Bandages

Administering first aid is every person’s responsibility, since one should know how to react more confidently in any minor accidents and life-threatening situations before professional medical help can arrive on the scene. Prompt action within the first few minutes can turn out to be highly important in possibly saving a person’s life or decreasing the gravity of the injury. One of the most important materials that should always be found in any first aid kit are the bandages, which are mainly used as a protective covering on the injured part of the victim’s body.

If we will track back history, the very concepts of dressings and bandages have been used even in the prehistoric times in the form of plant strips and animal hide, which later on evolved to fabrics. In fact, there were many ancient documents found in Greece, China, and Egypt that clearly suggested that ointments and bandages have been used for battle wounds. Even the Egyptian embalmers have shown exceptional skills in the use of bandage on their mummies. However, it was a French surgeon by the name of Ambroise Paré who introduced a more modernized treatment that abandoned the need of cauterization to favor the use of ointments and bandage wrapping. After 300 years later, an English surgeon by the name of Joseph Lister introduced a new procedure of using bandages that is soaked in carbolic acid that will act as an effective antiseptic to the wound. Later on, the very first plaster covered bandaged was patented and made available in pharmacies under the brand name Hansaplast in 1882.

However, the adhesive bandage that we now widely use today is actually the invention of a certain employee of Johnson & Johnson Medical Supply Company. According to the story, Dickson’s young bride always runs into some minor kitchen accidents such as cuts and burns. Being a concerned and devoted husband that he was, he found himself repeatedly having to bandage her up with strips of gauze and surgical tapes and immediately recognized the need to have a more efficient bandage just in case he is not around to assist her wife. Using the Johnson and Johnson surgical tape, he folded up a pad of gauze at the center of the tape and covered it up with crinoline to provide his wife a steady supply. This idea was alert introduced to the rest of his coworkers and employers, which the company immediately marketed under the name Band-Aids. This became a major hit worldwide because of its unmatched convenience, requiring no assistance in its application and there is even no need to use bandage scissors to cut out strips.

Today, bandages is still very much an important component in many medical procedures and widely available for general use in providing a sterile cover for wounds. Without the use of bandage and application of antiseptic ointments, possibly infected can occur ushering in the possibility of more complications. Which brings us to the pressing in to store ample amount of bandages in your first aid kits in anticipation for accidental cuts and burns that may not really need any professional medical attention. It is highly important that these bandages be always kept in a clean and dry storage area to prevent possible contamination of the product that can trigger infection when applied on open wounds.

So if you have kids around, keep in mind that it’s never too early to train them in administering first aid on themselves and even to other people that might need their assistance. By providing them with the basic training on first aid, it might prove to be a highly helpful tool in emergency situations, especially if you or any adult are not around to provide any form of assistance.