Re: First Aid kit - expiration of items?

"Ronald Raygun"
> wrote in message .
>
> What do you mean "only first"?  What if "second" aid is going to be
> a long time coming?
>
>> Analgaesics and antiemetics is about all I'd think about for someone
with
>> no expertise.
>
> Suppose someone breaks a leg in the middle of the Irish Sea.  A "proper"
> break, with bits of bone poking through the skin.  It'd probably not
> warrant calling out a helicopter, but it's still a bit beyond a few
> paracetamols and an elastoplast.

A compound fracture can have issues with blood loss and infection and
might 
warrant a helicopter evacuation, but in any event that is the type of 
scenario for which I suggested analgaesics...it would be a very unpleasant

day or two sailing back to ****t without adequate analgaesia.

Injectable narcotics is probably a bit much for an inexperienced person to

use but when I said analgaesia I was thinking of potent oral analgaesia
such 
as oxycodone, not paracetamol only. As stronger narcotics cause vomiting I

suggested an antiemetic.

One can imagine situations when other equipment or medication might be 
useful, but stopping bleeding with an appropriate dressing and pain relief

until expert care is available would cover a lot of the possibilities.

My wife (the GP in the family) once jokingly stated that we could do a 
Caesarian section with all the stuff we had in the first aid kit on our 
cruising boat. Clearly the longer the journey and the further you are from

help would necessitate more in the first aid kit and more training to use 
it. For most who daysail and rarely get far from help, the first aid kit 
wouldn't need to be much.

Peter HK