To form a home first aid kit, it is better to conditionally divide all its components into several groups, depending on their purpose - it is easier to assemble a first aid kit this way.

Group 1: external means and dressings. You will need: hydrogen peroxide, alcohol solutions of brilliant green and iodine, Miramistin, salicylic alcohol, Levomekol (or any other ointment containing an antibiotic), sterile narrow and wide bandage (it is better to choose in sterile packaging - for longer storage) , non-sterile bandage, non-sterile absorbent cotton wool, medical plaster and bactericidal plaster, "potassium permanganate", "Furacilin", rubber hemostatic tourniquet.

Group 2: drugs for oral administration. It is important to have antipyretics in your home medicine cabinet (Nurofen, Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, Panadol or Efferalgan), antispasmodics to relax smooth muscles and blood vessels (Drotaverine or No-shpa), used for nervous excitement and palpitations (Corvalol, Valoserdin, Valerian officinalis tablets, Validol), sorbents that help with poisoning and diarrhea (activated carbon, Smecta), agents for restoring normal intestinal microflora (Hilak forte", "Bifidumbacterin"), enzymes to improve digestion ("Mezim", "Pancreatin"), rehydrating compounds - to replenish body fluid loss during vomiting or diarrhea ("Regidron"), diarrhea remedies ("Imodium" or "Loperamide ”), antihistamines - for the relief of allergy symptoms (“Loratadin” or “Suprastin”).

Group 3: aids. These include: a thermometer, sterile syringes and needles, a heating pad, pipettes, syringes, scissors.

The 4th group includes those drugs that are necessary for family members with chronic diseases - diabetes mellitus, gastritis, arterial hypertension. Drugs to treat these conditions or to manage emergencies associated with such conditions are best stored in a separate case, in a place that is easily accessible to all adult family members.

Every family should have a first aid kit at home. It can be needed in a variety of situations, for example, bring down a high temperature, provide first aid for a heart attack, food poisoning, get rid of pain and spasms, cope with a cut or burn, and much more. It is very important to correctly organize the contents of the home first aid kit so that all the necessary medicines are at hand.

The list of necessary drugs should include general remedies for helping in various situations, as well as a list of drugs that you take constantly on the recommendation of doctors. The first aid kit should contain such first aid items as sterile and non-sterile bandages, cotton wool, medical plasters, disposable bactericidal and gauze wipes, and a hemostatic tourniquet. These devices will help you to help with cuts, burns, injuries, fractures.

In addition, it will be useful to have a 10% ammonia solution in order to quickly bring a unconscious person to life.

A thermometer, all annotations for the use of medicines, a measuring cup, mustard plasters, an enema, syringes, pipettes and cotton swabs are often stored in the first-aid kit there.

The medicines you purchase may not be the most expensive, but they must be of good quality and not expired. To avoid fakes, buy medicines only in trusted pharmacies, and not in stores or shopping centers.

Bactericidal preparations

In the home first aid kit, there must be iodine or a brilliant green solution for disinfecting minor wounds and scratches.

With a large open skin injury, these agents can only treat the area around the wound, but not inside it.

In addition, it will be useful to have a solution of furacillin, hydrogen peroxide, BF glue, potassium permanganate powder.

Get some ointment for burns as well. It not only relieves pain, but also sterilizes damaged skin.

Heart drugs

In the home medicine cabinet, it is advisable to store "just in case" such medicines as "Validol", "Corvalol", "Valocardin" and "Nitroglycerin". The heart can suddenly get sick, even in an outwardly healthy person,
and these drugs are sold without a prescription and can significantly alleviate the patient's condition.

Familiarize yourself with the storage conditions of these medicines. Some of them can only be stored at a certain temperature and away from direct sunlight.

Painkillers

If you do not have regularly occurring severe pain, you can limit yourself to such antispasmodics as "No-shpa" or "Papaverine". Put in the first aid kit also "Analgin" or "Ibuprofen" in case of a sharp toothache or headache.
It is also useful to have warming gels and creams for pain in the joints and lower back.

Preparationsfor stomach pain

Do not do without activated charcoal in the first aid kit, which will help with food poisoning. These pills are absolutely harmless, and perfectly remove toxins from the body.

Also stock up on drugs "Mezim" and "Festal" from heaviness in the stomach after a heavy meal.

It is also useful to have on hand drugs that relieve heartburn: such as Almagel, Maalox or Reni.

Antiallergic drugs

Even if you do not have a tendency to allergic reactions, an allergy medicine in your home medicine cabinet will not hurt, as friends or relatives who come to visit you may suffer from it.

