St. John run a motorcycle first aid course here in NSW Australia. It takes a full day .. it would not be possible to run a 'shorter' course and have enough effective information to provide life support ... sorry but running a 'first aid' course of less than a day is just not going to be effective.. all you can hope to do is motivate tham into doing a real first aid course.

Here in Australia they say the 'normal' first aid courses provide for the first 30 minutes of care. If you want more - St. John run a 'Remote Area First Aid' course that provides 'extended' care .. like for the next few days .. and yes help can be that far away. That course takes 3 days .. 3 intensive days .. aznd I think that would be a minimum!

The message - do a First Aid course - look for
The time it take to do the course - less than 3 days then your only looking at the first 30 minutes of care. If you think you may be further away from medical assistant than this then find a more extensive course. If the course takes less than a day .. look elesewhere.. !!!

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

It would be nice learn what different people carry in their med kit and what they found works for them.

Here is my basic kit. It get altered to some degree for each trip depending on where I am going and who with. But for what it is worth, here is the basic. Note that I am not recommending this (no-one should recommend any medications for a kit - that opens one to law-suits. This is just what I carry for my own use)


Medical/emergency kit

Spare prescription glasses, safety glasses, LED headlamp, mercury thermometer, cpr mask, nitrile rubber gloves - xtra large, tweezers (surgical), hemostat (surgical), SAM splint, mild soap solution for washing out wounds (or saline), O.B. (smallest) tampons, emergency whistle, emergency blanket, fire starter kit.

Small wound pack
6 cleaning wipes (benidine)
6 adhesive bandages ¾ by 3”
6 adhesive bandages 3”
2 adhesive squares 2” by 3”
2 knuckle bandages
6 non-stick sterile pads 2x2
1 roll adhesive mole skin
1 roll self-adhering bandage (Hypafix)
1 roll adhesive tape (white cloth)
1 roll surgical tape (plastic micro-pore)
1 roll surgical tape (steri-strips)
2 small compression bandages with gauze tails

Medium wound pack
6 gauze sterile 4x4
2 medium compression bandages with gauze tails
2 large compression bandages with gauze tails
2 self- adhering gauze roller bandages

Large wound pack
6 sterile gauze 4x4
1 abdominal bandage
1 multi-trauma bandage
4 self-adhering gauze roller bandages
2 large compression bandages with gauze tails

Burn pack
6 non-adhering sterile gauze 4x4
6 non-adhering sterile gauze 6x6
3 self-adhering roller gauze bandages.
(I am giving some thought to specilized burn bandages that have a silver compound to fight infection. Alergic reaction and adverse reaction may be a concern and these may not be suitable for pre-hospital treatment.)
Meds
1 bottle ibprophen
1 bottle Tylenol
1 pack Advil sinus
1 pack Tylenol sinus
1 pack muscle relaxant
1 pack dextrose
6 packets of re-hydrant (Gastrolite)
1 small bottle of Pepto Bismal
1 pack antihistamine
1 tube general polysporin

A word about anti-biotics. CAREFUL. If you have valid concerns about a re-occurring infection that you are susceptible to, talk to your family doctor about obtaining the correct medication prior to the trip. If your own family doctor says it isn’t a good idea, BELIEVE THEM. Do not go and buy black market meds in some shit hole and take them. First, different antibiotics are used for different illnesses. Taking medication without competent diagnosis is unbelievably stupid. Many third world countries have a lot of latitude for what they consider competent. This doesn’t mean that you always get a competent doctor in north America, or that you would get an incompetent one in some third world country. It just that the potential is greater that could happen. I won’t even start on the potential quality of the medications.


Now comes the fun part. What have I have used for what. (again, not a recommendation - just personal preference and use).

Back muscle strains – 2 types of injury concerns – swelling and spasm. The ibprophen handles inflammation best, and the muscle relaxant handles the spasms. This gets me through the first and worst 24hrs.
Sinus problems – 2 things work in conjunction. First, without the decongestant, the pain will not go away. Second, saline nose rinses work wonders to clear the gunk away and make sleep easier.
Gastrolite – If you get dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea, you will need something to help get the water absorbed into your system. Re-hydration solutions, commercial or home prepared, are lifesavers. For me, this works.
Blisters – Yes, there are some wonderful products out there today. They also cost a lot. Mole skin works for me because I pay attention and attend to the problem before it becomes a full blown blister.
Hypafix – commercial stretchy breathable self-adhering bandage that secures gauze to the most irregular places. Any similar product would do as well.
Compression bandages with gauze tails - excellent - have had fair size gashes patched up on me twice with them (one, a nasty head wound). Good pressure to stop bleeds. Easy to apply.

That’s it for now. I’d be interested in what others have found works well in the real world and especially, what DOESN'T WORK WELL.

