One thing that many people do not consider about their wound care products that are in their first aid kits is that these items have a limited shelf life. The wound care products in your first aid kits will not be good for indefinite periods of time. You should be having a yearly check to see what the expiration dates on your wound care products in your first aid kits are. This will allow you to replace any items that are about to be out of date.
Expiration dates on wound care products are important to heed because some medications can change when they age, and the changes that occur in them can cause them to ineffective, or it can cause them to create allergic reactions or strange symptoms in you. Medications that you have never had an allergic reaction to, can cause you to go into anaphylactic shock, after they have aged too long, or after they have been stored in temperatures that are higher than what is recommended on their packaging.
Even band aids have an expiration date. The band aid does not necessarily become bad, or stop doing its job, when it gets older, but the adhesive on the band aid may no longer function as effectively as it did when the item was first created. Band aids that have antibiotic ointment on their pads may no longer have the same effectiveness after the shelf life of the product has expired. All of these are things to keep in mind about your first aid supplies.
First aid kits should be created with the most common injuries you are likely to see in mind. If you work in a company that has a high incident of minor burns, then the first aid kits that are kept around the company should have minor burn treatment as one of its main symptom relievers. Almost all companies need to have regular aspirin on hand in case someone suffers the effects of a heart attack. Aspirin thins the blood and often stops a heart attack from becoming a fatality when it is taken immediately after the first symptoms are felt.
You should always have syrup of ipecac around if you have small children around. This syrup will help you to treat many of the accidental poisonings that children have. You should not give the syrup without contacting poison control to make certain that this is the treatment for the poison they have ingested. Some things need to be diluted with massive quantities of milk or water and not ipecac syrup.
Most companies that have outside employees keep antihistamines and the things necessary to treat bug bites, minor allergic reactions, bee stings, and blisters. All of these things can be annoying when they happen, and some of them can be quite dangerous. There should be someone on the premises that knows CPR and knows when to administer it. Having the proper products to treat minor emergencies can save a life sometimes.