A first aid box is only useful if it exists before the emergency, and if everyone in the house knows where it is. This is what to put in one, and what to keep beside it.
The essentials
- Sterile gauze pads, and a roll of gauze bandage.
- Adhesive plasters in a few sizes.
- A crêpe or elastic bandage, for sprains and for pressure.
- Adhesive tape.
- Clean disposable gloves, several pairs.
- Scissors and tweezers.
- Antiseptic solution, and clean water for irrigation.
- Paracetamol, adult and child forms, with the doses written down.
- Oral rehydration salts, several sachets.
- A thermometer.
- A torch with working batteries.
Worth adding here
- A treated mosquito net, spare, for travel.
- Water treatment tablets.
- Any regular medicine for people in the house, a few days of it.
- A triangular bandage or a large cloth, for a sling.
- A list of doses for children by weight, since guessing is how overdoses happen.
Keep this list on the box
- The nearest health centre and the nearest hospital with a theatre, and how long each takes at night.
- A number for transport that answers at night.
- Two people who could give blood, with their blood groups.
- Any allergy or long-term condition of each household member, and their regular medicines.
Keeping it usable
- One fixed place, known to everybody, not locked away.
- Out of reach of small children, but not out of reach of a teenager who may need it.
- Check it every six months: expiry dates, torch batteries, and what has been used and not replaced.
- Replace what you use the same week you use it.
What not to keep in it
- Leftover antibiotics from a previous illness. They should not exist; a course is finished.
- Expired medicines, or tablets loose without their packet and name.
- Anything you do not know how to use.
- Cotton wool directly for wounds; it sticks to the wound.
The box is not the plan
For anything serious the box buys minutes while you go. Read the page on first aid basics before you need it, and know in advance which facility you would go to at two in the morning and how you would get there.
