 This section lists supplies and medications that you should consider taking
along when you travel to areas where little or no medical care exists. If you're
a physician, you'll find plenty of problems in the indigenous population that
can use your help.
For those who want to avoid collecting the supplies and medications, I
enthusiastically recommend DAN's DSS Guardian First Aid Kit. It contains most of
the supplies I've listed in a handy, compact travel kit. You can easily
customize it to your own specifications as well. For example, you can't take
along too many one-inch Band-Aids?-I carry at least 100-and several rolls of
1-inch-wide cloth adhesive tape. You'll be the most popular diver on the trip!
All of this fits inside a zipper bag the size of a loaf of bread.
Hardware
5 disposable scalpels with #15 blade*
1 needle holder*
1 pair pickups (e.g., Adson?)*
2 small hemostats*
2 3.5cc syringes with 25-gauge needle or dental syringe with 30-gauge needles*
1 tissue scissors*
1 oto-ophthalmoscope*
1 disposable airway*
1 Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool-really useful to have along!
1 stethoscope
Materials
2 packs each 4-0 Ethanol-Vicryl? sutures on a PS-2 needle*
1 bottle 1 percent Xylocaine?* with epinephrine (or 2 percent dental capsules)
12 packets alcohol swabs
2 sterile drapes with eyeholes
2 pair each sterile and disposable gloves
2 rolls 3-inch Ace? elastic wrap
2 rolls 1" cloth tape
1 box Steri-strips?
1 box Telfa? pads
1 box 1" Band-Aids? #100
2 rolls self-adherent roller gauze (wide)
1 roll Coban?
1 packet of Duoderm? (thin)
Drugs
1 tube fluorinated steroid (Temovate?, Diprolene? AF)*
1 tube 1 percent hydrocortisone cream
1 tube antibiotic ointment
1 tube topical antifungal cream (Naftin?, Lotrimin?, etc.)
1 tube Duolube?*
20 Tylox? caps
30 Ibuprofen? or Aleve?
30 enteric coated ASA or Tylenol? tablets*
30 prednisone tablets (20mgm)*
20 Cipro? or Cephalexin? tablets (500mgm)*
20 Famvir? or Valtrex? 500 mgm tabs or Zovirax? 800 mgm tabs*
20 oral antifungals (Sporanox?, Diflucan?, Lamisil?)
20 acid blockers (Pepcid?, Tagamet?) or Prilosec?*
20 nonsedating antihistamines with pseudoephedrine (Claritin?-D or Allegra?-D)
Miscellaneous
1 bottle Jungle Juice
1 box Pepto-Bismol? tablets
1 Ana-Kit?
#15 (or higher) broad-spectrum (UVA/UVB) waterproof sunscreen and Chapstick?
1 bottle Domeboro Otic?*
1 bottle Afrin? Nasal Spray
1 box Transderm-Scop? patches*
1 water filtration device
* Indicates either a prescription drug or equipment that requires specialized
training to use, so tailor this list to your own skill level.
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Oregon physician Dr. Bruce Miller's recommendations are based on 20-plus years'
experience backpacking, climbing, ski patrolling (in the Pacific Northwest),
travelling, scuba diving around the world, and, "most hazardous of all,
spending water-ski weeks in a houseboat on Lake Shasta." |
