[MedSailor]

Moore medical is good but thanks all for the tip about amazon having the goods but cheaper.

Skip the AED. They're no good pre or post arrest. They're only good for 4-6 minutes after you arrest. After that the patient is braindead.

It won't help you if you arrest in your sleep, if you're ashore or on a neighbor's boat. You won't have time to use it on a neighbor.

If you really are high risk for arrest get an implantable defibrillator (like a pacemaker). Insurance is paying for them and they're much more likely to save your butt.

Medsailor

 

[MedSailor]

Most items in a first aid kit never expire - but the owners do.

:laugher Hehe. Good one Gary.

As for organizing the items, this depends upon your organizational skills. Some folks know where every item in their boat is located, and some even have a chart of item locations. First aid kits are pretty easy to organize, and if you set it up correctly, a great kit can be put together for under $500 and the includes the cost of the air tight Pelican case. ...

Good luck,

Gary

For organizing a home grown kit, I like soft sided tackle boxes. A small pelican case for the meds is a good option to add.

Bass Pro Shops® XPS® Stalker? Backpack Tackle Bag or System | Bass Pro Shops

 

[MedSailor]

My current emergency kit is housed in a large airtight and watertight Peli case. Almost all of items were also packaged sterile (including forceps and other steel tools). Despite that storage and keeping the pack underneath the waterline, the contents have deteriorated in tropical conditions and that is why I'm now replenishing with fresh stuff. The surgical gloves have congealed to a solid mass, the paper packaging that started to crumble; I put all of the medical supply paperwork for the medicines and the user manuals in a sealed baggie which has kept that stuff in good condition.

I have eyed the Marine 3000 pack several times, more for the organization that has gone into separating the components into compartmentalized sections than for the rest of the contents. It has a lot of items that one might need but for my tastes it has too much of many items.

Although many of the things in there are unlikely to be used (what are the odds of needing Güdel tubes?) one should keep in mind that with modern communications one can have a doctor on the phone or SSB after an incident and he/she can guide you in using what items are on hand. I signed up for a British medical service last time around and they get a complete list of tools and medicines so that, in an emergency, they know what resources are available to them. There are similar services in the USA and in the EU using the GMDSS system will also get you an emergency doctor on the blower.

I think if I hadn't already had a kit aboard I would have purchased the Marine 3000. I have gotten differently colored vinyl bags and am separating the first-aid components into the bags so that for a typical injury only one of them is needed.

What I learned on my last refresher course had me add a blood-sugar testing kit, a pulse/oximeter and urine strips to my kit; I'd not thought about those before and they are so dirt-cheap that it is a no-brainer to add them to the kit. The oximeter should be one with both visual and aural signals so that one doesn't need to look at it while it beeps out the pulse.

I took a look at the Marine 3000 kit contents. I have to admit it's really good. I'd endorse it. Even the guidel? tubes (nasal airways) are something that you aren't likely to need, but don't take up much space and in the unconscious concussion patient could come in handy.

A question though, if your kit deteriorated so quickly in a pelican case, won't this one, in a soft sided bag deteriorate even more quickly? I wonder what the solution is to the tropical problem? A pelican case with desiccant packs?

MedSailor