Personal Jump Bag

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RobertAlfanoNJEMT

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Does anyone else carry their own kind of jump bag in their car or is it just me? It's not a lot just like a pair of sheers, a bp cuff, stethoscope, gloves, etc. You know just the basics so that it's all together if I want to stop on the side of the road to help someone or if one of my family members get sick or I'm at a party and someone gets sick or hurt.. Does anyone else do this or am I the only weird one who cares too much? haha
 
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BeansCO

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So I carry a bag with first aid items in my car. I keep it on hand for personal use only.

I suppose if I witnessed the incident and scene safety wasn't a concern I would stop and most likely use it.

Just make sure you know your duty to act laws of your state.
If its a side of the road response use common sense and be sure that you are not putting your life at risk.
 
chaz90

chaz90

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What help are shears, a BP cuff, and a stethoscope going to be? These are all basically assessment tools assuming you have the ability to provide some sort of intervention after assessing. There's another thread discussing this right now, but what help would it be to stop at the rare "bad" MVA with serious injuries and have a BP cuff available? You already know the severity of their injury, and BLS airway maneuvers and bleeding control would be the only helpful things you could provide. Conveniently, neither requires equipment and both are layperson skills.

I kinda understand the gloves tucked away somewhere, but everything else is nonsense IMO. Do what makes you happy, but the only other "equipment" I could ever see myself keeping nearby hand might be an Epi-Pen if I had a close family member with a severe allergy.
 
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RobertAlfanoNJEMT

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chaz90 said:
What help are shears, a BP cuff, and a stethoscope going to be? These are all basically assessment tools assuming you have the ability to provide some sort of intervention after assessing. There's another thread discussing this right now, but what help would it be to stop at the rare "bad" MVA with serious injuries and have a BP cuff available? You already know the severity of their injury, and BLS airway maneuvers and bleeding control would be the only helpful things you could provide. Conveniently, neither requires equipment and both are layperson skills.

I kinda understand the gloves tucked away somewhere, but everything else is nonsense IMO. Do what makes you happy, but the only other "equipment" I could ever see myself keeping nearby hand might be an Epi-Pen if I had a close family member with a severe allergy.
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I mean the bp cuff I just happened to have so I threw it in with the rest of my medical stuff.. The sheeres can be useful for a lot of things like cutting clothes to get access to bleeding or cutting a seat belt.. As for the epi pen I can't get access to that because I don't have a prescription
 
TransportJockey

TransportJockey

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Cell phone is all you'll need
 
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

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SMH....ugh... everytime...... FNG. I remember those days though...
 
SandpitMedic

SandpitMedic

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EpiPen? Is that even a BLS admin? Me thinks no.

I am with @TransportJockey on this.
 
chaz90

chaz90

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The EpiPen was only mentioned as something medical and weird I would keep on hand for a family member with a history of anaphylaxis. I certainly wouldn't carry one as any part of my non-existent personal jump bag.
 
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Shock

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My service issues a gear bag that has to go with you when you leave your shift, and has to be on the truck with you. I just keep it in my car. It has turn-out gear for MVA's. I stuffed some c-collars, some gauze, a roll of tape, and some prep pads in it from various supply rooms. I figured that's all I'd ever need off duty. Without a truck, you can't do much. But if I'm ever in an accident myself, having that stuff close is comforting. Even if I have to instruct a passer by how to put a c-collar on me, at least it's there.
 
Tigger

Tigger

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One time several years I ago I caught myself on Amazon buying the contents for a "BLS bag." I vomited on myself, and since then things have been fine.

There is a bag of gloves and some bleeding control things in my truck. That covers the two things that might actually make a difference if the situation presented itself. Certainly don't need a bag for that (though I do have an old first in bag that I use to organize all my backcountry ski gear, does that count?).

Think to yourself; if you arrived on scene in your ambulance and some guy was like "she's 134/80 bro, says she sick and stuff," would you just be like "ok right on, lets go to the hospital then?" I am going to do my own assessment 100% of the time and there's a significant chance I'm not actively listening to the bystander anyway...
 
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Honeybadger

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Tigger said:
One time several years I ago I caught myself on Amazon buying the contents for a "BLS bag." I vomited on myself, and since then things have been fine.

There is a bag of gloves and some bleeding control things in my truck. That covers the two things that might actually make a difference if the situation presented itself. Certainly don't need a bag for that (though I do have an old first in bag that I use to organize all my backcountry ski gear, does that count?).

Think to yourself; if you arrived on scene in your ambulance and some guy was like "she's 134/80 bro, says she sick and stuff," would you just be like "ok right on, lets go to the hospital then?" I am going to do my own assessment 100% of the time and there's a significant chance I'm not actively listening to the bystander anyway...
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Bystanders can be great sources of information. Why wouldnt you listen to an off duty ems personnel with pertinent info? We had a kid die recently and one of our off duty EMT's was there to witness the crash and timed the concurrent seizure along with getting him into a c collar that he had in his car. That was incredibly helpful. That said, I have a bf cuff because I use that bag for household medical nonsense too, but when I call 911, here in seattle, the information I have can help me request ALS off the bat. And a bp cuff can pull double duty as a makeshift tourniquet. What harm is there having a cheap scope for lung sounds and a cuff for pressures? What if that patient was in the 60/p range? Sure there would be other indicators going on, but you would have that much more to help guide responding units initially.

Laziness and dorkiness are hardly excuses to not be prepared to help people with the skills you have. I'm not all gung ho running up to every fender bender and slapping on c collars, but if I see a motorcyclist go down or a nasty collision, I help, because I'd want someone to do the same for me.
 
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DesertMedic66

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Just because they are an off-duty medic/EMT, nurse, PA, Doctor, etc doesn't mean they have accurate information or are even what they claim.

Regardless of what bystanders say I am going to do my own assessment and what they tell me isn't going to change my treatment plan.
 
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