Checklist: 8 mistakes your first aid kit
Olga Lukinskaya
Everybody has medicines at home. - There may be more or less, but among them there are probably unnecessary or expired ones. It also happens that there seems to be a lot of drugs, but it’s impossible to find the right one, and it’s hard to remember which one is intended for. We have compiled a checklist that will help bring order to the first-aid kit and stop making mistakes dangerous to health.
1
Do you store medicines in the refrigerator door
A number of drugs need to be stored at a low temperature - usually it is 2-8 degrees, that is, just the range of the refrigerator. The problem is that the temperature in the door is often slightly higher; moreover, it constantly fluctuates due to opening and closing. So it is better to allocate a separate place for drugs on the shelf. It is not necessary to move the first-aid kit to the back wall - freezing of liquid preparations can occur there, which in most cases is detrimental to them. It is also recommended to fold the medication into an airtight container - this will protect both from temperature fluctuations and excess moisture.
If the package says “stored at room temperature”, it is assumed that it is not higher than 25 degrees - for such drugs a small period of storage is usually allowed at a higher temperature (up to 30 degrees). That is, if in the summer the heat is too high for a couple of days, it is not necessary to throw out the entire first-aid kit, but you should not keep it systematically at the battery.
Finally, it is undesirable to store medicines in the bathroom - this is too wet for them. In the kitchen, too, to find an adequate place is quite difficult - there may be high humidity or temperature drops near the oven and microwave. It is best to choose a place in the room or corridor.
2
You throw away the packaging
If the expiration date is usually applied to the label of the bottle or each blister with pills, then other important information may not fit - and remains only in the instructions for the preparation and on the carton. As a result, you find a medicine with a famous name in the first-aid kit; you are convinced that it is not overdue - but you don’t remember how to take it, before meals or after. Sometimes you need to re-read the instructions to make sure that this is the very thing, the desired tool, and not another with a similar name.
Recently, manufacturers of hormonal contraceptives are trying to include detailed instructions on what to do when skipping a pill, not only in the text of the liner: a clear scheme of action is applied directly to the cardboard part of the blister, which cannot be accidentally thrown away.
Nevertheless, it is very easy to lose the instructions for most drugs, so it’s better from the very beginning not to separate the medicine, the packaging and the liner. For syrups, drops, liquids in ampoules, the cardboard box also has a protective function: these drugs become unusable under the influence of light. So if you know that it’s going to be a little lazy to google the instructions for use, do not rush to part with the paper version.
3
You do not follow expiration dates
The shelf life of drugs is indicated for sealed packaging - and the instructions usually say how long the drug can be used after you have opened it. Of course, the pills in an airtight blister will not do anything for a year, but drops for the eyes or nose in a month become simply dangerous - bacteria multiply in them. Sometimes they talk about three months, and in general it depends on the composition of the medicine and the content of preservatives in it. Those who constantly use moisturizing eye drops, it is better to buy new bottles at least once a month.
Sometimes the package shows only the month and year, without an exact date - and this period of storage is interpreted differently in different countries. According to Russian rules, the expiration date is the interval until the first day of the specified month, and in the European Union we are talking about the last day. For example, a drug with a shelf life of up to 11.2017, purchased in Russia, can be used until October 31 of this year, inclusive, and brought from Europe - until November 30.
4
You underestimate the abilities of children
From year to year on drugs and household chemicals they write “to keep them out of the reach of children” - and the flow of panic calls to the ambulance due to the fact that the child swallowed an unknown pill does not stop. This is another argument in favor of storing drugs in packages: if the drug fell into children's hands in a box, it is a bit more difficult to get to the contents, and you have more time to notice it and take away the “toy”. And even if the child is still something opened and swallowed, you will know what kind of tool it was, and doctors do not have to speculate.
