Shooting Range Medical Kit

Nathan

New member
What should be in a shooting range medical kit?

I'm trying to come up with a small kit to cover sun, bugs, cuts and scrapes as well as gunshot wounds.

Thought?
 
The way your title is written, I thought you were shooting these kits......:D

I do not keep a kit; but I always have bug spray and sunscreen in the car, along with a few band-aids. If I need to start worrying about gunshot wounds, I'm not going to that place. Any basic small J&J boxed kit from Walmart should work, add your favorite bug repellent and sunscreen
 
The one thing no First Aid kit I've ever seen has is plain old Band-Aids. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have an Epi pen or two($12 for 2 on Amazon) in a range kit. And a Defibrillator(~ $1400Cdn., up here in Costco, of all places. About the same in USD.). Plus several military style field bandages.
However, the most important thing on a range is an RSO/RO who is trained in First Aid and CPR. And a phone.
Bug repellent and sun screen isn't a first aid kit thing. That's an individual's issue to deal with.
 
Mine has two military tourniquets, Quick Clot, Israeli bandage, nasal pharangeal airway, and needle aspirator, along with the usual F/A stuff.

Gunshots cause blood loss, shock, lung collapse and possibly hypo pneumothorax
; a range kit should be ready for those things, and so should you.

Larry
 
I would use bugspray, a sun cover (if needed), band aids, military field bandages, a tourniquet or two, disinfectants of some kind, a water bottle, medical tape, and stitches with a needle.
 
My medical supplies include a comprehensive First-Aid Kit and a Trauma Kit. The First-Aid Kit has BandAids, small gauzes, Butterflies, Burn and Antibiotic ointments, eye drops, chapstick, aspirin, scissors, allergy medication, blister treatment kit, water treatment tabs, alcohol and iodine wipes and a flashlight. The Trauma Kit has Israeli Bandages, Tourniquet, suture kit, surgical kit, wound seals, quick clout supplies a pin, alcohol and iodine wipes, small and large gauzes, duct tape and a flashlight.
 
You should talk to the RSO or range master to find out if they keep a trauma kit available. They probably do and if so all you need to bring are some towlets to wipe away any lead residue from the area scratched or cut and some bandages to cover the area. If you have allergies find out from your doctor what you should use to treat them and still be able to drive a car. (instead of teller the good doctor that you will be shooting a gun) Most standard department store car first aid kits are good enough unless a gunshot is involved. If the range doesn't have a trauma kit available then you can get a decent list here:
http://practicaltrauma.com/range.shtml
for less than $200. You could also ask your local pharmacist what they have available to fill your own kit. Keep in mind that things from other uses can also be used. Feminine napkins and baby diapers can be used as trauma wound dressings. a roll of 4 inch gauze is great to hold dressings in place.
Another thing to keep in mind that just having a kit is not the whole picture - you need someone who knows how to use it.
 
Many things well said.
Assess your training,and what you want to be prepared for.I'm not trained to use airways. When I was current with my EMT card,a pocket mask was considered a good thing.The day I did CPR for real,I did not have one. I can tell you my patient had pancakes for breakfast.I did not have gear. We kept him pink 2 hours before the copter arrived.

When my wifes behind got opened up by a bear,200 miles from the nearest road,I had a 1 oz bottle of Betadyne and a few gauze pads. A betadyne scrub made a lot of difference.Bears do not brush their teeth and it was over 24 hours to the hospital.The doctor left it open,we packed it with sugar. It never got red around the wound. She healed in 6 weeks.

Heart attack? I don't know current doctrine,but I've heard chewing one aspirin can improve survivability.I can't afford a defib unit or O2.
No one has particularly mentioned eyes.I dunno,an unopened bottle of drinking water and eye dressings?
Got snakes?

I'd ordinarily advise AGAINST transporting. For a lot of good reasons.
Got cell coverage at the range? Get the EMS on the way.
Breathing? What tools you need besides maybe a pocket mask?
Bleeding? Direct pressure,pressure points, tourniquet?
If somebody is gunshot on the range...some will die. For the rest,you don't need to worry about immobilization, etc. Keep life(blood and breath) in the body till the ambulance arrives.We aren't doing bilateral thoracotomies.
You don't need a lot more "stuff" than your hands and knowledge.Sure,a kit can help!Battle dressings,etc.Seal off a sucking chest wound .
Unless you know how to use a scalpel,hemostats,sutures,etc,there is only so much we can do.
One brother was a SF Medic VN 1968. Later he worked ambulance,ER,etc.
One case a guy nearly (here in CO) died of a broken upper arm. The high speed pickup ride to the hospital severed his brachial artery.
Personal kit for taking care of little things?Assess your needs. It might be a REI dayhiker pocket kit.You might have asthma or diabetes or? Bee sting allergy? Cleaning a small nick to prevent infection and keep your blood from rustng the gun is straightforward basic first aid.If you know how,you can pick your stuff.Those knit bandaids are good.
Do we still use betadine?(surgical scrub) An oz in a little poly bottle will mix with a bottle of drinking water to do a lot of cleanup.
OH!! How about nitrile gloves? Good idea!
And learn about bloodborn disease,like Hep C,for example.
Some stuff is good,and helpful. But training! That's worth more.Knowing what needs to be done.

Now I'm going to tell you the greatest secret of successfully treating gunshot wounds at the range:

Practice Cooper's 4 rules of firearms safety and do not tolerate anyone else breaking them. No one gets shot that way.
Fail at that.....very good chance no one has the gear to save them.
I assume you have seen what happens when a 30-06 soft point hits a deer.
 
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Also, burn creams (in a pinch and ONLY in a pinch) can be substituted with mustard and soy sauce. First, run burnt area under cold water to stop inflammation. Do NOT use ice, as you can freeze the burnt skin. Then apply mustard or soy sauce (preferably soy sauce; it works!) and this can limit the pain.
 
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