Medical Supplies Your First-Aid Kit Must Contain

As a parent, there’s nothing you want for your child but safety and good health. However, there are certain instances wherein no matter how caring and vigilant you are, your toddler still gets involved in an accident that causes him or her injuries. Since children are very active and clumsy, it is not uncommon for them to be caught in a minor accident or to contract minor health complications like headache, burns, and bone fracture.

In case your child gets injured in a minor home accident or experiences minor health complication, it is your duty as a parent to properly take care of his or her condition. This is why having a first-aid kit in your home is very important. Your medical supplies and your knowledge in first-aid will serve as your child’s first treatment. Hence, it is just reasonable for you to have a complete first-aid kit, which will help you attend to almost any type of minor injuries, burns, wounds, dog bites, bone fracture, diarrhea, headache, fever, flu, and cuts to your child.

You may ask how you will know if your first-aid kit is complete, which is why a suggested checklist of items your kit should is listed below. The following are some of the most basic medical supplies, items and equipment your first-aid box or bag should have:

•    Adhesive tape or bandage
•    Antiseptic solution or towelettes
•    Antiseptic alcohol
•    Bandages, including a roll of elastic wrap bandage strips (assorted sizes)
•    Instant ice packs
•    Cotton balls
•    Cotton-tipped buds and swabs
•    Disposable latex or synthetic gloves
•    Duct tape
•    Gauze pads and roller gauze (assorted sizes)
•    First-aid manual
•    Medical or antiseptic ointment
•    Petroleum jelly or other similar lubricant
•    Plastic bags
•    Safety pins (assorted sizes)
•    Scissors and tweezers
•    Soap or instant hand sanitizer
•    Sterile eyewash (e.g. saline solution)
•    Thermometer
•    Triangular bandage
•    Turkey baster or other bulb suction device for flushing out wounds

First-aid supplies and equipment are not the only ones your first-aid box or bag should have. It should also have basic medical supplies or medications. The following are some of the most basic medications that you will find useful for first-aid treatment for your child:

•    Activated charcoal (to be used in case of poison control; use only if instructed by medical professional)
•    Aloe vera gel for burn treatment
•    Anti-diarrhea medication
•    Aspirin and nonaspirin pain relievers
•    Calamine lotion
•    Drugs to treat an allergic attack (e.g. an auto-injector of epinephrine; only use if prescribed by physician)
•    Oral antihistamine (e.g. diphenhydramine; for treatment of common allergy)
•    Over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream
•    Personal medications that don't need refrigeration
•    Syringe, medicine cup or spoon

Always have your first-aid kit ready, place it in easy-to-reach and noticeable location so you can easily access it in case of emergency. Having these basic first-aid medical supplies and medications will be futile if you don’t know how to apply them to your child. This is why it is very important to know first-aid treatment, such as wound cleaning and dressing, CPR, and initial response to common injuries and medical situations like choking, food poisoning, animal bites, slip and fall, bone fracture, among others.










Aside from the abovementioned basic first-aid supplies and medications, it is also highly recommended to have contact number of emergency departments handy, such as poisons information centre, nearest medical facility and your family doctor. So in case of your child sustains serious injury, you can easily call out for help from medical professionals. If your child is experiencing great pain or a condition that requires professional medical assistance, do not rely on first-aid alone, but make sure to send your child to the nearest hospital to have him or her checked by nurses and physicians.

Tips to Bear in Mind When Using Sharps Containers at Home

Being prescribed with injectible medications also means using caution and being responsible enough in disposing your syringes and other sharps that you use. This may not be the concern of many, but is should be a common knowledge because we can never be sure that we or all of our loved ones will be free from diabetes or other diseases that require daily injection therapies. There are some tips to bear in mind when choosing for sharpscontainers home use for you to get the best value for your money. You should also know the proper ways of disposing them, so you won’t violate any law and won’t pose a threat to other people’s health.   

Tips when buying sharps container:

1.       Determine the size of the biggest needle that you are using.

This should be your basis when deciding on the size of the container to get. If your biggest needle fits in a particular container, then it can surely accommodate all the other needles you are using. You should also determine how big the container’s opening should be and how deep it must be. Make sure that it’s deep enough, so your largest needle won’t be sticking out the top.

2.       Check various containers for durability.

It would be great if you can personally inspect the thickness of the sharps container that you are planning to purchase. It must be durable as well as leak- and puncture-resistant not only under normal working conditions but also with any added stress it can get during transportation and disposal. It must also be resistant enough to any fluctuations in temperature.  

Syringes and other medical “sharps” are a health concern, so they need to be properly disposed to ensure public safety. Disposal guidelines may vary from state to state, so it’s important that you consult your local health department about their disposal guidelines. Here are some general rules that can be followed no matter where you live: 

1.       Big sharps container or bin must be regularly monitored.

Make sure that you keep it in a safe location and regularly monitor its contents. Dispose it once the contents reach the designated fill line or when the container becomes three quarters full. Do not, at any cost, overfill the container.

2.       Seal your sharps container.

Before disposing it, seal the top of the container using heavy duty tape. Put two or more strips of tape over the top to be sure that the container won’t come open during transportation and disposal. 

3.       Check with your local post office for their policy in picking up sharps containers.

While you can get all-inclusive package when purchasing sharps containers, it is still wise to call your local post office and find out what their policy is on picking up boxes that contain sharps. They will provide you with specific instructions on how to properly seal the container. For an additional fee, your local post office may pick up the sharps containers from your home and ship them where they need to go. 

4.       Contract with a licensed medical waste pick-up company.

In case you didn’t get a mailback package for your sharps container, you can seal a deal with a medical waste pick-up company to be sure that your containers will be properly disposed. It can be a bit costly, but this company can dispose them in accordance with the law.