Antipyretic and anti-cold drugs

No one is safe from colds and flu, so antipyretics, as well as nasal sprays, medicines for sore throats, antiviral drugs should be in every first aid kit. Their choice is quite wide, you can select individually, in depending on age and other preferences.

Every home has a first aid kit, it is an indispensable thing for any ailments or domestic accidents. So even the impeccable health of the whole family is not a reason to treat it negligently.

Among other medicines in the first-aid kit, the presence of antihistamines for allergies (Claritin, Suprastin) is mandatory. Nasal drops (Tizin, Xylen, Xymelin) may be useful to treat the symptoms of a cold. Additionally, it is necessary to put in the first-aid kit those medicines that were prescribed by the attending physician for the treatment of an existing chronic disease.

Other drugs

Among the products for external use, it is important to have a solution of brilliant green or iodine, which can be disinfected to avoid infection. It is advisable to buy salicylic alcohol or calendula tincture, which will help in the treatment of purulent wounds. Hydrogen peroxide will make it possible to stop bleeding, and in case of burns, the Rescuer or Panthenol ointments will help. "Troxevasin" and heparin ointment will help to quickly get rid of edema and bruising.

For the treatment of bruises, sprains and other injuries, it is necessary to purchase ointments that contain ketoprofen, ibuprofen or diclofenac.

The first-aid kit must have a thermometer, a sterile bandage, an elastic bandage (for the treatment of sprains), cotton wool and cotton pads (for compresses and wiping skin lesions), cotton swabs (for applying ointments and other means), adhesive plaster. It is also important that there are always scissors in the first aid kit (cutting bandages and opening packages),incets (extraction of foreign objects from the skin), heating pads (relieves spasms), gauze masks (protection of family members at the time of infection), syringes and syringes of several sizes.

How to properly maintain a first aid kit

In case there is no need to resort to calling a doctor, or, conversely, you need to help a person as soon as possible before his arrival, and there should be a first-aid kit at home. It is important that everything in it is orderly and understandable, so that in an emergency you do not mix the whole thick of pills and other medicines in search of the right one, but immediately find this “needed” one.

To begin with, you need to sort out the first-aid kit and throw out all expired drugs from it.

If there is a person in your family with a certain disease, set aside any medications related to that disease separately.

Divide the rest of the drugs into groups. Let one of them be anti-cold. Put oxolinic ointment, Arbidol or Interferon into it - these medicines are preventive. In this group, there must be an antipyretic Paracetamol. Throw in more sore throats and expectorants, and the first group is complete.

In the next compartment, lay out the painkiller. Citramon for headaches and stronger Baralgin.

Then collect medicines for the cores. This may include simply sedatives such as valerian, motherwort, Corvalol, and more serious drugs - Validol and Nitroglycerin. Be sure to put in this group Aspirin, which thins the blood.

Every house has first aid kit. But rarely the contents of this box, package, locker carefully thought out. More often these are the remnants of medicines from previous treatments and drugs that a person takes with some kind of disease. Of course, this is wrong.

A first aid kit can save a life. These are not empty words. So that it does not happen that at the right critical moment the first-aid kit did not have the most necessary, for its contents must be monitored, choose the right one, look at the expiration date.

What to put

Nobody calls for throwing money away. You don't need extra. Let's try to determine what should be included in the home first aid kit. Just in case, it is recommended to have on hand the following drugs:

• Antipyretics and painkillers. Antispasmodics.
• Sedatives.
• Anti-inflammatory.
• Against colds.
• Against cough.
• Antiallergic.
• For digestion.
• Against diarrhea and constipation.

The list is exemplary. Each family has its own characteristics, in addition, the use of certain drugs is seasonal. For example, in the summer there are fewer colds, more poisoning. The list of drugs in the home first aid kit should be approached creatively.

Ready kit

Practically healthy people can buy set for individual use, containing minimum for first aid. It includes dressings, means for treating wounds, burns and drugs that can bring a person to life if he suddenly becomes ill.

There are also standard kits for home first aid kit. You can buy one as a basis for your own, which you will then have to supplement, based on the needs of the family. It is clear that very different medicines may be required for children and the elderly. That's why it is better to complete the first aid kit yourself. Especially if family members have some kind of disease, and this is almost always the case.

It should be remembered that all medicines have their own period and method of storage.

We complete the first aid kit

Work should begin with an audit of medicines available at home. See what is, expiration date, from what. Ruthlessly throw away everything that causes at least some doubt. Next, we compose list of necessary medicines in the home first aid kit. We buy. After that, they must be correctly arranged into categories, so it will be easier to find what you need.

