Every kit I inspect tells me the same story. Somebody bought a bag, the bag came with a list, and the list decided what the team carries. Nobody asked who the principal is or what the person carrying the bag is licensed to do.
Both questions have to come first, because they are the two things that determine whether the kit is useful or just heavy.
Start with the principal
The people you protect are not a generic patient. They have ages, conditions, prescriptions, allergies and a travel schedule that stresses all of it.
A 58-year-old principal with coronary disease and a stent changes the kit. So does a peanut allergy in the family, a child on an insulin pump, a principal on anticoagulation, or a spouse with asthma who travels to cities with bad air. Get that information properly, store it properly, and let it drive the contents.
What that looks like in practice: a copy of the current medication list, a plan for a refill in another country, an epinephrine auto-injector where the allergy is real, glucose where diabetes is in the file, and a note on which hospitals near the residence and the office can handle the specific problem this principal is most likely to have.
Then check the license
A kit is only as capable as the person carrying it. An EMT and a paramedic have different scopes, and the gap between them is wide: airway management, IV access, cardiac drugs, controlled substances. Stocking a bag beyond the carrier’s scope creates a liability that sits in your vehicle until somebody uses it.
So the rule is simple. Every item in the bag has to be something the carrier can legally use, has been trained to use, and has a standing order for. If one of those three is missing, the item comes out or the training goes in.
Three bags, not one
Most programs are better served by tiers than by one enormous bag nobody wants to carry.
- On-person. What the agent has on their body at all times. Tourniquet, pressure dressing, gloves, and the principal’s rescue medication if there is one.
- Vehicle or detail bag. Airway, bleeding control, the principal-specific medications, monitoring if someone on the detail can use it, and enough supplies for more than one patient.
- Trip or event kit. Everything above plus the contingency stock for the trip length, the number of people covered, and the distance to real care.
Maintenance is part of the kit
Medications expire. Batteries die. Somebody used the last chest seal in a training and never told anyone. Assign one person, put a date on the calendar every quarter, and check the whole inventory against the list. A kit nobody has opened in a year is an assumption, not a capability.
The questions to answer before you buy anything
- Who exactly are we protecting, and what do we know about their health?
- Who is carrying this bag, and what is their license?
- Which items do they have a standing order for?
- Where are we going, and how far is real care from there?
- Who reviews this kit, and when?
Answer those five and the packing list writes itself. Skip them and you have bought equipment instead of capability.
Michael Guirguis, MD is a board-certified emergency physician and founder of Raven Medical Support Group. Kit and medication specifications are part of every program assessment.