Medical Directorate advises

Tips for your first-aid kit at the start of your vacation

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Who hasn't experienced this? Digestion in particular can quickly go haywire on vacation. The Salzburg Medical Directorate gives tips on what should not be missing from a first-aid kit at the start of the vacations. 

"Just as you think about having enough T-shirts, you should also think about your first-aid kit and plan it as a matter of course," says Regional Medical Director Petra Gruber-Juhasz. Above all, sun cream, plasters, painkillers and diarrhea medication are the recommended classics.

However, the contents also depend on the vacation destination (e.g. malaria areas), your own health and your style of travel. "Medication that you have to take permanently, for example for diabetes or heart problems, should not be forgotten at home before you set off," adds Gruber-Juhasz.

Be sure to pack these medications
The composition of the first-aid kit is of course very individual, but there are a few classics that should be in your luggage:

• A sufficient supply of medicines that are always needed
• Plasters, bandages, tweezers, clinical thermometer
• Sunscreen with a high sun protection factor
• Remedies for diarrhea
• Remedies for pain and fever
• Remedies for nausea, vomiting
• Remedies for itchy skin rashes, insects
• Ointments for wounds, disinfectants, antibiotic ointments
• Eye ointments (conjunctivitis)
• Ear drops (ear infections)
• Lozenges (sore throats)

Medicines like it cool and dark
Just as you protect yourself from too much sun and especially heat, your first-aid kit should be treated in the same way. "Most medications are harmed by high temperatures and, in the worst case, can lose their effect," says Gruber-Juhasz. Storage and transportation depend heavily on the medication in question. As a rule, care should be taken to ensure that the first-aid kit is transported in a cool, dry place protected from light and stored in the same way at the vacation destination.