How to assemble a travel first aid kit

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A life hacker will help you collect the right first-aid kit so that sudden ailments do not spoil your vacation, and the customs officers do not have unpleasant questions about your pills and powders.

5 tips for packaging and transporting medicines

1. Take the medicines you need with a reserve

Take medications that you need to take regularly with a mandatory supply for 3-5 days. No one rules out situations of flood, storm or sudden volcanic eruption, due to which your return home will be delayed for some time.

2. Get rid of bulky boxes

It's always tempting to save some space in your suitcase and toss out the bulky boxes and instructions. You can get rid of the boxes, since information about the name of the medicine, expiration date and dosage is duplicated on the packaging that is in direct contact with the medicine. If you are not sure that in the place where you are going, you will always have the Internet at hand, then take a photo or download the instructions for use to your phone.

3. Opened jars and started blisters can be taken

The main condition is the intact name of the medicinal product so that customs officials can easily understand what you are trying to import.

4. Choose practical packaging

A minimum of glass containers: this is both heavy and rather fragile. Look for analogs in plastic packaging.

5. Don't forget the recipe

Be sure to take your prescription with you if the drug is on the list of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

First aid kit for adults and children

The first ones in the traveler's first aid kit are pain relievers and antipyretic drugs. This includes drugs based on ibuprofen, paracetamol, nimesulide. It makes sense for children to duplicate these drugs and take them in two forms of release: in the form of suppositories, and in the form of syrups or tablets. So you will insure yourself in a situation if the child has vomiting or diarrhea against the background of a temperature - at least some medicine will linger in him.

Children and adults, against the background of climate change, due to unusual food and water, are prone to intestinal infections. It makes sense to take antidiarrheal agents based on loperamide and enterosorbents, which absorb toxins and remove them naturally. Do not forget about remedies for restoring water balance in case of poisoning and enzymatic preparations based on pancreatin that improve digestion.

For allergies, antihistamines are needed. It is better to take new generation drugs based on cetirizine or rupatadine, which will not make you sleepy.

We put antispasmodics from drotaverine into an adult first-aid kit, just in case.

If you have a long car or sea trip, grab some motion sickness medication.

For children who are actively exploring the world and no less actively earn bruises and scratches, we take any antiseptic, dexpanthenol-based products in the form of an ointment and spray that accelerate skin healing, dressings (bandages, bactericidal plasters). Surgical self-adhesive dressings and self-adhesive bandages can be used instead of traditional bandages and patches. They are more expensive, but much more convenient to use.

In the children's first aid kit we add funds that will help with a cold: saline or any of its analogues, any vasoconstrictor drugs, so that the nose breathes at night. If you know your child is prone to otitis media, put ear drops in the medicine cabinet.

Also, don't forget sun protection and repellents, which are useful for both adults and children. It will be difficult for a small child to explain that it is not worth combing the place where the mosquito has bitten - this event is easier to prevent. If you do get bitten, antiallergic ointments, for example, based on penciclovir, will help to make the night calm.

Hiking first aid kit

During the campaign, the first-aid kit is divided into two: an operational one, which is always with a physician, and a large one, which is carried by another participant. If the route includes any crossings in which the group may be split, then everyone must carry a personal dressing bag.

The packaging of the first-aid kit should be airtight, absorb shock well, and be easy to carry. The first aid kit should contain a minimum of funds and be quickly removed. It makes sense to put dressings, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, antiseptic, greenery (strictly for treating surfaces around wounds), a tourniquet in it.

The general first-aid kit covers all possible ailments that can happen to the participants in the hike. It includes pain relievers and antipyretic drugs, antihistamines, antiseptics, cardiovascular drugs, antidiarrheals and laxatives, enzymes, antispasmodics, sore throat, runny nose, cough, burn ointment, eye drops.

The number of drugs per group is calculated as follows: all drugs for gastrointestinal ailments are taken from the calculation of one package for one participant, the rest of the drugs - one package for two.

Quantitative filling of the first-aid kit depends strongly on the nature of the trip (whether it will be a mountain hike, water tourism or cycling) and the place. So, on a hike, dislocations and sprains are more common, legs are rubbed, while rafting - the throat and nose suffer, in cycling trips, assistance with cuts, abrasions and bruises becomes especially important.

The drugs used in severe cases (strong painkillers in ampoules and similar drugs) are taken from the calculation "to survive to the rescuers."

If they have to be used, then the campaign automatically turns into rescue work and there can be no question of continuing the route.

Rules for transporting medicines through customs

The list of narcotic and psychotropic drugs, which we mentioned at the beginning of the article, is valid only for the import and movement of drugs in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The most correct and safest way to find out if a medicine for your disease is prohibited in another country is to ask the consulate about it when you apply for a visa.

So, for example, in Estonia you will not be able to take Corvalol because of phenobarbital in its composition, in Germany they are wary of ketorolac-based painkillers, and in Finland you will not be able to import drugs for severe forms of influenza due to oseltamivir. There are no uniform rules for the import of drugs on the territory of the EU, each country sets its own.

During security screening at the airport, medicines must be placed in a transparent plastic bag and laid out on a tape.

If the import of the drug is not limited in any way on the territory of the country, then it is enough to answer the question of customs officers about your first-aid kit with “medicine”.

If the import of the drug is limited in the territory of the country where you want to go, then declare your medicine at the customs and go along the red corridor. In this case, remember to keep the original packaging completely and take your doctor's prescription. The recipe must be translated into English by a certified translator.

If the volume of liquid medicines you need exceeds 100 ml, then it falls under the restriction on the carriage of liquids in carry-on baggage. But this does not mean that you cannot import your medicine. Put everything in a transparent bag, put the bag on the tape, notify the customs officers that you are carrying the medicine before the inspection, and present the prescription with a certified translation.

How to explain to a foreign pharmacist which medicine I need

Lifehacker has compiled a minimal list of medications that will help you quickly solve your health problem. But you can't spread straws everywhere. What to do in a situation when you need to somehow explain yourself to a foreign pharmacist?

Install in advance a dictionary with the language of the country where you are going. Universal English will not hurt either, but, unfortunately, residents of districts remote from tourist places are unlikely to speak it.

If you are sure of the name of the medicine that you need to take, then you can look at the website of the State Register of Medicines. The World Health Organization maintains and constantly updates the list of active ingredients that make up all medicines.

Enter the name of the drug you need in the "Trade name" line and click the "Find" button.

A table will open in which the active ingredients that make up the medicine will be listed.

Now you just have to use the dictionary to translate the name of the active component into a foreign language.

Share in the comments if you collect a travel first-aid kit and what you definitely take with you.