The first rule to tattoo on the inside of your eyelids is "do no harm"
Better to know what not to do than try and improvise.. when in doubt don't
Yes, get all the training you can get.. heck get certified as an EMT.. it's a job with lousy pay and worse hours but it a nice hobby.. certified you can even do ride along's most places and volunteer to keep your get skill levels up and gain experience.
I know most folks aren't going to do that.
So if nothing else remember this one statistic .. despite what you see from Hollywood 2 out of three appendicitis victims will survive without any intervention, without any surgery, without any antibiotics a lot of Hollywood super crisis dramatic illness and disease is like that.. more about how to figure that out further down the post. That's better odds of survival than for surgery done by untrained do-gooders with a survival surgery kit under unsterile conditions by a long shot.. even if the wanna be surgeon actually knows what an appendix looks like and which side of the body you cut on. Trained Doctors with full Hospital level support kill about 100,000 folks a year by prescribing the wrong medicine, often the wrong antibiotic .. a lot of the adverse reactions folks can have to antibiotics can be corrected with a whole hospital and staff help and facilities .. you probably won't have that kind of back up.. medical history is important and if you do not know the victims medical history and allergies and don't know the exact diagnosis or the exact infectious agent (Example Pneumonia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia over 100 known infectious bacteria can cause Pneumonia not counting viruses and mechanical causes.. so without lab work how would you even start to pick the right antibiotic?) , randomly throw antibiotics at it will not improve odds of survival, and most likely weaken the immune systems ability to fight the infection, even if it does not precipitate anaphylactic shock and kill them outright. A lot of your immune system relies on an intact and healthy digestive system... some antibiotics can upset the delicate balance of microbes in the digestive track, see ORF a bit farther down the post. Never say.. "but I got to do something or they will dieeeeee" unless you know what to do.
The only reason I mention this at all is the number of times I have seen people declare that they just have to do something and they have fishmox and the victim will die if they do nothing so they must do something. I applaud the fact I haven't seen any of that on here. While getting training in proper use of antibiotics requires extensive medical training, antiseptic wound care is fairly easy to learn and get training in and is a real life saver.
The most effective medicine you can stock, and that has probably saved more lives than any other medicine is Oral Rehydration formula
http://rehydrate.org/solutions/homemade.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy
The basic ingredients sugar and salt have indefinite shelf lives , in air tight containers they will last forever and a solution of those in the correct proportions per the recipe will save lives the citrate is good to have but if you don't have it or it has gone bad, you are still in business, same for the zinc. This is also good for shock if you don't have IV's for heat stress and heat stroke (it's basically unflavored Gatorade).
You can buy packets of premixed ingredients.. they are crazy expensive particularly when you consider the amount of ORF you need per person over up to 5days or even longer in some cases. the commercial packets are basically to mix in a water bottle for heat stress where one or two bottles fixes things .
A lot of you guys are on the west cost where earthquakes and volcano's and falling off into the pacific are actual worries ( we have to use tornados here to get the same effects) ... if that kind of thing happens.. think about it.. gonna be a lot of crushed and broken body parts/ bones .. typical first aid kit ain't gonna cut it.. gonna need big trauma pads and splints and slings and crutches and maybe even a stretcher.. quickstop type bleeding stopper, Israeli compress bandages , tourniquets, ace bandages, tempo flexible splints
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZAK7NB?psc=1splints
You can learn how to make a cast on you tube and buy everything to make a real first class cast on amazon.. Learning how to handle compound fractures and crushed arms and legs is a bit more complicated .. check with your local Red Cross or ask an EMT to recommend a class.. If you enlist and sign up to be a combat medic Uncle Sam will pay you while you learn.
Just don't bother to put anything in your first aid kit that you don't know how to use.. it could hurt somebody
Sutures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvQ2YJ0RjQ first you need to learn the knots .. then go buy a chicken at the butchers already cut up into the common pieces and sew it back together .. if you plan on using sutures If not, consider staples
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... gI4QvD_BwE or steri strips you really have to get the wound clean first so learn wound care first
Folks can be allergic to iodine/ betadine know the medical history know how to spot the onset of allergies and how to treat them.
Ask your doctor if they have any expired PDR's or diagnostic books like
https://www.amazon.com/CURRENT-Medical- ... WCCW8Z5PQC
They come out with updates all the time.. older version with 95%-99% still good information just clutter up office space and bookshelves , Chances are your doc will just give you some if you ask, for free . Last time I asked I got about 80 pounds of books
Every good survivalist has books on how to treat.. go the next step, get books to tell you/ guide you to being able to figure out what you are treating , sometimes that is helpful to know.