What gear bags does your service use?

[CWATT]

Hey y'all,

I'm curious if your service uses a combined O2/trauma bag or separate bags for everything.

Me - When I first started in EMS it was at the BLS level for an industrial company. We used the Ferno Trauma bag for everything - the O2 bottle was in the bottom and was accessed through the side door. Once I got on car, we used the Trauma bag for narcotics, IV, and trauma gear, and a seperate medium-sized airway bag which had the O2 tank plus adult BVM, OPA/NPA, ET, and cryc. kit and some other misc. stuff. We also had a peds bag with peds IV kits, BVM, and meds. If you responded to a peds call, you'd take the LifePack15, trauma bag, airway bag, and peds kit. I felt like a pack mule. (Haha).

*I started a poll above


- C

 

[DesertMedic66]

Our main bag has everything from meds to trauma supplies to airway to IO. The only thing it doesn't have is CPAP or suction. Our O2 bottle is on the gurney. If we need it we will pop it off.

Fire has a trauma bag, med box, airway bag with O2 in it.

 

[NomadicMedic]

We have a half a dozen bags. It blows.
Oxygen lives at the head of the stretcher.

We have a stat pack BLS first in bag, a stat pack drug bag (als drugs) an airway bag, a pedi bag, IV bag and a few others.

 

[VentMonkey]

Our ground division uses a blue jump, or "first-in" bag that has all of our supplies needed in an emergent situation from airway, to IV, and all Level 1 (immediate) meds.

Our secondary (red) bag is in the ambulance but consists of more meds; some more for restock, others that may be given en route, and/ or with orders.

Our CCT division has a paramedic bag (the ground unit is set up identical to the ALS/ 911 divisions with a few extra airway tools; the helicopters medic bag is primarily airway stuff, the EZ-IO drill kit, and an IV roll out kit). The nurse has their own bag with primary and secondary gtt sets, etc. Our flight nurses carry all of our meds in their bag that we would carry on the ground, and RSI meds/ narcotics. All of the CCT bags are statpacks, except for the ground units paramedic/ nurse bags.

None of our bags have a portable O2 bottle, nor have I worked somewhere that provided one. Fire's jumpbag has it, good enough for me.

 

[TransportJockey]

Right now we use ferno bags. An airway bag with am eti roll and an o2 bottle (plus trauma supplies) plus a drug bag with our ezio in it as well. We are hopefully switching to one big statpack soon without an o2 bottle

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[NomadicMedic]

I keep trying to get us to condense our stuff and politics/hospital policy continue to impede progress.

 

[VentMonkey]

I keep trying to get us to condense our stuff and politics/hospital policy continue to impede progress.

 

[DSDMedic]

We run with Statpack jump bags that carry the usual "first in" stuff -- basic trauma, IV, a first-in drug bag with 8 or 10 of the common ones, and an adult BVM is usually stuffed inside one of the sides with an airway roll. We also keep an IV box in the rig -- it's just IV stuff, catheters, tape, TQs, wipes, the usual stuff. Saves us from having to constantly run to either the bag or the drug box to pull that stuff out. There's a secondary major trauma-and-everything-else bag that lives in the truck, and I don't think has been touched in living memory other than for restocks, and then the main drug box in the rig with everything else plus restocks. For a while we kept an IO set in the jump bag, but moved to EZ IO, and now it lives in its own spot in the truck and we just grab it as needed. We toss it in the bag for arrest or man-down calls, or if fire warns us we need it.

Our O2 lives on the stretcher, unless we luck out and get one of the crap stretchers with no O2 bracket, in which case somebody gets to hump the tank, unless we've got fire right before or after us and we can get them to do it.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

Our bags are made by FireTech Manufacturing. http://firetechmfg.com/category/medical-backpacks/

The exact bags we use aren't on their site because they're custom jobs.

All of our bags are backpacks and break down to:
- Circulation (red)
IV/IO, all our meds
- Airway (blue)
Suction, intubation roll, King airways
- Trauma (green)
- Pediatric (pink)
Includes OBS kit, paediatric intubation roll

Oxygen is kept in a separate sleeve that can clip onto the airway bag or hang off the stretcher via carabiners. Inside the bags every piece of equipment/kit is in its own labelled pouch velcroed into the larger bag.

 

[Jim37F]

Not sure who makes it, but we have a blue jump bag we take when first in to a call, has all our BLS supplies, OPA/NPAs, portable suction, BVMs and O2 masks/cannulas, Kelley, 4x4s, Guatemala pressure bandages, pen lights, shears, alcohol wipes, bottle of normal saline and so on and so forth. Actual O2 D-tank is strapped to the gurney, and most crews keep extra O2 masks and the like strapped there as well.

My previous department however, we had bags for days. We had a separate BLS trauma bag (similar set up just no O2 supplies) and a separate O2 bag (D tank, NRB, NC, BVM, CPAP), but in addition to those two we also had a blue BLS bag that combined both that did have everything but the kitchen sink in it complete with D tank. Although it was bulkier and heavier, most crews there actually tended to leave that bag on the gurney and just bring that one in with the monitor (medics would carry their ALS drug box), although a couple preferred the much smaller O2 only bag (which seemed odd to me since once again, a D tank with masks and the like was already strapped to the gurney, I always thought it'd be better to carry the red trauma bag if you didn't want the full Blue bag....but I liked the bigger one if only because with it you could handle just about anything and everything to stabilize and get to the ambulance without worrying if you grabbed the wrong one)

 

[StCEMT]

I don't even know who makes our bags, but I hate our set up.