Antipyretic and analgesic drugs

Most of them relieve pain and fever at the same time. This paracetamol, aspirin, analgin, ibuprofen. There should be enough of them in the first-aid kit so that, if necessary, enough for a couple of days. Which of these drugs to put in the first aid kit, the person decides on his own, he knows what suits him best.

Antispasmodics are needed to relieve some types of pain. no-shpa, drotaverine. They are taken with spasm of cerebral vessels, with pain in the abdomen.

Commonly used for colds and flu fervex, teraflu. They help quickly, relieve symptoms. Should have drops for eyes, nose, ears. Cough tablets.

Sedatives and heart remedies

Liquid sedatives require refrigeration. This barboval, corvalol, corvaldin. They relieve heart pain. Should be in the first aid kit validol. It will help with neurosis, angina pectoris, motion sickness. One blister or bottle will be enough.

For the gastrointestinal tract

Food poisoning of one gravity or another is common in our lifestyle, when we do not always eat at home. Required in first aid kit activated charcoal or smecta. Coal is taken 1 tablet per 10 kg of weight, the supply for the family can be calculated. To restore the microflora, there must be probiotics. From diarrhea - imodium, lopedium.

Many people like to eat, do not always control this process. In this case, enzyme preparations are needed in the first-aid kit - mezim, fistal, pancreatin. Moreover, we note that mezim and pancreatin differ only in price and packaging. The same can be said about other drugs, many have cheap counterparts.

Laxatives - buckthorn bark, hay leaf.

Against diarrhea oak bark, blueberries.

Allegrics

Allergy sufferers should have antihistamines in their first aid kit - claretin, suprastin, diazolin and others. Please note that some of them have a pronounced sleepy effect, you should not take it while driving, if you have important work to do, oversleep.

For outdoor use

External products help to cope with skin diseases and others problems. What you need to have:

• Iodine and greenery. These are bactericides for wounds.
• Antiseptics, if the wounds are purulent. Salicylic alcohol. Tincture of calendula.
• Hydrogen peroxide stops bleeding. It should be stored in the refrigerator.
• Pantinol - against burns.
• Heparin ointment or troxevasin. Help against swelling and bruising.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs that are used for bruises, sprains. Ketoprofen, diclofenac.
• Redavit (belanten) - ointment for skin healing.

Other materials

• Necessarily - bandages sterile and non-sterile different widths and other dressing material. You can buy a lot, they do not have an expiration date.
• For bruises and sprains - elastic bandage.
• A variety of adhesive plasters - in rolls, disposable bactericidal.
• Thermometer. Mercury requires a particularly careful attitude. Bath thermometer.
• Scissors.
• Tweezers.
• Warmer.
• Gauze bandages.
• Various syringes.
• Douches of various sizes.
• Disposable gloves.
• Ice bubble.
• Apparatus for measuring blood pressure.
• Hemostatic tourniquet.

We have considered What should be in a first aid kit. medical reference book, lying next to her, can be very helpful. If it is not there, you can store all attachments to the purchased drugs. Comfortable to hold them in one folder. Do not rely on memory, it can fail.

It should be remembered that All medicines have their own shelf life and method of storage.. A dry, dark and cool place is the only general condition for storing all preparations. First aid kit should be out of the reach of children. We wish you to get sick less often and recover quickly.

The composition of the home first aid kit includes a minimum set of medicines, which should always be at hand. There is no need to keep a battery of bottles with syrups for various types of coughs, fill the refrigerator shelf with immunity boosters and eubiotics with “beneficial bacteria”, buy antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription. After all, 24-hour pharmacies are available to almost everyone, and people with chronic diseases themselves know how much to keep at home.

A universal first aid kit contains what is needed urgently and suddenly, helps to wait for a doctor and can be used by people without a medical education.

Disclaimer. Before purchasing and using drugs, consult your doctor.

The article lists the main active ingredients of drugs. Trade names may vary, hundreds of different drugs are produced with the same active ingredient. Make the choice of your remedy, focusing on the doctor's recommendations and your wallet, and for convenience, use the drug search service for the active substance.

1. Dressing material

Cotton wool. Bandage. Gauze napkins. Patch. Elastic bandage. Gloves. With these essentials, difficulties constantly arise. Everyone knows that they should be at home. But when they are urgently needed, they can not be found. And if cotton wool can still be found in a cosmetic bag, then everything is bad with a bandage and napkins. When you get hurt, you have no time to remember where everything is. You need to take dressings and stop the bleeding, so make sure you stock up your first aid kit.

2. Shoe covers

Do you think shoe covers are not needed at home? More like needed. “They called the doctor, but he didn’t take off his shoes”, “The paramedic trampled in the hallway” - you either heard such complaints, or you yourself at least once said them. Give the doctor and ambulance workers shoe covers, this is a penny solution to a sore problem.

