New Updates to our ETA Kits!

We’re always trying to stay up on the latest and greatest for our ETA Kits and we’ve just made some major changes that we hope you’ll like.

Included in the updates are some additions, substitutions and changes based on feedback from our readers and guys downrange using our kits.

The ETA Kit is purpose built to treat the three leading causes of death in the field; Extremity Hemorrhage, Tension Pneumothorax and Airway Obstruction. Hence the name ETA, cleverly suggest by one of our readers during our contest to rename the kit from Blowout Kit, which is a common military term for what this kit treats, blowouts!

Below we’ll get into the changes we’ve made and even have a video showing it all.

Packaging

One of our major improvements to the kit is the use of a heavier mil (thickness) black-backed vacuum seal bag that still features the great ziploc style closure to allow you to pack the contents back in if you need to break the vacuum seal.

The new bags will hold up to more abuse than our previous bags, and while we never had any trouble with the clear bags we used, these are much heavier duty. They also maintain the same slim profile that our other packaging did and can fit in a pouch or a cargo pocket to be ready for use at all times.

Another change in packaging is with the HALO Seals, PMI has now changed their packaging to integrate their own ziploc style closure to allow you to securely store one of the two included seals back in the packaging if you only need to use one.

Same great product with a small update that truly makes them the best seals on the market today.

Updates and Substitutions

Below you’ll find a contents list of what we include in the ETA Kit, but here we’ll talk about what’s changed with our contents.

First off, instead of the two bulky packages of H&H Rolled Compressed-Gauze, we now use two Z-Pak Gauze packages that allow you to keep unused gauze uncontaminated. Similar to the Z-Fold Combat Gauze, the Z-Pak gauze comes out in an accordion style from an individual package so you don’t have to worry about your sterile gauze coming unrolled and getting dirty.

We’ve also updated the Combat Casualty Cards from the paper style we had before, to the TacMed Solutions cards that are water/blood proof and feature a heavy duty rubberband to secure it to the patient. We’ve also included a pencil to write the information needed on the card to pass along to higher echelon care.

It actually took us a long time to decide on including our own pencil in the kit. We went back and forth on a mini Sharpie and even a red mechanical grease pencil. Both of these were no match for the Texas heat, where the sharpie dried out and the grease pencil melted and became unusable. A pencil really is the best option for peace of mind in knowing that you’d have a functional writing utensil if you had to open the kit three years later (our guaranteed shelf-life for the kits).

Something that you guys have been asking for is Surgilube for the NPA, there’s now an individual 2.7g package included for everyone that doesn’t want to use bodily fluids the patient will most likely have available for lubrication.

One last change we’ve made to the kits within the last week is substituting the Black Nitrile Gloves with a pair of Defender-T Nitrile Gloves in Olive Drab. In our last article on how to properly put on exam gloves it was brought up that black gloves don’t show blood well and we agree.

This is why we’ve not only gone to a different color glove, but one that is stronger and better for our kits. The Black Nitrile gloves were only a 4 mil thickness and the new Defender-T Nitrile gloves are 7 mil, textured and powder-free. As always, everything in our ETA kits is Latex-Free.

Options

Recently we’ve started offering the Tactical Medical Solutions SOF Tactical Tourniquet-Wide as an augment to our ETA Kits. We feel it’s the best tourniquet out there on the market today and highly recommend it with our kits.

We’re soon going to have three different custom versions of the ETA Kit available. There’s the standard ETA Kit currently available with new improved contents, and soon there will be an option for removing the Decompression Needle for those that don’t want it, and a new option for Military/Law Enforcement Only to substitute the QuikClot Combat Gauze for the new Z-Fold Combat Gauze.

Currently Z-Fold Combat Gauze is available to Military/LE only and we’ll update you guys if this changes. The benefits that the Z-Fold Combat Gauze brings are a low profile vacuum sealed packaging and a x-ray detectable strip weaved into the gauze to ensure it doesn’t get left in a patient. The Z-Fold uses the same zero heat Kaolin formula that regular Combat Gauze uses, just with the benefits previously described.

ETA Kit Contents

• QuikClot Combat Gauze (1) (Optional Z-Fold for Military and LE only coming soon)
• HALO Chest Seal (2)
• Decompression Needle (1) (Optional removal coming soon)
• Nasopharyngeal Airway 28fr w/ Surgilube (1)
• Israeli Bandage (1 — 4″)
• Ace Bandage (1 — 4″)
• Z-Pak Compressed Gauze (2)
• Combat Casualty Card (1)
• Nitrile Gloves (1 Pair)
• Pencil
• Contents List

Click here to order your ITS Tactical ETA Kit

For more detailed information on the contents of our ETA Kits and why we’ve selected each of the items contained within, please refer to our articles below: