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In this article you’ll find a list of essential items that should be in every caravan first aid kit.

A first aid kit is one of the 15 Things To Buy For A New Caravan [Must Have Caravan Accessories]

This list is based on the things that are more likely to happen because you’re travelling in a caravan.

We’ll also cover:

The best places to keep your first aid kit AND a quick list of the life saving skills you should learn.

Let’s get started:

Caravan first aid kit: 9 essential items to save you or your family’s life

You need to be able quickly treat things like:

  • Severe cuts
  • Fractures
  • Snake bites, and
  • Burns

This means you need a separate caravan first aid kit that’s for emergencies.

This is the kit that gives you quick access to some high priority items:

  1. Heavy duty crepe bandages (5cm, 10cm and 15cm… min. of 2x each)
  2. Snake bite bandage with compression indicator
  3. Commercial Application Tourniquet (CAT)
  4. Sterile water
  5. Face shield
  6. Trauma shears
  7. Gloves

Can you just use a heavy duty crepe bandage for a snake bite bandage?

You could… but a proper snake bite bandage with a compression indicator helps make sure you’re providing the right amount of pressure:

Caravan first aid kit - snake bite bandage with compression indicator

Plus they’re cheap: Here on eBay they’re about the same price as a heavy duty crepe bandage

Ideally you’ve had some training.

If so, then you can include:

  1. Haemostatic dressings
  2. Chest seals

Now, these things are no good if you can’t get to them…

Because you want to be able to get to these things quickly:

Avoid having a “super kit” with everything under the sun in it

You keep that stuff separate…

Caravan first aid kit for non-emergencies

Now you’ve got the life saving stuff out of the way:

Go a little more overboard, and stock up on the things you don’t need in an emergency.

You might want more than what’s on this list…

But to start you off, here’s a caravan first aid kit checklist to make sure you’ve got the main items:

  1. Antihistamines (kids & adults)
  2. Anti-inflammatories 
  3. Anti-fungal cream or powder
  4. Bandaids (different shapes and sizes)
  5. Betadine
  6. Burn cream
  7. Cling wrap
  8. Crepe bandages
  9. Gastro-Stop
  10. Hydrolite
  11. Instant cold packs
  12. Instant heat packs
  13. Lozenges (Anitcol & Soothers)
  14. Micropore tape
  15. Notebook and Pen
  16. Opsite wound dressing
  17. Pain relief medications (kids & adults)
  18. Rigid strapping tape
  19. SAM splint
  20. Scissors
  21. Splinter probes
  22. Sunburn cream
  23. Super glue
  24. Stingose
  25. Thermal blanket
  26. Triangular bandages
  27. Tweezers

HINT: Here’s where purchasing something like the St John Caravan and Camping First Aid Kit can come in handy

Things to buy for a new caravan - Caravan First Aid Kit

It has most of these things… cheaper than if you bought it separately!

Now, it’s not really part of your caravan first aid kit…

…but consider downloading the Emergency + App for your phone:

Caravan first aid kit - Emergency Plus App

Where should you keep a caravan first aid kit?

So by now you’ve probably noticed:

Having two first aid kits is extremely important…

…because you don’t want to be rifling through boxes of expired cold and flu medicine in an emergency.

So as a rule of thumb:

  1. Keep your ‘save your/your family’s life’ first aid kit somewhere that’s always readily accessible
  2. Keep your ‘coughs/colds/blisters’ first aid kit somewhere that’s out of the way

The stuff that isn’t urgent should be kept separate…

It will just get in the way of what you’re looking for in an emergency.

What are the most common caravan and camping injuries?

We intervieed an emergency RN and paramedic from Tasmania… who deal with A LOT of caravan and camping related injuries.

The most common reasons they’re called out for?

Well, mostly trauma.

Motor vehicle accidents.

There’s also a lot of trips and falls related to being in an unfamiliar environment…

…with associated sprains, strains, and fractures.

Also, more burns:

There’s a higher risk boiling water on the stove in the confines of a caravan

[and don’t forget the alcohol related falling in campfires]

Something that I didn’t expect?

Snatch strap injuries from vehicle recoveries are a common cause of injuries

So now that you know that…

What first aid skills should you learn before you travel?

The skills every person should know include:

  • CPR
  • Pressure Immobilisation (PIM) bandaging. That’s where the snake bandage helps
  • Handling choking incidents, and
  • The ability to control severe bleeding

These are the more urgent things that you need to know in case you’re in the middle of nowhere…

…because an ambulance may take too long to get there.

Summary: Caravan first aid kits

There’s some essential items that should be in every caravan first aid kit… and a lot more that you can keep in your coughs/colds/blisters first aid kit.

So keep two first aid kits in your caravan. One that you can get to the important things in an emergency, and the other can have everything in it.

Comment below:

Anything not list here that you think should be in a caravan first aid kit? Let us know!