3. Medical devices

Even the healthiest people should have a thermometer and a tonometer. Temperature and fluctuations in blood pressure happen to everyone, and treatment depends on the readings of the simplest instruments.

4. Painkillers and antipyretics

Paracetamol, ibuprofen, nimesulide are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In the first aid kit you need to put all three drugs. They differ in time of action, anti-inflammatory activity. Practice shows that if the temperature does not drop from paracetamol, then ibuprofen helps; if ibuprofen failed, nimesulide will save. As remedies for headaches and toothaches, drugs help in different ways, depending on individual tolerance. It is important not to get carried away and not to use all the medicines with an interval of half an hour, but to follow the instructions in the instructions and dosage.

5. Antispasmodics

A sharp attack of aching pain can be a symptom of a spasm of smooth muscles. Most often, the head (with vascular tension) and the stomach (with spasm of the abdominal organs) suffer. One of the safest drugs that help in this case is drotaverine. It has few side effects, the main one being uncontrolled use by patients who suppress the pain instead of curing the cause of its appearance.

6. Antiseptics

Stop smearing yourself with green paint, this is the last century. You can treat the wound so that nothing pinches and leaves no traces of dye with good antiseptics. For example, chlorhexidine. Antiseptics have many other uses. In summer, you can treat the feet and armpits so that there is no unpleasant smell of sweat. Treat mucous membranes (even with a sore throat). Treat surfaces and various objects, if necessary, disinfect them. Unlike the beloved hydrogen peroxide, special antiseptics do not dry the skin. They don’t stop the blood either, but wounds that are treated without medical intervention will heal anyway (with the help of a tight bandage), and if you need to suture, peroxide will not save.

7. Wound healing drugs

Panthenol should be in the form of a burn spray at home. Contrary to popular advice, burns should absolutely not be lubricated with oil, lard, and everything that grandmothers like to use. A burn is one of the most dangerous injuries that is very difficult to heal. And even a special ointment is painful to apply. Let's say thanks to modern release forms that will cope with minor burns and help you wait for a doctor if the injury requires a doctor's supervision.

Panthenol or solcoseryl in the form of ointments and gels will cope with minor household injuries, cuts, abrasions. It is even better if panthenol is combined with an antiseptic, the same chlorhexidine.

8. A set of medicines "for colds"

Most often, we get sick like this: stuffy nose, tickle in the throat, cough, fever. NSAIDs cope with fever (they were described above), for other manifestations of SARS, symptomatic treatment is used. A set of fixed assets is needed so that you do not have to run to the pharmacy when you most want to lie under the covers and just sleep. So, how to save yourself during the period of acute respiratory infections.

Interferon. Many drugs ending in "-feron" help the body quickly connect antibodies to fight the virus. Store candles and sprays in the refrigerator, otherwise they are useless.

Vasoconstrictor nasal drops with oxymetazoline. Have you heard about drug addiction and the eternal runny nose, from which only constant instillation will save? These are the consequences of the use of older generation drugs. Modern options allow you to hold out for 5-7 days, instilling the drug only twice a day. Result: the virus receded, the addiction did not appear.

Sore throat remedies with antiseptics. Tablets and lozenges are taken to dull the pain a little and make it easier to swallow. Some contain antibiotics that should not be used without medical supervision. Keep home preparations with antiseptics and enzymes, such as lysozyme. Read the instructions and do not eat for two hours after taking, so that the medicinal substances have time to act.

9. Antihistamines

Antihistamines are used not only to combat allergic reactions. They also help relieve swelling in case of colds (and use vasoconstrictor nasal drops to a minimum) and get rid of itching after insect bites (if you apply an ointment with the drug to the bite site). Now there are a lot of drugs that do not cause drowsiness, made on the basis of suprastin, dimethindene, cetirizine, in convenient forms and different dosages for children and adults.

10. Sorbents

Activated charcoal is, without a doubt, a time-tested remedy. It helps when they ate something wrong or caught an intestinal infection. And stories tell about the benefits of coal with excessive alcohol consumption. And they still don't know how to use it. Drinking two black pills is not enough, they drink coal in batches! Pleasure is doubtful. In the meantime, intestinal sorbents based on smectite and lignin appeared, which are used one tablet at a time.

11. Remedies for constipation

The best remedy for this problem is diet. But the diet will work sometime later, and constipation happens here and now. The problem is solved in an elementary way. Lactulose syrup acts from the inside (which is attributed to infants, but which works best for adults), outside - candles with glycerin. No addiction, no side effects.

