cgEMT said:
Are you guys serious with all this equipment? Seems a bit much, maybe you all live in rural areas and thats how it works there. I'm an NREMT-I for a hospital based EMS service in a medium sized city and have never had the need to use even a bandaid in my POV. Just what is a reasonable BASIC personal jump bag consist of and how do I obtain it all for a reasonable price. Maybe I missed the sarcasm in the previous posts.
Thanks
LOL, you've got to understand the mind of the inexperienced medic, driving around with an entire ED's worth of crap in their car (like I did), waiting, hoping for someone to use it on. For most of us, it wears off after awhile - for some, it's a lifelong affliction.
It's similar to the amount of stuff carried on the person - the batman utility belt with more pouches than a grunt in Iraq, pockets full of checklists and procedures guides, three or four flashlights, etc. After awhile, you're lucky if you have a pen that works, and expect your partner to have all of that.
If you want to get a bag, I'd suggest just basic stuff. Build it yourself (it's cheaper, especially if you restock from the rig or ED). Find a suitable container - I'm partial to soft bags, some like hard tackle boxes. Think about what you'd really need to keep someone alive until someone shows up with more stuff - gloves and mask to protect you, maybe a BVM, 4x4s and kerlix to stop the leaks, a blanket of some sort. A BP cuff and scope are kind of uneceessary except to let whoever shows up to take over that you might be more qualified than a Red Cross first aider (which is how I started, so no flames). O2 is at least a little hazardous and can be problematic, drugs are kind of a no-no, anything else is up to you.
I do search and rescue, so I have a few more things in my bag(s).
I carry extra chapsticks, sunscreen, a small smoke flare (for helos), SOAP notepad and pencil/spacepen, lots of triangulars, SAM splint, KTD, OTC pain and other meds, sting-eaze, and OB brand tampons (for those who need them, and to tamponade serious epistaxis). Oh, and tape (waterproof, 2"). A couple of large EKG pads for sucking chest wounds (better than vaseline gauze). A Sawyer extractor, 2 epi-pens (for me), two 500 cc bags of NS (for irrigation).