As much as you try to avoid it, an injury can happen at any time. Knees get scraped, fingers brush the side of a hot pan, a forehead gets bumped. For family safety, always have a well-stocked first-aid kit in your home.
Family Health: Stocking a First-Aid Kit
One option is buying a ready-made first-aid kit. “They typically have everything and above and beyond what you’ll need,” says Thomas J. Vento, MD, a family doctor in private practice in Reisterstown, Md. But it’s so easy and inexpensive to put one together on your own. Also, besides first aid for a general injury, you’ll have the ability to choose additional items that best fit each family member’s individual health needs.
Start with a plastic container, bag, or box and add these items for a first-aid kit that can treat most minor injuries and address issues of family safety.
- An index card with the toll-free national number for Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222. If a child swallows anything, call the number immediately, Dr. Vento says.
- A small bottle of hand sanitizer gel
- Hydrogen peroxide and gauze squares or prepackaged antiseptic wipes to clean a wound
- Antibacterial ointment
- Adhesive bandages of various sizes
- Tape for keeping bandages in place
- Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) for fever or pain relief from an injury
- Tweezers to remove splinters. Vento cautions against using them for anything other than a surface injury that you can readily see — before you start digging too deeply for something under the skin, call your doctor.
- A cold pack that is activated by crushing the bag. An alternative is a bag of frozen peas, which Vento says might be more comfortable and can conform better to an injured area.
- Latex or latex-free gloves
Family Safety: What Not to Stock
There are two old standbys that should probably not be in your first-aid kit:
- Ipecac syrup. In the past it was common for people to keep ipecac syrup in a first-aid kit to induce vomiting if a child swallowed something poisonous, but Vento says it’s rare today for the Poison Control to recommend inducing vomiting. In fact, the American Association of Poison Control Centers doesn’t recommend keeping ipecac syrup in the house at all when you have young children because it can cause serious reactions or problems.
- Burn ointment. If someone has a mild burn, Vento recommends soaking the area in cold water and calling your doctor. However, third-degree burns require an immediate trip to the emergency room. Don’t use an ointment unless your doctor has recommended it and avoid homemade remedies, such as butter, oil, the direct application of ice, or long exposure to icy water, which can damage the skin.
Once you have your first-aid kit assembled, put it somewhere out of reach of young children, but readily available to you in an emergency.