Yet it is better to prevent such situations. The first-aid kit should be really inaccessible to children: the box should be put on a decent height and locked with a key (not sticking in the keyhole) or a complicated latch. Children's drugs or vitamins in the form of chewing candies is also a dangerous thing. Yes, it is easier to give a chewing bear to a child who does not want to take a pill - but if the kid wants to treat himself to “candy” by reaching for the package on his own, the consequences can be tragic.
5
You throw away the medicine as you have to
Ecological and safe disposal of medicines is a serious problem, which in our country, unfortunately, is not yet being addressed. In many countries, expired or unwanted drugs can simply be brought to the clinic, pharmacy or a special collection point — they know what to do next. But so far there is no such possibility, it is in our power to at least maximally protect others from potential harm.
Only completely water-soluble preparations can be thrown into the sewage system - there are not so many of them, and the rest strongly harm the environment and enter natural reservoirs of water. Therefore, it remains only to throw the drugs in the trash; it is best to put them in an opaque package or a closing can and close tightly. You can put something clearly inedible in the same bag - used diapers or cat litter. It will save animals, birds, and possibly people from eating drugs and poisoning them.
Another option is to try to pass the medicine to the needy right after you have finished taking the course. There are communities on the Internet where you can donate drugs to those who cannot afford them.
6
You have not disassembled first aid kit
When there are a lot of drugs, but the necessary cannot be found right away, there is a reason to disassemble the first-aid kit. In general, it makes sense to do this at least once a year: we often do not notice how unnecessary or old drugs accumulate. You should definitely throw away expired medications and any pills that have fallen out of blisters or vials, even if it seems to you that you know exactly what the remedy is. Liquid preparations — syrups, injection solutions, gels, creams, and ointments — should be thrown away if they change color, become separated, or visible particles appear in the solution.
In principle, a small set of drugs is enough for self-treatment at home - these are anti-inflammatory and anesthetics from the NSAID group, an antihistamine, something from diarrhea, means for replenishing the balance of fluids and salts with diarrhea and vomiting. At home, you should keep an antiseptic, patches and anything from burns - although in the case of a burn, you must first place the affected area under cold water for about fifteen minutes. All the rest of the contents of the home first aid kit is formed as needed and prescribed by a doctor.
7
You hold to the means of the "old school"
It would be strange to boil glass syringes before each use in our time - after all, they were replaced by disposables. But it is not always possible to refuse other means known from childhood - such is the power of habit. However, instead of messing around with cotton and alcohol, you can use spirit wipes in individual packaging for disinfection before the injection. In addition, they are safer than a bottle of alcohol, which can fall into the hands of the child. Instead of greens and iodine in flacons that leave no chance of not getting dirty, they have long invented the same tools in the form of markers - not to mention the fact that instead of greens it is better to use other antiseptics that are more convenient and equally effective.
If you have been taking the same medication for years, for example, in case of allergy episodes, but have not talked about it with your doctor for a long time, it is quite possible that during this time something more effective and with less pronounced undesirable effects has appeared. Finally, if medications are taken chronically and do not help, then maybe they just do not suit you, and you need to be examined and to clarify the diagnosis. For example, migraine, although accompanied by a headache, is not treated with painkillers.
8
You buy extra medicine
Infinite dietary supplements, interferons "to raise immunity," stocks of antibiotics - at best, such a first-aid kit is useless, and at worst, dangerous. Homeopathy does not work, detox can be harmful - and worst of all, attempts to treat with such agents take time, which is important for timely examination, diagnosis and the start of a full-fledged treatment. "Miraculous" food supplements benefit only their creators - and that is financial.
Try to limit the first-aid kit only with the most necessary means and remember the principles of evidence-based medicine, at least in relation to frequent diseases like the common cold - it does not need to be treated at all. It is not worth spending money on "antiviral" drugs for the treatment of influenza - while the only effective preventive measure is vaccination against this virus.
Photo:andrewburgess - stock.adobe.com, Ljupco Smokovski - stock.adobe.com, ironstealth - stock.adobe.com, Tombaky - stock.adobe.com, Gordana Sermek - stock.adobe.com