Planning a hiking expedition or wilderness trip usually means that the group can often be a distance from Emergency Medical Care. Unless you have unlimited resources, it's generally accepted that you will need to strike a balance between carrying too many heavy items and not having enough supplies to cope in an emergency.
An effective wilderness survival first aid kit or hiking outdoor first aid gear to meet your requirements should be based on three important criteria;
- How likely could you get to adequate medical care within 8-12 hours?
- How many people will there be in the hiking expedition?
- How many days are you planning for the wilderness trip?
When you select the right outdoors hiking or wilderness first aid kit for your trip, the location of where you will be going is the most important consideration in determining how self sufficient you need to be with medical equipment.
If you anticipate being in an area where there are little or no hospital facilities, your kit should include enough survival supplies to provide your group with medical care for at least 12 hours and maybe even a few days.
The next factor to consider is the number of people in the group and this should also include any guides. The quantity of emergency supplies in your medical kit should be enough to treat the group members and also consider that if you are planning to visit a remote area, you may find local inhabitants suddenly appear requesting help and medical aid. Whenever possible, be prepared to share your survival kit's contents with people from nearby villages and beyond.
The length of time that you are going to spend in the wilderness is another important factor to consider when building the right First Aid Kit. If you anticipate being away from towns and villages for lengthy periods, then the general rule of thumb is to take as much as possible with you. It would be inconvenient to have to halt the trip if you need to take someone for treatment as a result of not being able to care for them at the location.
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