12. Oral rehydration products

These are true friends of sorbents and antipyretics. In case of poisoning, diarrhea, vomiting or at a very high temperature, the body needs to restore the water-salt balance. Problems begin when in this state you do not want to drink. Making an effort and drinking one glass of a solution that will restore strength is easier than trying to pour liters of compote into yourself.

13. Medicines for hypertensive patients

The most dangerous medicine in the home first aid kit is captopril, which is now recommended to be used instead of the popular nitroglycerin. If you do not have problems with pressure and blood vessels, you should still have captopril: this is a drug that can be given to a patient in case of a hypertensive crisis (one of the most common causes of death in the world) before the ambulance arrives.

Before buying a medicine, study the symptoms of a hypertensive crisis.

Algorithm of actions: they noticed the symptoms, called an ambulance, laid the patient down, provided him with air flow. If he is taking any blood pressure medication, give it. And only if there are no such drugs, put a captopril tablet under the tongue. Important: tell the ambulance staff what you have used. Remember that this is not a brilliant green and not coal, it is strictly forbidden to distribute captopril with "flies in the eyes" just like that.

What is always in your first aid kit “just in case”?

It is easier for a man to equip a couple of caravels and sail to discover India than to collect a first-aid kit at home. A team is with you on the caravel and you are the captain, and in the pharmacy there is a bewildered man and a bored pharmacist trying to slip the drug at a higher price. But it is necessary to complete the first-aid kit - a simple set of necessary tools "just in case" should be in the apartment on the shelf for everyone.

If you are far from medicine and have difficulty distinguishing what misfortunes certain medicines are for, collect a first-aid kit according to the principle “from the head”, “from the stomach”, etc. Organize everything in separate boxes. One of my comrades uses a new box for fishermen for such purposes: there are very convenient compartments and compartments for fishing line and spinners, perfect for blisters with pills, besides, on the plastic partitions with a marker, he so ingenuously wrote: “from the head”, “ from the abdomen", "from cuts". She says that the pharmacist could hardly contain her laughter when she completed his huge “first aid kit”. Now it makes no sense to keep a car first-aid kit at home - it mainly contains dressings, in contrast to the kits produced 5 years ago, which included both heart drugs and painkillers. And now from theory to practice.

1. Dressings

You will be contacting this section most often: during a variety of men's affairs, abrasions, scratches or cuts are quite possible. And with them for a long time and successfully help to fight:
- Hydrogen peroxide for primary treatment of wounds. And it doesn't hurt at all, which is important.
- Zelenka or iodine. Mom will not blow on your wound, so use it carefully.
It is not necessary to pour directly on the cut, it is enough to treat the skin around. By the way, both iodine and greenery in the form of a marker are very convenient - there will be no chance of shedding a liquid that cannot be wiped off at all.
- Bandage. Better sterile. Of course, you don’t have dressing skills, so at least somehow, but close the wound from dirt and other unnecessary inclusions.
- Patch. Non-bactericidal, roll - for gluing a piece of sterile bandage with a plaster. There are no skills. There is also the most convenient bactericidal patch, yes, the one with a green stripe in the middle, but it is only good for minor injuries.
- Vata. In case the bandage runs out. Or vice versa. Sterile is good, but the fact is that after opening the package, all sterility comes to naught and cotton wool becomes the most common. Does it make sense to overpay?
- Elastic bandage. A great thing for fixing all the same bandages. It is better to choose a universal size, otherwise you will have to think about how to press the bandage on your thigh with a tubular elastic bandage for your finger.
- Harness. An item not of the very first necessity, it may not be useful at all, but in emergency cases, for example, to stop the blood by pinching a limb, a man always has a belt.
- Scissors. Buy separately and put in the first aid kit, and you don't have to run around the house, dripping blood left and right, and look for something to cut off a piece of bandage.

2. Painkillers

Citramon. Contains the most common aspirin and paracetamol. A classic drug, inexpensive and effective. Lots of analogues. And it also contains caffeine, which will help and cheer up.
- Ketorolac. Just remember this word and already in the pharmacy choose any drug based on it, the price tag will be adequate in any case. Ketorolac is a powerful pain reliever that copes well with toothache, but it is often not recommended to use it - look for the causes of pain and fight them.
- Drotaverine hydrochloride. There is such a drug. Replacement of the most popular No-Shpa. If your pain is due to abdominal cramps, it is penny drotaverine that will easily relieve it.
- Spazmalgon. For those who do not believe in generics and believe that a good antispasmodic cannot be cheap. Excellent value for money.
- Nitroglycerin. Not the one that explodes, but in tablets. There are a lot of contraindications, but only he can effectively relieve heart pain at home.

