First Aid Kits

1. What skill level is the user? Basic skills = basic first aid tools and supplies. EMTs, Nurses and Doctors feel more comfortable with different and/or more advanced equipment in their Trauma kit.
2. What is the environment? Your home has different hazards and resources than say a sailing First Aid Kit alone across the ocean. Therefore you will need to respond to different first aid issues and the first aid supplies and tools need to reflect that. Think about the accidents that might happen in the location of the kit. (i.e. my car kit might need to take care of an auto accident but my restaurant first aid kit (where I work) may have bad burns and knife cuts.) These kits in different locations would have different supplies. The kits should have supplies to take care of at least one badly injuries person based on the type of injury most likely to happen.
3. How many people do I need the kit to take care of? A family of 4?  25 people on a church camping retreat? A business accident with 200 employees, etc. Kits that say 25 person DON'T mean that they take care of 25 injuries or even 1 Badly injured person. They are generally designed to address a minor injury occurring in an business office setting - not an earthquake possibly injuring several people badly.
4. What first aid supplies do I need ?   Caring for say, a broken bone with a quick arrival time may require very little, but with serous bleeding or burns it may use up a small kit in minutes. A cheap kit that's from a grocery store does not have supplies for more than small cuts and scrapes.
5. What first aid supplies do I need until advanced medical help arrives in a disaster? How long will it take for an Ambulance to come to your location? In a normal city may be 5 minutes. You might drive to an ER and be seen in 20 minutes. But during a disaster (an earthquake, flood, snow storm, hazardous materials, etc.) with hundreds of calls it can be many hours for an ambulance and very long day at a hospital parking lot whith hundreds of others to get even minor care.  If an ambulance can't even reach your neighborhood, do you and your neighbors have what they need to care for each other?  Does the designated disaster shelter in your area have actual emergency supplies including first aid on-site?  Or did you expect Red Cross to bring this days later? 

Everyday move than a thousand people are displaced from their homes and businesses by local disasters and emergencies. Don't wait to think about these things. Get training, get ready, get supplied, get piece of mind!