What Should I Put In A Sports First Aid Kit?

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General Advice
Contents

No youth sports team or competition should be without a first aid kit designed to treat the most common injuries and illnesses that might be encountered.

General Advice

• Match the contents to the sport: The type of first aid that may be required varies by sport. Because bruises, abrasions, and sprained ankles are more common in baseball, a baseball team's first aid kit, for instance, needs to be stocked with cold packs, elastic bandages, and Band-Aids, while a track team's kit needs to have plenty of supplies to treat blisters, abrasions, pulled muscles, and sprains. If your team is going to be in the sun, carry sunscreen; the cross-country coach needs to carry an allergy kit to manage bee stings.
  
  

• Stock a realistic quantity: Be prepared to treat more than one child at an event. For younger children, remember to stock pediatric doses (in liquid form, if necessary).
  
  

• Ensure ready access: First aid supplies should be placed where they are readily accessible, and marked clearly to allow rapid identification. Use Ziploc-type bags within the kit for extra materials and to sort your supplies. For instance, it is helpful to partition supplies into modules "for wound care," "for an allergic reaction," and so forth.
  
  

• Protect against damage: Carry supplies in a watertight container designed to withstand years of rough handling and extremes in temperature, such as a plastic (Pelican case or Otter Box) or metal container equipped with a rubber O-ring gasket for a tight, waterproof seal.

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Contents

Listed below are what a sports first aid should contain. Go through this list carefully, and make a decision to include or exclude these items from your medical kit. Have a medical professional teach you how to take care of your players, so that when the time comes, you will know how to apply a Steri-Strip to close a wound, mold a Sam Splint to support a sprained wrist, or use a pocket mask to perform rescue breathing.

General Supplies

• First Aid Manual or Emergency/CPR flashcards
  
  

• Safety pins
  
  

• Paramedic or EMT shears (scissors)
  
  

• Sharp-pointed surgical scissors
  
  

• Bandage scissors
  
  

• Splinter forceps (tweezers)
  
  

• Standard oral thermometer: digital, mercury, or alcohol
  
  

• Wooden tongue depressors ("tongue blades")
  
  

• Waterproof flashlight (such as Pelican MityLite*) or headlamp (and spare batteries)
  
  

• CPR mouth barrier or pocket mask (such as a Microshield X-L Mouth Barrier*)
  
  

• Sterile (hypoallergenic or latex) surgical gloves (at least 2 pair); if you are allergic to latex, bring nonlatex, synthetic, nonpermeable gloves;
  
  

• Instant chemical cold pack(s)¹
  
  

• Ziploc* bags (to hold ice for ice packs)
  
  

• Rescue blanket
  
  

• Cell phone
  
  

• Medical release forms
  
  

• List of emergency phone numbers (paramedics, hospital emergency room)

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*Brand names are shown to indicate representative products, not to indicate that these are the only products that may be used. Quality, availability, cost, and preference will influence which specific products you choose.

¹While instant cold or gel packs are easy to store and are more convenient than ice, experts say that they may damage the skin because of the cold temperatures they reach. Because ice doesn't get as cold, it is safer, and thus preferable to cold or gel packs. So, while you should have a cold pack in the first-aid kit as a backup, ice should be brought to all practices and games.

Dr. Paul S. Auerbach is Professor of Surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. He is Editor of the definitive textbook Wilderness Medicine and author of Medicine for the Outdoors. Dr. Auerbach is one of the world's leading authorities on emergency medicine and wilderness medicine.

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