Blue Bag: (internal)EZ IO pack, IV pack with some meds and fluid, small blue pack with prefilled meds, smaller black pack with drawn meds, laryngoscope roll. (External) worthless thermometer, glucometer, basic trauma supplies, igel 4&5.

Green bag: OPA/NPA, suction, CPAP, BVM adult and pediatric, nebs, NRB/NC, etc.

O2 tank is on the stretcher and a soft stretcher tucked behind the hydraulic arm. Along with a quick and easy mixed bag I make that has a BVM, NRB, NC, emesis bag, and CPAP. That way if someone needs to be carried, puke, or any temporary airway management, I don't have to go far to handle it.

 

[Bullets]

BLS service....yes, on bag with a d tank, airways and trauma stuff, only meds we have are epi, narcan, glucose and ASA. Plus CPAP

Out ALS also has one bag, a Meret Omnipro, they use our O2 is they need it

 

[CWATT]

I don't even know who makes our bags, but I hate our set up

What part of the set-up do you hate exactly? Your description seems reasonably straight forward (although I'm not sure which bag your trauma stuff if kept in... green?).

 

[StCEMT]

What part of the set-up do you hate exactly? Your description seems reasonably straight forward (although I'm not sure which bag your trauma stuff if kept in... green?).

The trauma stuff is kept in the front pouch of the blue bag, but depending on the trauma I'd have to get supplies ahead of time from inside the ambulance. Its bare bones. I don't like what we use for the meds that have to be drawn. It has foam cut outs which /would be fine if it was glued in place. Instead **** tends to roll over or under the foam. Green bag (airway) is kind of a mess in the main pouch. I am used to it now, but its just a sea of plastic bags, its hard to tell what some stuff is without digging around. I know why they do it, but it annoys me that every single thing is tagged, so I have to tear them off when I need something. Not an issue on most calls, but annoying when its a cardiac arrest and there are multiple things I am looking for and have to tear through 5 or so tags to get completely set up. We also don't have an extra set of a things like meds, airway adjuncts, and some other things on the truck too. So if I were to be sitting and something were to go down, I'd have to go get the bags out of the cabinet and then get what I need rather than having it at arms reach by my knee or head (I would preplan though if I felt like there was any risk). Lastly, a lack of decent pediatric airway back ups. Once they get so small, I don't really have much in the way of OPA's or any type of backup airway which would be nice since I have had a couple kids that were at that point. Its NRB/BVM or be able to justify an intubation basically and we are a bit restricted on those.

I loved the set up I had during medic school, it was just cleaner. We had a red Meret bag with standard meds, airway adjuncts, some trauma supplies, IO kit, quick trach, etc all in it and easy to find. The ped bag came with a tape to get an initial measurement of the and a bunch of color coded pouches attached to the inside with your IV and airway supplies premeasured and ready, then the top pouch was advanced airways, sides were BVM and something else. There was a trauma bag in the outside of the truck with a more supplies if needed. The set up there just made so much more sense and had a better sense organization, at least it made more sense to me.

Even though the majority of the time I don't really need to do much, I like having my stuff preset, organized, and within reach. It's mostly just preference from what I had during medic school and what I have personally grown to do since I became a medic from trial and error. What I have is enough to do what I need, it just irks me since I've been able to ride with multiple other agencies that had set ups that were a little more thought out.

 

[shelvpower]

Our main bag has everything from meds to trauma supplies to airway to IO. The only thing it doesn't have is CPAP or suction. Our O2 bottle is on the gurney. If we need it we will pop it off.

Fire has a trauma bag, med box, airway bag with O2 in it.

What bag are you using?

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[Tigger]

I love our Conterra stuff. Airway Pro bag with their intubation roll and rip off pouches for O2 delivery, tube confirmation, and BLS airways. We also keep a set of Kings, NGs, suction, and extra bougies in it as well as a D tank. We don't take the cot out of the ambulance since the terrain is pretty rough here, so the bag needs a bottle in it. Our med bag is a big Conterra Responder, it's got an IV roll, and awesome drug kit, bare bones trauma stuff, BP cuffs, IO kit, and collars.

We also have a Broselow bag which I also like a lot. CPAP is in it's own bag since it's a big device, same for the vent. We also have some ALS Extreme packs that live on the frontline ambulances during the summer for backcountry calls.

 

[DesertMedic66]

What bag are you using?

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We have a couple of these: https://ironduck.com/product/ultra-sofbox-plus/

And then some more that look the exact same but are probably knock off brands

 

[GMCmedic]

Some Blue Molle backpack. I dont know the brand but its awesome. Also a Broselow bag and the Cpap bag is from Galls.

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[TransportJockey]

Some Blue Molle backpack. I dont know the brand but its awesome. Also a Broselow bag and the Cpap bag is from Galls.

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Most likely 5.11. Their responder bags are blue with MOLLE webbing.

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[Ensihoitaja]

We use these Pelican cases without the inserts. We used to have Halliburton Zero cases, but apparently they stopped making them. Too bad because those were awesome!

We have a separate Handtevy/pediatric kit.

Fire brings the oxygen, typically. Otherwise we have a mount in the box for a D-tank.