3. Antipyretic and anti-inflammatory

Paracetamol. One of the most common wrestlers with fever. Often hidden under the labels of expensive foreign counterparts. Available in a variety of forms, from tablets to syrup.
- Ibuprofen. Same story as with paracetamol. Here it’s up to you to choose - the taste and color ... You know.
- For the same taste and color, and if funds allow, you can also buy a couple of sachets "for colds and flu" from any manufacturer, the composition of such bags is approximately the same. They really have a sense, however, they do not act very long and help symptomatically, without eliminating the cause.

4. Antihistamines. In Russian, "for allergies"

Tavegil or suprastin. I will not describe the effects of each separately, these are really time-tested drugs. Versatile, inexpensive and accessible. Let them lie, just in case. And real allergy sufferers already know what they are allergic to, and they use the appropriate drugs.

5. Gastrointestinal drugs

Activated carbon. Helps to cope with many types of poisoning, or at least reduce the harmful effects of toxins (including alcohol) on the body.
Buy several packs at once: you need at least a dozen tablets per application. Do not like coal - buy enterosorbents in the form of a gel or granules. True, the taste of this is not better for them, but the effect is clear.
- Loperamide. From diarrhea. Remember everything.
- Pancreatin and its derivatives. Digestive enzymes that help not to overload the liver and pancreas during stormy feasts. But it is also better to use it wisely - the body will clearly respond to third-party intakes of enzymes and will not be so willing to produce its own.
- Antacids, or heartburn remedies. There will be no specific recommendations for drugs, everyone has their own reliable antacid, plus, again, personal preferences: someone likes liquid, someone likes gel, and many choose pills.

5. Drops in the nose

Any drops or sprays based on xylometazoline. Incredibly affordable tool, but can not be used for more than a week.
- Pinosol. If you do not like the withering effect of drugs like naphthyzinum or galazolin, use pinosol. A successful combination of oils and active ingredients.

6. Other

This item will include seemingly elementary medical products: a tonometer, a thermometer, a heating pad, tweezers, an ice bag. At the same time, you need to know, and a tonometer, a modern pharmacy offers very advanced and convenient models. You can also add a bottle of ammonia, but if you live alone, who will bring it to your nose when you faint?

And a few general rules: be sure to check the shelf life of drugs, discard the expired one without hesitation. Any of the funds has ended - immediately replenish the first-aid kit. If you have absolutely no idea how a home first aid kit should look like, ask the pharmacist to complete it according to the list or buy ready-made kits. Well, the classic - "store in a dry and dark place."
It seems to have missed nothing. Maybe a sedative - but a universal male sedative can be found in a bar or refrigerator. Exactly! The combined drug for a hangover will take its rightful place in your home first aid kit.
But real men don't get nervous! It seems to be. So it won't work for a hangover. Buy it though. Just in case.

Dmitry Pimenov

Photo thinkstockphotos.com

The contents of a first-aid kit - a necessary minimum

A home first aid kit is a topic for a dissertation, perhaps! Each family has its own traditions of storing medicines, assortment, including depending on what health problems the household has. For example, I have two daughters, one of whom has a criminal talent for bruising and abrasions, and the other with a periodic problem - conjunctivitis. I am allergic to house dust. And we all get SARS from time to time during the flu and cold season. Accordingly, the first-aid kit is assembled according to our needs. The same happens in other families.

But there are general rules by which you need to collect an emergency first aid kit in any home. It is easy to find information on this subject on the Internet, I suggest using the recommendations of the famous pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky. So, in a home first aid kit, especially in a house where there are children, there should be:

Tools and auxiliary materials
. Scissors - cut off the plaster and bandage;
. Tweezers - to remove foreign bodies from the surface of the wound, splinters, fish bones (stuck in the throat), ticks;
. Disposable syringes - for injections, dosing of drugs; it is convenient to remove splinters with disposable needles;
. Disposable latex gloves;
. Hypothermic packs - as a source of cold for injuries; or a cold element, which is always in the refrigerator;
. Alcohol swabs for injection;
. Thermometer;
. Tourniquet - to stop severe bleeding;

dressings
. Cotton wool;
. Gauze bandages;
. Elastic bandage;
. Gauze napkins;
. bactericidal patch;
. Roll plaster;

