but I don’t recall) She was wearing rubber gloves when cutting onions (why she was wearing gloves to cut onions I don’t know).
After she put the quiche in the oven she noticed she had cut one of the finger tips off the glove (near miss of her finger).
Horrified that the tip must have gone into the quiche. She made a second one for her guests and over the next few days she ate the “finger tip quiche” herself very carefully looking for the tip of her glove.
… She ate the whole thing and never found the finger tip, so the glove either melted in the dish, or she ate it whole.
No fingers were severed in this story, but the anecdote seemed to fit with the finger cutting theme.
@OnionSoup lol. Good story! I’d be tempted to eat the quiche myself as well, but not after realizing it (the rubber? glove tip) could’ve been melted into the food, never located, no matter how carefully you picked at the dish.
@OnionSoup BTW, your username checks out!
@mehvid1 @OnionSoup Would definitely eat the quiche with possible finger (crickets, fingertips, all just protein). Hannibal recommends. Plastic glove parts not so much.
@mehvid1 @OnionSoup @pmarin Thinking the entire time “I’m sure that chewy bit was just bacon”
@mehcuda67 @OnionSoup @pmarin
Not sure if I’m now more certain I need this kit or just that I don’t want to get a mandolin (finger) slicer.
@mehvid1 They make versions that are a lot less amputatey now. Such as https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prep-Solutions-Safe-Prep-Multi-Slicer/2404267909
@mehvid1 @werehatrack Love the use of the new word “amputatey”
@mehvid1 @werehatrack I got a “safer” mandolin that came with a blade retractor and a hand guard. The problem is, they put these two sharp metal spikes in the hand guard to help hold the food. I stabbed myself with those spikes so many times I don’t use it anymore and got a cut glove instead.
@DLPanther That’s why I linked the one I noted above; used as designed, your fingers never get near the sharp bits. It takes a bit of experience to use it well, but it’s loads safer than the regular style.
I’ll keep using my Mouli for hash browns, though.
@DLPanther @werehatrack @pmarin. Damn. I’m sorry I contributed to the misspellings of “mandoline.” But more importantly, here’s some news you can use that just came in today, coincidentally!
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/mandoline-safety-tips/
EDIT: Oh, it can be spelled either way. I KNEW that….
What a waste of time reading and SMH. Go take accredited college classes offered by your fire department, level one trauma hospital over your arguments. Past pararescue, flight medic and wilderness medicine instructor for Drs on Nepal junkets or war zone volunteers. This kit has bad advertising, but would probably work in your kitchen while someone calls 911 if it’s that bad and then you throw it away after five years because the adhesives don’t work anymore, the Keflex doesn’t hold anymore, just a short term minor injury kit.
@craigcush I have long since learned to write the date of acquisition on first-aid items, whether in a kit or just at hand where they’re likely to be needed. OTOH, I now go through my preferred type of bandage faster than they can get too old to be useful. The same is not true for rolls of adhesive tape and such, and yes, their usefulness declines sharply with age. For stuff over three years in-house, I test a sample before replacing. Most fail at 5 years.