First aid classes and med kit (Graphic photo)

Good morning, I would like to take real classes on first aid and find a proper med kit. So far I’ve had several hook problems (mostly hand and fingers) and this weekend my buddy cut his leg with a chainsaw at the camp. Are there classes that teach you how to do stitches and license you to buy a local anesthetic? BTW I had to drive 1 hour to the hospital with the leg injury

Jeebus, don't post pix of gore without warnings.

Stitching serious wounds is not for the novices. Get it wrong and you cause pockets to abscess and excessive scarring. Though I suppose that's better than bleeding out until more accomplished aid can be rendered. From what I recall it's a matter of dealing with the injuries to the underlying layers, not just closing the top-most skin.

Uhm, I thought I did. Read title

Don't know where he got it, but one of my sons would say, eew, you can see meat! Dad, I got cut! How bad is it? Not too bad, you can't see any meat...

When I was a kid my father and I were in the woods cutting firewood. He touched his shinbone with the running chainsaw. He limped to the car and made a bandage out of newspaper and black electrician's tape and then went back to cutting firewood. It's been a family joke ever since, decades later.

swampu said:

Good morning, I would like to take real classes on first aid and find a proper med kit. So far I’ve had several hook problems (mostly hand and fingers) and this weekend my buddy cut his leg with a chainsaw at the camp. Are there classes that teach you how to do stitches and license you to buy a local anesthetic? BTW I had to drive 1 hour to the hospital with the leg injury
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To deal with the kind of injury your pic shows I suggest either Medical Person in Charge STCW training (MEDPIC). Or wilderness first aid.

I imagine the quality of the MEDPIC training varies from provider to provider. My training at MITAGS in Seattle was very good. Two weeks of intensive work. First week in the class room, second week hands on. The only live person to person training was giving each other saline IVs.

I'm not up on current regs and laws but at that time I took the training we couldn't just purchase controlled substances. We had to have a contract with a company like MedAire who provided kits with the drugs and assistance from Drs and nurses via long distance communications on administration.

And long before that I took an advanced marine first aid course for commercial fishermen. Sorry I don't remember who put it on it was a long time ago. Perhaps FVOA in Seattle? In that course we learned to suture on dead animal parts. Upon inspection of my handicraft I was advised by the Dr for the victim's sake to avoid sutures if I could.

None of the above is cheap. You might try walking the docks frequented by commercial fishing boats who stay out for days or weeks. They may know some work arounds. For example there used to be a pharmacy in my area serving the fishing fleet that could push the limits of the rules and get you a good kit but they've long since closed that operation.

I will comment that the generic advanced first aid course while better than no training isn't worth much when it comes to training for marine or remote emergencies.

The Red Cross offers a wide variety of first aid classes. Contact them. I'd guess that like here in North Carolina they'd have some pretty robust ones on the gulf coast, given the hurricane exposure in addition to the normal stuff. Many of their classes you can take on line.

Best bet for something like that - even with an hour drive to the ER, is to bandage it and drive. It's not gushing blood so it looks worse than it is.

If longer transport times are involved, you can look at some steri-strips and bandaging.

Leave the stitches (and medical liability) to the doctors...

Stiching of wounds isnt really an emergency procedure so much as something done to let it heal right. You don't really need to do that unless you aren't going to get to medical care for a long while. And, as has been noted, closing up a wound without proper cleaning and possibly antibiotics can lead to an abyss, etc. Also, stiching tissues covering a life threatening arterial bleed, etc, wont help it and will just waste time and blood.

Direct pressure is what will stop or control bleeding. Clotting agents, e.g. Quick Clot, are OTC and can be bought by anyone. They are especially helpful for those on blood thinners. The versions that are embedded in gauze work best. But, any version only works if it gets down into the wound to the source of the heavy bleeding.

In general, you can control any life threatening bleeding with packing and direct pressure,,and if you do, you are doing the right thing. Then, once stopped, you dont want to open it back up or look -- or you could be back to the life threat.

For more minor wounds, it often makes sense to tolerate minor bleesing while cleaning the wound well, even excessively, e.g. irrigation with clean water,,just to reduce the chances of infection. Then, once done. Use packing and direct pressure to control the bleeding and protect from contamination.

There are adjuncts to help, e.g. pressure dressings, but they arent commonly necessary, just helpful.

A WFA course or MPIC course are good options.

