50+ Uses of a Triangular Bandage
- To make a sling and swathe
- It’s cotton, right? Fire starter!
- Toilet paper (c’mon, you know you’d use it in a pinch!)
- Packing a wound while applying well-aimed direct pressure
- Tie a splint to an extremity
- Secure a pressure dressing
- Sling and swath for orthopedic injuries
- Secure and dress an abdominal evisceration
- Secure an IV bag to the casualty
- Create a pressure infuser for IV/IO application
- Secure patient’s arms and legs during movement and extraction
- Used to aid the creation of a traction splint for a femur fracture
- Improvised tourniquet using windlass
- Endotracheal tube tie
- Eye cover or bandage to protect patient’s eye against dust and debris
- Secure IV catheter and tubing once established
- Secure catheter placed after needle thoracotomy for tension pneumothorax
- Secure and stabilize a flail chest
- Collection bag for patient’s belongings
- Folded, padding for head on hard surface
- Two wrapped together creates a donut roll for depressed skull area
- Stabilize an impaled object
- B-U-F-F finger splint
- Secure your triage card to the patient
- Cover for amputated extremity stump
- Moistened and then used for a respiratory filter during rapid extraction from toxic exposure
- Folded, bite block when ET tube is in place
- Secure cold or hot pact to casualty
- Wrapped around a sprained or strained joint for added support
- Small torn pieces placed in ears to protect against constant load noise
- Small torn pieces used as gauze for dental abscess
- Subdue medic’s exam light
- Secure wound avulsion in place
- Cover burn wound site
- Head wrap to help slow casualty hypothermia
- Moistened and used to wrap or protect salvageable amputated body part
- Narrow torn strip wrapped around scalpel blade for surgical cricothyroidotomy
- Hang IV bag from elevated fixed object
- Tie fentanyl “lollipop” to patient’s finger
- Tied to fixed elevated object and extremity for sustained elevation
- Saturated with water, it can be used to cool an overheated patient
- Clean and prep chest for occlusive dressing application
- Corner of material for removal of debris in eye
- Packing for nosebleed
- Secure or restrain combative casualty
- Strap repair
- Ties for improvised litter
- Protect yourself from vomitus during CPR (if you don’t have a mask)
- Wind and dust bandanna
- Padding for splints
- Clavicle splint
- Shade from a hot sun
- Placed over a water bottle, it can serve as a filter (just the big stuff though, obviously)
- When unraveled, attach it to a fishhook or safety pin to a little fishing
Okay, that should get you started. Got any more?!