Medicines
. 5% alcohol solution of iodine - for the treatment of wound edges, disinfection of instruments;
. Disinfectant solutions - for treating wounds (for example, chlorhexidine or miramistin);
. Antibacterial ointment - for the treatment of infected burns, animal bites (for example, erythromycin, tetracycline);
. A remedy for burns (preferably an aerosol);
. Means for oral rehydration - to restore lost fluid after profuse vomiting, heat stroke, an allergy attack, diarrhea;
. Antidiarrheal agent for adults;
. Activated carbon, its analogues, enterosorbents - to remove toxins from the body after poisoning;
. Antipyretics and painkillers based on ibuprofen and paracetamol
. Local anti-allergic agent - after insect bites, on contact with poisonous plants, itching, other allergic skin reaction (for example, 1% hydrocortisone ointment);
. Antiallergic agent of general action (for example, loratadine or cetirizine);
. Vasoconstrictor nasal drops (drops of 0.05% xylometazoline solution);
. Painkiller drops in the ears;
. An antiseptic solution for the eyes;
. Hormonal anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic agent - for acute allergic reactions (for example, adrenaline, dexomethasone - read the instructions in advance!);

Building a home first aid kit

There are not many items on the list above. But take a look at your first aid kit - how big is it? I have three large containers:
. first aid kit in case of injuries, cuts with antiseptics and dressings,
. first aid kit for adults
. first aid kit with children's medicines).
There is also a first-aid kit - we take it with us on all trips.

I used to think that such a quantity of medicines is normal, especially since they are stored neatly. But while preparing this material, I read articles on the Internet, talked with friends, and realized what was the matter. I, like many other residents of our country, try to save money. We buy some medicine, we are treated with it. But if something is left of him after recovery, we do not get rid of these few pills - they will suddenly come in handy. "Cemetery of half-eaten medicines" - that's how Dr. Komarovsky called our first-aid kits. At the same time, they often do not have the most necessary emergency aid. And how right he is! Therefore, the first step to a well-thought-out first-aid kit will be an audit.

Review your first aid kit

Collect medicines from all over the house: from all bags and cosmetic bags, boxes and refrigerator. Now it's time to check the expiration dates. Everything that is overdue - throw it away! You can be conscious and find out in city pharmacies whether they take expired medicines. So you also take care of the environment. An audit in the first-aid kit is recommended to be carried out twice a year during the change of seasons, when the winter wave of SARS is replaced by the summer wave of enterovirus infections, and vice versa.

Think about what should be in the first aid kit

Above, I proposed a minimum list of medicines for a home first-aid kit, but everyone is free to choose what his family needs. Make your list, check what you already have on it, and plan to buy the missing drugs. Approach this question responsibly, but do not overdo it - antibiotics, for example, are not an emergency remedy and should be prescribed by a doctor.

Organize convenient storage of medicines

I’ll tell you more about this - after all, we have a blog about organizing order :)
Today, there are many devices for storing medicines - containers, organizers, shoeboxes, after all! For inspiration, I offer a small selection of photos of my first aid kit, as well as first aid kits of my fellow mothers.

I'll start with my first aid kit. As I said, it is stored in three containers.
. In one means conditionally for external use - dressing, treatment of wounds. The container is plastic, with an additional section. The large lower compartment contains dressings and antiseptics in large bottles, and the upper section with dividers contains small inventory. This first-aid kit was formed over time, when it became clear that the eldest daughter would not get tired of breaking records for the number of bruises and abrasions.

The second first aid kit is for children. I have two little daughters who don’t seem to get sick often, but there are still a lot of medicines for them: for the eyes, ears, nose, throat, anti-allergic, antipyretic ... I got a separate container for them, which “facilitated” the life of an adult first-aid kit. This container has lid locks on the sides so it fits snugly and is difficult for children to open.

The third first aid kit is for adults. This is where medicines that have not had time to end live out their lives. See folic acid? This is from pregnancy :) The first candidate for the trash can. By the way! If you have medicines that have not yet expired, but you definitely won’t use them, you don’t have to throw them away. Now in almost every city there are VKontakte communities where people give away or sell things they don’t need, including medicines. Believe me, many people will gladly buy popular drugs from you if you give a good discount.

The peculiarity of this first-aid kit is that the medicines are grouped according to their purpose in zip-lock bags. For example, a bag of medicines of various effects was collected in case I get ARVI from children (and this happens in 100% of cases). If they get sick quickly and without complications, then I get sick in full - with sinusitis "for sweets." Remembering how recently, in a semi-delusion, I was looking for the “Asterisk” balm in this first-aid kit in order to somehow alleviate a headache, I already in a healthy state formed a bag with all the medicines necessary for such a case. Or - a bag of anti-allergic drugs - also mine. A bag of painkillers and antipyretics - my husband periodically has a toothache. A package that has everything for injections.

Is the principle clear? Prepare kits of medicines for specific diseases or group by appointment. Then at a critical moment you will thank yourself.