Most community colleges offer EMT courses. Probably all you will need for majority of situations. Of course there is probably a you tube video that will walk you through heart replacement surgery...

SoWhat said:

Most community colleges offer EMT courses. Probably all you will need for majority of situations. Of course there is probably a you tube video that will walk you through heart replacement surgery...

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I was an EMT 20 plus years ago and unless things have changed dramatically...there is no way stitches are part of Emergency care. EMT training would be great for anyone to have but you'll need more specific training as other have suggested above due to your need for remote care.

Sidney

I fist full of steri-strips and immobility will do as an adequate substitute for stitches for the short term while waiting for, or to get too, medical services. The skin doesn't care about the mechanics of how it's being held together.

swampu said:

Are there classes that teach you how to do stitches and license you to buy a local anesthetic?

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I think my suture kit was part of the EMT kit I purchased. My skipper & I learned how to use it in our Medicine at Sea class, practicing on chicken breasts. Most cruisers I have known carried local anesthesia in their kits supplied by sympathetic personal dentists. My PCP provides a prescription for topical Licocaine for those times when I get painful injections in my foot from a different MD. There are those who will advise that you seek professional medical care when needed, but those are generally folks who do not venture days/weeks away from that kind of care. Note that stitches aren't just for the skin; sometimes you have to sew up a blood vessel or artery before you worry about securing the skin. Buy me a margarita sometime & I'll tell you how I know.

The mobile app keeps showing the last attachment. So can someone post something more pleasant so we don’t have to look at that over and over!
[emoji44]?

How about this instead..

I have stitched up myself when it was bad. But I wouldn't want to do someone else unless it was really needed, and the I would care how pretty it looked. Stop the bleeding then run for the hospital.

Good book for when help is a long ways off: https://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Mountaineering-Other-Wilderness-Activities/dp/0898863317

Oh...and for next time...chainsaw chaps

kthoennes said:

How about this instead.. View attachment 92063

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Thank you [emoji120]

We didn’t do this class but Lena and I did a similar one called “Suturing at Sea”. It was geared toward the commercial fishing industry. It was a great class. We practiced various suturing techniques on pigs feet. Maybe there’s something similar in your area?

Mastering Fundamentals of Skin Laceration Repair
https://www.cprseattle.com/mastering-skin-laceration-repair

I've used tape to close a wound as first aid, but never even thought about actually stitching someone. And, I've a had lot more first aid training than the average person, I would imagine.

We even used to carry trauma kits on our persons where I worked when engaged in risky behavior. I carry one on my boat.

Group9 said:

We even used to carry trauma kits on our persons where I worked when engaged in risky behavior.

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Me too. Assuming an organization with an ORI?



Also, don't underestimate superglue...

k9medic said:

Me too. Assuming an organization with an ORI?

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U.S. Gov, what do you think, LOL?

Just saw you profile. Should have looked there first. LOL

In addition to classes we really recommend The Onboard Medical Handbook by Paul Gill, if you can find a copy (it still shows up on Amazon), though it appears there are some other good titles on the subject as well.

When Ann told our doctor in Dallas that we were embarking on our cruising adventure, he got very excited and enthusiastically hooked us up with all kinds of meds and kit.

Please don't do this - suturing yourself is almost always a bad idea. As a Surgeon, I anesthetize, open and cleanse the wound carefully before closing the wound from the depths to the skin. We use needle drivers and curved needles which u likely won't have. In the Backcountry I have used dental floss and a sewing needle but really not necessary unless you are weeks from medical care. The absolute worst thing to do is to sew up the skin leaving a pocket of bacteria under the skin. You will be creating the perfect abscess!

The safest method is to immediately rinse the wound with clean water if there is obvious dirt, and cover with something clean and dry 'till you get trained medical care or it heals. Local pressure and elevation of the injured part will stop virtually all bleeding. If the edges gape too much or you are offshore, I would use duct tape to keep the edges 1/8" apart. Leave room for stuff to leak out once bright red bleeding stops. All wounds will heal eventually without sutures and even gaping wounds will usually contract to a fine scar as they heal.

As a former EMT, I agree that direct pressure and clotting agents are your go-to techniques. We do a lot of remote boating above Cape Caution in British Columbia and medical services are often quite distant. I carry a suture kit and two surgical staple kits for the possibility that someone else with professional medical training might be more readily available than emergency services.