First Aid Kit

[netnet]

Our club is trying to put together a more comprehensive first aid center. We have adult fencers and after school programs for children. I am looking for some feedback on items have you found useful at your club (other than the typical bandages and ice packs).

Thank you!

[erik_blank]

Before we can really answer this question we would need some basic info:
What kind of club is this? Is it itinerant, or do you have a permanent facility?

Do you have anyone specifically TRAINED in first aid to use the kit? If not, then a VERY basic kit would be all that is really necessary. Anything more and people will be tempted to try to do things that they are not trained to do (splint a sprained ankle, perform thoracic surgery, apply a Band-Aid bandage, etc.).

[Lady Quindecim]

First, what eric_blank said. Then...
The most common injuries are twists, sprains, strains and whatnot. Minor cuts and scrapes may happen. More than anything, if it is more than analgesic, ice, a wrap and a elastiplast, stabilize for trip to the ER, or waiting for medics, and cleaning up biologicals are the biggies.

I am not a first aid professional and this "advice" should be taken very lightly.

[Foil.Leicester]

Consider something like glucose tablets maybe?

[erik_blank]

Consider something like glucose tablets maybe?

Very good idea. This brings up another very important idea in a first aid kit.... knowledge of who is in your club.... Try to make sure that you know in advance of any potential health problems like asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, previous joint injuries. All of this will help you know in advance what kinds of things you should have in your first​ aid kit.

[netnet]

Before we can really answer this question we would need some basic info:
What kind of club is this? Is it itinerant, or do you have a permanent facility?

Do you have anyone specifically TRAINED in first aid to use the kit? If not, then a VERY basic kit would be all that is really necessary. Anything more and people will be tempted to try to do things that they are not trained to do (splint a sprained ankle, perform thoracic surgery, apply a Band-Aid bandage, etc.).

Hi--good question! We have a permanant facility, about 20 strips, and on any given open fencing night we have maybe 40 or 50 people fencing epee or foil or taking lessons...saber has classes and practice at different times, there are maybe 20 or so that fence regularly. After school programs with kids maybe 10 -15 in the afternoons. We do have some people in the club that are medical professionals, but you can never tell who is going to show up and when.....fortunately we are not too far from emergency medical services. I do understand the point about not trying to perform first aid when you're not qualified, but there also seem to be a variety of injuries that occur that need different sorts of first aid supplies.

For example, in the past we've had a torn achilles, the usual sprains and bumps and cuts, and just this week, two kids fencing saber ran into each other hard, and their masks smashed into their foreheads, opening pretty big gashes in both of them.....I have also heard of people at other clubs having broken weapons cut into their clothing, and people getting clocked and having their noses broken.

It's just hard to know how best to be prepared. For example, I have never heard of eye injuries, but would it be useful to have an eyecup and sterile rinse solution just in case? Some of the pre-packaged kits out there seem to have more things than we need (probably can rule out the insect sting wipes), and not enough of other items.

Thank you for your comments.

[netnet]

Thanks--that is a very good reminder. Also, has anyone heard of using injury incedent reports? This would mainly be used in the childrens classes I think.

[fencerX]

Hi--good question! We have a permanant facility, about 20 strips.

Since such a facility might also be considered a "workplace", you might be subject to OSHA or state equivalent regs on the topic.

Starting with a supposed "OSHA Compliant" workplace first aid kit and adding items to it (like lots of cold packs) could be one way to go about it. If you want to add something exotic, check out:

http://www.celoxmedical.com/prods_firstaid.htm

[Goldgar]

For example, I have never heard of eye injuries, but would it be useful to have an eyecup and sterile rinse solution just in case?

I definitely recommending having an eye cup and sterile rinse. Every so often, a hit to the mask will dislodge a bit of paint or grit, and it will end up in the fencer's eye. We've use the eyewash in our kit several times.

[erik_blank]

Been meaning to reply to this for a while since you posted that you are running more of a professional club than just a college or HS club. I would urge you to toalk to your insurance company and ask THEM for recommendations about your needs. You should also be talking to them about getting a safety manual for the business. These kinds of things are pretty standard for businesses and need to be on site since you are covered by OSHA. Most insruance companies have entire divisions dedicated to inspecting and assisting businesses with complying with regulations, as it is in their best interests to help to prevent claims in the first place. While your direct agent probably wont be able to directly help you, he/she SHOULD be able to get help from their corporate office.


Some things that you may want to see about installing since you ahve a permanent site would be an eye wash station. These can be attached to a utility sink or water fountian (for an example take a look at this one: http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/sa...-eye-face-wash ) and are not that expensive in the long run.

Additionally, you CANNOT rely on professional members of your club to act as emergency medical professionals while at a practice. They are NOT covered under their insurance carriers for anything less than life threatening issues, and are opening themselves up for lawsuits if they do anything more than that for people under your roof. You need to get your people trained at red Cross or some other similar organization. Get CPR and first aid certs. Get youself and AED in the club and learn how to use it. Go to some professional coaching first aid seminars like this: http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/training-c...first-aid.aspx or this: http://www.asep.com/courseInfo/purch...m?CourseID=182

These courses should assist with choosing decent and appropriate first aid kits and get you and your staff ready for the incidents when they happen.

Good luck and may you never need to use any of this advice!

[netnet]

Erik,
Thank you for all this information. I suppose I should have mentioned at some point that our club is run as a non-profit organization. I do not know if this has any bearing on your advice?

Also, I do need to mention that we have a first aid station already, we are just trying to make sure we have enough of the right supplies for MINOR emergencies; anything other than that and it is a trip to the ER or a call to the paramedics.

[erik_blank]

Netnet:

The problem with my posts is that I have a background in industrial safety (that's what my degree is in...) so I can often find myself falling down the rabbit hole when it comes to safety topics... still unfortunately you ARE covered under OSHA regulations even though you are a non-profit org (see OSHA regs 1975.4(b)(4) ). This is something that many non-profit organizations don't learn about until it is too late. But I digress here. Even if you are a non-profit, it would be best to get some serious first aid training in addition to the first aid kit. You also need to get a safety manual/plan for your organization if it does not exist already. As I said above, many times your insurance company will have boilerplate plans that they will give you and you can then cut and paste what actually makes sense for your club.

Also, since you mentioned it, don't avoid the insect sting kit. It is amazing just how well insects can infiltrate indoors, and how amazingly fast people can have bad reactions to bee stings and other insects.

OK, now I'm starting to repeat myself...