Let me tell you more about our first aid kit. It is very compact, stored in a dense plastic bag with a zip lock. The first aid kit contains everything from the list of emergency medicines given at the beginning of the article. Medicines in it without packages, one plate at a time, with instructions papers attached to them. Her husband took her for rafting for two years in a row. Be sure to take a first-aid kit on trips over long distances.

I don’t put the medicines that we use now into the container until the end of the treatment, but put them in a small box or food container. He stands in the kitchen as long as there is a need for these funds. (By the way, this is a controversial approach - if the medicines are not in the cabinet, but on an open surface, this may violate the storage conditions. I will talk about this a little later)

And there is one remedy that lives separately from all the others - a spray after burns. You can easily get burned while cooking in the kitchen. Therefore, the remedy after burns is always ready in the kitchen drawer.

How about others? I again threw a cry among the mothers I knew, and they shared their solutions. It turned out that many families use plastic containers to store medicines.

Catherine. Katya, like me, keeps her medicines in a plastic container. Top pills without packs, bottom bubbles and boxes.

Svetlana. Sveta has similar containers for medicines. And in the basket are funds that are constantly needed (the family has a small child who is teething, and at this time there are usually a lot of problems).

Anastasia. She has a serious approach. Medications are stored in the top drawer of the chest of drawers. She writes: “Sorted according to purpose in three low boxes so that they do not mix and hold the boxes tightly in their places. Turned up by the name, so that you can immediately see what is where, the expiration date is also indicated there.

A few more people keep medicines in shoeboxes. Anastasia made from the cover of the partition inside the box. On the one hand, medicines are stored in “boxes or bottles”, on the other (narrower) - plasters and medicines without a box.

By the way, many noted that something is also stored in the refrigerator. Mostly in the door on a separate shelf. There is no escape from this - some medicine must be kept cold. You can get small containers for such medicines and keep them on the shelf. I still keep an ice pack in the freezer to apply to bruises. But for this purpose, you can use any freezer bag.

Still not sure which option to choose for your first aid kit? Pay attention to comfortable. Thanks to the thoughtful design, you will be able to organize medicines according to their destination without using additional bags, as I do in my first aid kit. Look at the photo - each medicine has its own place, which can be fixed outside on the card. Inside on the sides there are flat pockets for individual records, instructions, patches and similar trifles.

First aid kit "Everything is in place" in action:

Here are a few more options for storing medicines that I found on the Internet.

Determine a permanent place for the first aid kit

The last, but very important step is to determine for the first aid kit a place where it will be permanently located. There are rules here too. The most important thing: if there are children in the house, then the first-aid kit should be high, or in an inaccessible place - so that the kids do not get to it. These are not empty words: every year in the United States, about 60,000 children accidentally swallow drugs that were not intended for them. This is an average of 165 poisonings per day. And 70% of cases relate to children under two years of age. There are no general statistics for Russia. But if you are interested, try searching the website of the Rospotrebnadzor for your region for the results of toxicological monitoring.

In this case, the first-aid kit should be within the reach of adult family members. Everyone should know where it is and be able to use it in a critical situation. My medicine containers are kept in the bedroom closet on a high shelf so the kids can't reach them.

Another interesting point: in the discussion Oksana said that in the container with medicines she had a list of “medicine - prescription - expiration date”. There is no photo, but it seems to be a very convenient and thoughtful solution. Without rummaging through a pile of drugs, without unfolding the instructions, you can go over the list with your eyes and choose the right one for the situation. Plus, it is convenient to control expiration dates and replenish stocks on time. In the same place, Oksana keeps Dr. Komarovsky's book with first aid instructions.

At Helena along with medicines, medical policies and medical records of all family members are stored. It is also convenient - in an unforeseen situation, you always know where the policy that is so necessary now lies.

Another general recommendation for storing medicines is temperature, humidity and light. Most often, medicines must be stored in a dry place protected from the sun at room temperature. That is why the bathroom or kitchen (at least drawers near the stove) is not the best place for a first aid kit. Choose closed cabinets in living rooms, or, if these are open shelves, opaque containers with lids. Some medicines, as I said, must be stored in the refrigerator. Choose for this the upper shelves in the door. Medicines are also recommended to be packed in tightly sealed bags or containers - to avoid exposure to condensate.

Convenient fixtures

A little about the little things that will help make the handling of medicines more convenient. It's about. They are different, but mostly they are organizers for a day or a week. Tablets are laid out in advance in small cells, depending on the time of admission, or immediately for the day. These organizers with their full cell will remind you that you forgot to take your medicine.

Another handy thing is . My grandmother, when she received it for use, said that this was her best purchase in recent years. The principle of operation, I think, is clear. The most important thing is that the tablets cut in half do not crumble, do not scatter in different directions, but remain in the container.