First Aid Kit

I nearly always take a first aid kit on my bike. Any first aid kit is secondary to knowledge. Once you've taken a first aid course you might be thinking about what you need in your kit. This is my approach.

The purpose of the kit is not exclusively for use at the side of the road. It often happens that somebody goes down, carries on riding, and then realizes they are more injured than they initially thought once the ride has finished and the adrenaline wears off. Another thing to consider is that there is always a trade-off between size and utility. Kits that you buy off the shelf are often contained in a user friendly and compartmentalized case, which is good for home use, but takes up unnecessary space. So I just throw everything into a cell container I got from a backpacker store. Making your own kit also helps you think carefully about what to put in it. The contents of mine are as follows.

Large Items:
High Visibility Vest
Small Torch
Emergency Blanket
Instant Single Use Cold Pack
No 15 Wound Dressing
Triangular Bandage
Two Crepe Bandages (7.5cm and 10cm)

Flat Items:
Some Gauze Swabs (7.5cm x 7.5cm)
Non-Adhesive Dressing (10cm x 10cm)
Combine Dressing (20cm x 10cm)

Small Items and Instruments:
Some Plasters and Island Dressings
Antiseptic Wipes
Alcohol Wipes
Scissors, Forceps and Shears
Pins and Tape
CPR Mask and Gloves

For me this a good trade-off. The cell container is about 20cm x 15cm x 10cm and everything fits in it except for the high-viz vest. The cold pack is the biggest item, followed by the emergency blanket, triangular bandage and wound dressing. Having no cold pack would free up a lot of space but I think it is worthwhile. I don't have any eye dressings or saline solution steritubes, or any specialist burns items. For documentation I have a small pad and pencil in my jacket.

The use of most of these things is fairly self explanatory. The cold pack is useful for strains, sprains and bruising. The wound dressing (no 15 is the largest size) is a dressing attached to a bandage, and is the first thing I would use for most wounds. An exception would be if the wound was bleeding heavily, in which case I would use the combine dressing (a large pad designed to soak up blood) first. The alcohol wipes are for cleaning instruments. The non-adhesive dressing is useful for burns or road rash. Bandages can be used to secure dressings or directly to support or splint limbs. Shears are used to cut clothing; they are usually only included in large first aid kits.