The Hiking and Camping First Aid Kit

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

While the hiker who’s a trained doctor is a rarity, most doctors would agree that it’s better to self-treat when out in the wilderness and encountering an emergency medical situation, rather than not to treat at all. For this reason, when you’re hiking or camping, constructing a quality first aid kit that adequately prepares you for the challenges of the outdoors will be one of the most important stages of your preparation.

First aid kits can only carry so much, but if you know what to carry and how to use it, you can help those materials make the greatest possible impact on the positive health and safety of yourself and those you’re travelling with. Here are some items to include in your hiking or camping first-aid kit.

-Bandages.

Covering up cuts and scraps will be crucial for preventing infection and promoting the healing of your dings and dents, and will be especially crucial for deeper knicks and cuts. Carry a variety of bandages, including a bandage roll for taping, triangular bandages, butterfly bandages, and an assorted variety of adhesive bandages, in a range of sizes.

-Disinfectants and alcohol swaps.

Again, preventing infection is often one of the highest priorities in outdoor medical situations, and treating cuts or marks the proper way will go a long way toward preventing infection. Before even dressing a wound, being able to apply disinfectant of some sort, fighting against bacteria, will be a key issue.

-Medicine.

This seems obvious, but what kind of medicine? Many recommend Aspirin or ibuprofen, so those might be good to carry. But also consider a possible attack of diarrhea or other stomach sickness that will require some ideal digestive medicine to help ease suffering and get the recovery process going more quickly. Consider medicines for treating diarrhea, especially, as an essential element, even if you carry small amounts of that medicine.

-Gauze and wipes.

Gauze and wipes are important to carry because you don’t exactly want to clean wounds with leaves while you’re out there. Gauze is very lightweight, so it makes sense to carry plenty without adding any burden to what you’re carrying on a hike, and it might just come in handy.

-A Swiss Army knife.

A Swiss Army knife already has plenty of tools for working in the outdoors, but scissors can prove especially useful in medical situations, helping cut through clothing to get to a wound, or helping to dress and replace the bandages on a wound.

Be sure to look at first aid kits and check out the local situations of each hiking and camping opportunity to make sure that your first aid kit is customized to your needs.

Photo Credits: gregor_y