First-aid kit for home and travel

In an emergency there is no time to search. A kit with a few sensibly sorted items that everyone in the household can find is therefore more valuable than a large, disorganised collection. Anyone who first has to rummage through three drawers in the excitement loses minutes that count with heavy bleeding.

The contents are based on what lay people can use safely: protecting themselves, covering and pressing on bleeding, covering wounds, keeping warm and calling for help. Anything beyond that is a job for the ambulance service or a doctor's practice. A kit full of specialist products that nobody can operate helps little in a real emergency.

Exactly which contents make sense depends on the household, the health of the people in it and the purpose. A family household with small children needs something different from a hiking backpack. Agencies such as the BBK in Germany and FEMA/Ready.gov in the USA count a first-aid kit as part of every household's basic emergency supplies.

Disposable gloves – ideally several pairs – protect you and the injured person from pathogens. Because of possible latex allergies, latex-free gloves, for example made of nitrile, are a good choice. Sterile dressings in various sizes and wound dressing packs cover wounds with few germs and are the material you use to press on bleeding. Sterile means: they are packed germ-free and should only be opened immediately before use.

Gauze or elastic roller bandages and adhesive tape hold dressings in place; plasters are for small wounds. The triangular bandage is a versatile piece of fabric for covering and padding – the course shows what else it can be used for. Bandage scissors with a rounded tip cut bandages and, if necessary, clothing without injuring the skin. The emergency blanket is a thin foil that keeps out wind and wet and helps to retain warmth.

Useful additions are tweezers, an instant cold pack, hand sanitiser, a notepad and pen and a torch. If you have learned rescue breaths on a course, you can pack a CPR face shield. Add a card with important numbers: the local emergency number (112 in the EU), your country's poison control line, family doctor, emergency contacts and a list of household members' allergies and regular medication.

Medication only goes in the kit as agreed with a doctor or pharmacist, with the package leaflet and only for the person it is intended for. This includes regular medication and anything doctors have prescribed for specific people, for example for severe allergies. Medication stocked ‘just in case’ for other people without medical advice does not belong in it – this entry deliberately makes no medication recommendations.

Children must not have access to medication. So keep it out of children's reach, even though the bandaging material itself should be quick to reach. Do not use expired medication; ask at the pharmacy how to dispose of it properly.

Sterile materials and medication have an expiry date. Heat, such as builds up in a car in summer, and humidity shorten their shelf life. A dry, cool place is therefore ideal – damp rooms like the bathroom are less suitable.

At home the kit is kept in a fixed, easy-to-reach place that everyone knows – not in the cellar and not at the very back of a cupboard. For travel and hiking a smaller, lighter kit is enough: gloves, a few dressings and plasters, one bandage, triangular bandage, emergency blanket, blister plasters, personal medication and a card with the destination's emergency numbers. Before long-distance trips, get medical or travel-medicine advice.

In the car a first-aid kit is mandatory in some countries, and its contents are standardised. In Germany it follows the DIN 13164 standard; other countries have their own requirements, which you should check before driving abroad. Because a car gets very hot in summer and very cold in winter, it is worth checking the expiry date especially carefully here.

A first-aid kit is also part of general emergency preparedness, together with supplies and a go-bag. There are separate entries on these. It is cheap and easy to assemble – allow about an hour for putting it together the first time.

Restock the kit immediately after every use – otherwise exactly what you need will be missing next time. Check expiry dates and completeness at least once a year. A fixed date helps, for example always at New Year or when the clocks change.

Show everyone in the household where the kit is and what is in it. Older children can also learn to find the gloves and plasters and to call the emergency number. The more familiar everyone is with the kit, the more calmly they react in an emergency.

A first-aid course makes the most of your kit: only there do you learn how to press a dressing on properly, apply a bandage or use the emergency blanket. First-aid organisations stress again and again that the most important ‘piece of equipment’ is a person who acts calmly and makes the emergency call. Refresh the course regularly.