Most common injuries - assembling a 1st aid kit

[Jessica Lambert]

I would like to do a survey of the most common injuries/medical emergencies that people have seen while offroading. I am going to assemble my own first aid kit because the off-the-shelf kits at pharmacies naturally can't have everything.

For example, I imagine some of the more desert-specific incidents would be:

1. burns (from car parts and fluids, camp fires)

2. motion sickness

3. insect bites

4. snake bites

5. heat stroke/dehydration

6. general cuts/scrapes/splinters

And black swan incidents to be prepared/trained in basic first aid for, such as:

1. shock

2. severe lacerations/crush/stab injuries

3. cardiac/breathing emergencies

4. concussion

What injuries/issues do you regularly see/wish you'd been prepared for while offroading?

[Frederic]

Very good topic @Jessica Lambert !

@Melenany is a certified first aid instructor for the government. I will tag him in here as he might be able to chip in.

I think you have covered it already really well. Accidents happen unfortunately and the better we are prepared, the better we can deal with them. 

In general if something serious happens, we are usually max 30mins away from the main roads on 90% of our drives we do (Liwa, Al Quoa, and other remote areas are more challenging).  This means we can call the ambulance immediately and should be able to give a pinpoint location as to where the patient would need to be picked up.

Within the Carnity club, we are lucky to have very capable members who are certified doctors in daily life, or people who have been trained in their profession to deal with such events. 

If i would have to rate the risk of occurence from my experiences i would say:

1) Burns (many cars overheat in the desert, or have cooling hoses or caps bursting off)

2) Dehydration. Is definitely something to look out for. 

3) lacerations, crush, cuts, bruises, Not common but hence our training for recoveries and pop-out repair is essential.

4) motion sickness. Happens sometimes but with proper medication and exiting the drive this can be kept under control.

5) insect or snake bites. Not so common, and not deadly in UAE.

[Melenany]

Thanks @Frederic and Hi @Jessica Lambert

 

Thats a great subject, however you will need to be cautious on what ca  be done or adminstrated under Non certified 1st Aid and those open for a certified ones.

For example offering any medications for motiom sickness or dizziness is not allowed however offcourse there's is a lot can be done while any one is offically certified and i talked to @Gaurav to start working on that for the carnity team which will happen soon.

In addition to above The most important part is Those trumatic injuries that could happen due to roll overs and here we follow a more administrative routine which is; Injuries Assessment Form to register and check all types of injuries And to the kit some bandages and splints might be helpful 

The only thing again could be added is TRAINING for the best use of any of the 1st Aid materials.

[topgear]

Following this topic

[Jessica Lambert]

Thank you @Melenany, indeed I agree, I mentioned training in my second list. 

Mercifully the UAE now has a Rescuer Protection/Good Samaritan Law. Article 53 of the Penal Code now provides:

"Whoever commits any action in good faith that may damage another person while trying to provide help or relief to such person in cases that require urgent intervention to save life, prevent, or mitigate any damages to the body of such person shall not be guilty of any crime. "

So this would not cover cases of motion sickness of course, but "saving life or limb" is now protected.

[Melenany]

That's amazing, and soon we will organize the necessary trainings for those whom are interested to be trained and certified as Emergency First responder

[Jessica Lambert]

4 minutes ago, Melenany said:

That's amazing, and soon we will organize the necessary trainings for those whom are interested to be trained and certified as Emergency First responder

I will be your first sign up!

[Jessica Lambert]

On 5/24/2022 at 1:32 PM, Frederic said:

Very good topic @Jessica Lambert !

@Melenany is a certified first aid instructor for the government. I will tag him in here as he might be able to chip in.

I think you have covered it already really well. Accidents happen unfortunately and the better we are prepared, the better we can deal with them. 

In general if something serious happens, we are usually max 30mins away from the main roads on 90% of our drives we do (Liwa, Al Quoa, and other remote areas are more challenging).  This means we can call the ambulance immediately and should be able to give a pinpoint location as to where the patient would need to be picked up.

Within the Carnity club, we are lucky to have very capable members who are certified doctors in daily life, or people who have been trained in their profession to deal with such events. 

If i would have to rate the risk of occurence from my experiences i would say:

1) Burns (many cars overheat in the desert, or have cooling hoses or caps bursting off)

2) Dehydration. Is definitely something to look out for. 

3) lacerations, crush, cuts, bruises, Not common but hence our training for recoveries and pop-out repair is essential.

4) motion sickness. Happens sometimes but with proper medication and exiting the drive this can be kept under control.

5) insect or snake bites. Not so common, and not deadly in UAE.

I am going to add getting sand in the eyes!

[Looper]

There have been a few post every now and then, may be the moderators can combine them together:

I see this in the most exhaustive offroad check list:

Most comprehensive list of off-road gears and recovery tools

BASIC FIRST AID KIT

• Available at all pharmacies, auto kits available at ACE and some specialized offroad joints, you can also put one together yourself or your vehicle may have one supplied with it. Should contain:
• Gauze (Large, Medium & Small sizes)
• Sticking Plaster & Adhesive Strips (Band Aid variety)
• Surgical Cotton
• Surgical Spirit/Antiseptic
• Basic medication/ointment for minor cuts and bruises
• Burnaid other burn treatment
• Scissors & Forceps
• Cotton Buds

Maybe we can extend this list to begin with.

[Thomas Varghese]

Thanks for raising awareness about 1st Aid

Edited May 26, 2022 by Thomas Varghese