My car has an optional first-aid kit in it, which I haven’t used at all yet – not that I want to get into situations where it’s necessary, of course. Anyway, considering that it sits in the car and gets baked in the summer and frozen in the winter, how long will its contents last? Do some things dry out, go bad, or otherwise become unusable? How do I inspect it to know?
The meds will expire eventually. Be sure to check dates. Besides that, what else is in there besides bandages and such? I’ve got a bag in my trunk. It’s sort of a first aid bag on crack! Complete with ALL kinds of bandages, dressings, splints, petroleum gauze, C-Collars, ET tubes, laryngoscope, scalpels, chest tubes, stitches, catheters, IV bags (NS and Ringer’s)… no AED or pulse ox (yet! im working on it)
The only things in there I worry about expiring are the drugs and meds. And NO Im not listing what drugs Im carrying in it : )
But when I was still in NC, I would take the thing out of my trunk at night cause I didn’t want the fluids freezing. I am back in Florida now. 80 degree Christmas baby!! So I just leave it in the trunk all day/night.
I’d check it at least annually.
Stuff like antiseptic wipes or ointments have a one or two year shelf life usually, and that’s assuming a calm and temperate life under your bathroom sink and not the oven-like trunk.
Alcohol wipes can, amazingly enough, dry out in the packaging. The alcohol won’t go “bad” with age, but I have encountered wipes that were dry two years after their “use by” date.
Things like band-aids won’t exactly expire, but with age and heat, the wrappers can deteriorate and fall apart, (the wrapper’s adhesive is often latex-based) rendering the bandage non-sterile.
How long will it last?..hmmm
Depends on how often you get hurt