Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
Current training is that you never, ever use tourniquets, unless it's clear that someone is absolutely going to bleed out without it, especially if it's on a limb that is clearly mangled beyond saving or totally missing. They won't even talk about tourniquets in first aid training anymore except to say "do not do it."
So if there is clearly massive arterial bleeding, I'd do it if pressure wasn't working, otherwise no.
EDIT: Actually, having done some reading, I'll amend that. Throw out the tourniquets, pack a 50 gram Quickclot pad. The 50 gram size is said to be able to stop a femoral artery bleed. I'm buying some.
Originally Posted by
Ira B
That is very true. An exception would be if you were alone and bleeding out with the fear of passing out and being unable to tend to/manage a pressure band/dressing.
If you do apply a true tourniquet to a limb, you are most likely going to lose that limb from the tourniquet downward.
Wow where to start... I'm not an expert, I am however currently deployed and I would like to think that my training is "current" (admittedly it is NOT extensive and my CLS cert is NOT current). First and foremost I am a helicopter crew chief/mechanic, my next assignment will be with a Forward Support Medevac Team and my wife is an ER nurse. AGAIN, please do your own research and don't take my word as gospel for any of this. If you need an aircraft fixed in the middle of nowhere I can probably be a great help but I feel sorry for anyone that would have to rely on my trauma skills to save them. In either event I'll do what I've been trained to.
Regarding tourniquets, if you even think they might be useful,
use them. We are CURRENTLY trained to do so and a CAT (tourniquet) is by far the most easily accessed first aid tool on my flight vest, it is required as such. Everything else is tucked away in an otherwise inconvenient internal pocket. Current training is that a tourniquet can be left on for up to
8 hours before concern of losing a limb. I know this is highly contrary to what has been posted, that is why I am stating otherwise.
How important is it to stop bleeding? Even on a battlefield, with weapons designed to kill as effciently as possible, hemorrhaging still accounts for 80% of the deaths. You stop the bleeding you save lives.
Practically speaking, the types of tools you are going to have available as a cyclist are very limited assuming you brought any. When it comes to saving a life a cell phone is your best bet. Next, the ability to stop any serious bleeding is huge. Tourniquets do this. If you can keep a person from bleeding out long enough for the professionals to get there you have probably covered the majority of what could have killed the person, if the person dies it is unlikely that you have helped them with any of the other tools you would likely be carrying. For example, a space blanket might help prevent shock but blood loss will bring about shock that the blanket cannot stop.
Regarding Quickclot... it is an excellent tool. DO NOT USE IT AS A SUB FOR A TOURNIQUET and please
DO NOT "THROW YOUR TOURNIQUETS OUT". Quickclot is an excellent alternative for wounds that cannot be addressed with a CAT... torso, neck, head. Quickclot would be an excellent addition to a CAT but different jobs require different tools. If you plan to carry Quickclot please read up on it and the precautions you should take with it. It is a fine powder that will render you useless if you get it in your eyes (it reacts with moisture, not specifically blood, and the crap can go airborne everywhere if you aren't conscious of the risk). QC must be applied to the point of bleeding. Not all bleeding is external and not all blood exits the body from the point in which it is leaving the vascular system (a tourniquet will will work if either of these probems is present in a limb). Medical staff will literally spend hours cleaning QC out of a serious wound as opposed to the seconds in which a tourniquet can be removed and further treatment can begin. You will not find QC in an ER. There are other precautions as well so don't consider this info as your education.
If this really is important to you please seek professional education and try to maintain it with some sense of on going training.
Helo mechanic out.