For what its worth, what your first aid kit contains will really just contain the basics then what you want to tailor it to ie, where your are going and for who long.
In general, a good kit will contain things like gloves, band aids, splinter picks, a few different types of bandages, a few containers of Normal Saline solution, a packet of Paracetamol tablets, a few non stick dressings, a pair of tweezers and scissors and that s about it. There are a few versions of this but generally they are pretty much the same.
In my opinion and my experience, a good first aid kit should contain the following;
Gloves- If it's not your blood, try to keep away from it. Also, they protect the patient from anything ban that may be on you.
Hand Cleaner- To be effective, the alcohol should be above 70%. Good to clean up with both before and after. Also handy when you 'Gotta go' while out bush.
Some Medi-wipes of Alco-swabs- Great for cleaning around dirty wounds but very painful for the patient, so please be gentle.
Decent band aids- All too often, the band aids that are included are one of two sorts... either they don't stick well enough (usually because the skin is too wet) or they stick too well and react with sensitive skin on a lot of people. The type I prefer (I don't intend to promote any brands ,just recommend decent products) as wound dressings are primapore dressings. They come in a range of sizes, are hypoallergenic and stick really well. (I actually carry a 50mm x 5m role of Hypofix (a hypoallergenic self adhesive tape) and an assortment of different sizes of Melanin non stick dressings. This way, I can pretty much dress any size wound, including fingers and toes.
Steri-strips- AKA Butterfly stitches. Very handy for closing deeper cuts. *IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER* If you are closing a deepish cut, it will need to be cleaned thoroughly as any dirt left in will cause infection later on because the skin edges are back together, they will start to heal.
Sodium Chloride 0.9% for Irrigation- Great for washing/cleaning out wounds. The size container you get will depend on the size of the first aid kit you carry. The come in 10ml, 30ml containers. Also great for cleaning out any eye irritations.
Compression Bandages- make sure that you get the compression bandages. One of the biggest dangers in the bush are snakebites. Normal dressings are no good for snake bite as they can't apply enough compression but compression bandages are great for sprains, strains and soft tissue injuries as well as snake bites.
Large quantity of Cotton Swabs or Combine Dressings- Great for cleaning up blood, ooze etc.
Triangular bandages- for the obvious injuries requiring a sling plus, in hot clims they can be soaked in water and used as a cooling bandana.
Thermal Blanket- Despite common beliefs, it can get frickin cold in the desert at night!
A decent set of scissors and tweezers- very handy and you'll be surprised at how useful they are.
Splinter probes- You'll be amazed at how many sharp things there are out there.
1 x packet each of paracetamol (for headaches etc), ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory), an anti-histamine (for allergic reaction or insect bites).
Folks, this isn't a hard and fast list of what should be in a first aid kit but its a good start.
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