Peace,

Narly

Thanks Frank ,I know what you are getting at ,but I prefer narly's approach .
You cannot expect everyone to be interested in a high level first aid course .
Some simple do's and don'ts that could save person's life and put them on the road to recovery whilst better trained professionals arrive would be the way to go for me .

The more complicated and lengthy a course becomes ,the more a person is likely to forget .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Frank - totally agree with you. You couldn't possibly run a competent first aid course in under a day. Especially not one geared for motorcycle travel. Not only that, but no one can learn first aid by reading about it either. It requires actual practice. The only thing that could be done during a "meet" is to have everyone participating to have done a standard first aid course and then to run a workshop which allows the opportunity to practice necessary skills. In truth, a proper course would be a two day event. The wilderness first aid course I teach is 2 days and 3 nights and the pre-requisite is the students already have taken and passed a standard first aid course within the last 6 months.
I do beleive we can use this board to sort out some myths, offer some suggestions that work, and of course inform people of what is reasonable preperation.

To repeat what Frank said and I stated in my first post: TAKE A COURSE. What we post here should be the value gained from experience and the basic guidelines that you should look for in a course.

We are definitely willing - but as narly mentions, it's not something you can do properly in an hour or two.

Although I could argue that an hour or two of SOMETHING is better than nothing, even if it's mostly don'ts.

We would be interested in seeing what the interest is in a two day course after any of the meetings. If narly or anyone else anywhere is interested in teaching such a course at any of our meets, we're happy to include it.

A good first aid kit list would be of great interest - post it and let's discuss it and see what we can all come up with and I'll add it to the site. Perhaps a fresh thread? "the ideal first aid kit"?

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Like the 'ideal motorcycle' or the 'ideal tyre' or the 'ideal map' ... it does not exist. My present one weighs 500 grams (aprox). One of the more useful things is a pair of shears .. High performance scissors .. will cut light metal coins .. good for getting motorcycle gear off injured riders.

Perhaps "First Aid Kit - what is in yours?" ?

Extensive discussions on
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5562

7 pages long.What you put in your kit is what you think you may need .. and what you are prepared to use. But don't forget .. if you use it on someone else .. you will not have what you used for any following emergency. Best to use the victims’ kit on themselves.. after all if it is bad they will be leaving, and so won't need their kit.

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

I think a lot depends on where you are travelling, and what sort of medical aid will be readily available. A trip on the highways means that you will probably get competent medical aid within a couple of hours - a trip in the wilderness means that you may have to manage for a couple of days before you get stretcherborne, to wherever.

The first scenario means that your emergency kit will be a lot less extensive. You'll hardly need that thermal blanket, or that specialized burns bandage. Those are things for the hospital to sort out.

In the worst case situation the primary focus will be on maintaining respiration and controlling bleeding, and to an extent immobilizing damaged body parts, especially the spine. Hardly anybody dies due to a fractured limb - that said, broken ribs CAN lead to life threatening emergencies, but the treatment for that is best done by trained personnel. As such, the emergency kit should be geared towards this requirement.

For situations where trained help may take a day or two arriving, a much more elaborate kit would be required, including measures for infection control (read antibiotics).

However, all that is useless without knowing how to use it, or not having some basic medical knowledge.

Whichever course you organise ultimately, it should include practical demonstrations, and all the participants should actually DO the procedure - there is a big difference between seeing something and actually doing it - the latter gets etched into memory and can be used, unlike the former.

Hi guys , I travel arround the globe for years and have some basic medical knowledge ,I was wondering if any of you did the classes proposed by the red cross ,they look good and after talking to other fellow riders I realised that many of us don't really know what to do if bad things happen.I am a firm beleiver of if you get ready for the worst nothing bad happen .

As an Advanced First Aid and CPR/AED instructor, the Red Cross class is a good start. I would recommend an EMT, (Emergency Medical Technician), WEMT, (Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician) or National Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Care class for travellers. The latter courses deals more with the emergency care in a rural and wilderness setting with definitive medical care a long way away.

Thanks for the tip I will do these classes as I also volunter for helping people across the world in charity organisation.

see you on the road.

Hendi

Hi,
I just wanted to say that I think this thread is really great and it is nice to know that there are people out there who think about this sort of thing and care about their fellow human beings.

Hi Grant

I've helped a friend of mine on a couple of occasions. He runs a First Aid training company and, as a keen motorcyclist, was invovled in the first aid input to the original BikeSafe scheme.

He does run motorcycle specific courses but as you say, they generally take a FULL day. He does not believe that the area can be adequately covered in a half day.

Here's his website -

Motorcycle Related First Aid Training - Aline Associates

He's always willing to travel and I'm sure if enough people were interested he'd be happy sort something out for you.

Hope this is of help - having stood at the side of the road not knowing what to do when my wife had a bike accident, one of the first things I did was sort myself out some training when we got back to the UK. Would recommend the same for anyone else.

Cheers

Manic

__________________
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