Medical gear is a critical component of any battle belt, bump-in-the-night kit, or whatever you want to call it. If you go to guns, there is a chance that guns will go to you or your loved ones. You need to be prepared to deal with it. It’s also a really good idea to have a “blowout kit” with you at the range. I spent quite a bit of time picking out a suitable individual first aid kit (IFAK), and finally settled on the HSGI ReFlex IFAK System about a year ago. I’ve been using it since then, and this is what I think of it.
XShears – The Best Trauma Scissors
I wasn’t really looking for better trauma shears when I stumbled upon XShears trauma scissors. I was mostly OK with the cheap, disposable trauma scissors I get for free at work. A friend gave me a pair or XShears as a gift and I realized XShears are the absolute best trauma scissors. This article is mostly for my EMT/Paramedic crowd, but if you need a pair of bomb-proof scissors, read on!
Why So Many People Show Up When You Call 911
Have you ever wondered why so many people show up when you call 911? I get this question regularly in my job. I hadn’t thought about it too much until I recently read Jason McCarthy’s book about founding GoRuck. He relates being on the scene of an ATV wreck and getting a huge fire/EMS turnout. “Doubtlessly because they were bored,” he figured. No offense to Jason (I’m a big fan of GoRuck products, btw), but it’s not because they are bored. Let’s look at why so many people show up when you call 911.
First Aid: The Paramedic Jump Bag
A while back I wrote an article about my home first aid kit. One criticism I received really stuck with me. I was told my recommendations were “too EMT” for the average individual. Today I would like to put my little home first aid kit into perspective by showing you the contents of a paramedic jump bag.
Beyond Tactical: Black Medical Gloves
I’ve observed a recent trend of cops and even some firefighters wearing black medical gloves. Black medical gloves come with a lot of popular prepacked “IFAK”-style medical kits. This is a good example of “too tactical,” or the cart leading the horse. If you buy a first aid kit that comes with black medical gloves, find some new gloves. I’ll explain why.
Becoming a Paramedic
Today I write to you as a a fully-credentialed, practicing paramedic. This post is going to talk about how I got here, and the road to becoming a paramedic. I’ve written about this a little bit before, when I had just started school. There seems to be a lot of mystery about becoming a paramedic, so today I’d like to go into a bit more depth. Here’s my experience. Yours might be a bit different.
The Basic First Aid Kit
I’m guilty of getting a little too in-the-weeds sometimes. I like to explore topics to a point of near-expertise and where possible gain some actual experience in those topics. First aid is one such topic. I’ve written several articles on first aid kits and thought I would take a moment today to add a sanity-check to the mix. Today I’m going to veer away from sexy, expensive tools and talk explore the basic first aid kit.
Why You Should Become an EMT
I was MIA for most of last week. I was doing clinicals – 12-hour shifts in an ambulance – for my EMT class, which didn’t leave me much bandwidth for anything else. While I was riding around in an ambulance I had a lot of time to reflect on a recent reader question: Would you consider penning [an] article regarding your EMT course? That’s something I’d be interested in pursuing…
Medical Multi-Tool: The Triangular Bandage
The tourniquet is the rock-star in the world of medical devices. Tourniquets are the latest in an ever-growing list of strongly-encouraged EDC items. If I had my ‘druthers I would always have a full medical kit at hand. That’s not always possible, so if I had to limit myself to a single medical device, I’d choose the most versatile single item. Instead of a tourniquet, I’d choose the multi-tool of medical stuff: the triangular bandage. I know that’s a controversial position, so let me explain.
EMT vs. Paramedic: What’s the Difference?
I recently had lunch with fellow gun blogger (videographer?) and all-around good guy, Chris Baker. Chris and I were catching up after not having seen each other in quite a long time. I mentioned my EMT/Paramedic training track and at some point he asked, “are EMT and paramedic different things?” This is a really common question I get from people outside emergency services, so I thought I’d quickly run down some quantifiable differences for you.