Nothing to see here, nothing to worry about - but just in case.

[vaskidmark]

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/11/20/tourniquet-use-urged-in-public-safety-push.html

Wonder if they are going to be mounted in cabinets next to the AEDs.

Will there be warnings not to apply them around the neck top control bleeding from the head?  (I hope not.)

stay safe.

[griz]

Will there be warnings not to apply them around the neck top control bleeding from the head?

I would bet money that exact warning will be on there somewhere.  After I saw the warning on the back of the windshield sun screens, the kind that cover the entire windshield, saying "DO NOT DRIVE WITH SCREEN IN PLACE" I knew we were doomed.

[HeroHog]

As I have said before, soon all warning labels will say "WARNING: This is not a suppository!"

[Boomhauer]

Oookayyy then...


The encouragement of tourniquets is a good thing. They need to add in some Quickclot dressings to.

I know the article focuses on casualties from attacks but many work in an industry where the TQ could easily be lifesaving. Coincidentally these industries usually only have simple first aid kits on hand. Logging, construction, oil production, factories, the list goes on and on. Your average everyday first aid kit doesn't do a damn thing to stop arterial bleeding. I keep a tourniquet at my toolbox along with a trauma kit.

My first week at my job, the foreman gathered us all around and informed us that a longtime employee at a local quarry operated by one of our customers had been killed by a sliver of metal that had cut the femoral artery in his leg. He had been heating up an impeller on a shaft of a pump to get it off the shaft when trapped grease in the bearing expanded and, seeking the path of least resistance, blew apart and sent the sliver through his leg. He was gone in a couple of minutes. A nearby tourniquet may have easily saved his life and he would have seen his wife and kids that night.

About two weeks later one of our mechanics at a shop on the coast was hammering a bucket pin out of an excavator. A sliver broke off the hammer and flew 25 feet through the air, and struck another mechanic in the leg. It traveled through his calf and stopped about an inch short of coming out, so a surgeon had to remove it. It barely missed his femoral artery. Had it got it, again, he would not have had a chance for an ambulance to get there.

[Perd Hapley]

My first week at my job, the foreman gathered us all around and informed us that a longtime employee at a local quarry operated by one of our customers had been killed by a sliver of metal that had cut the femoral artery in his leg. He had been heating up an impeller on a shaft of a pump to get it off the shaft when trapped grease in the bearing expanded and, seeking the path of least resistance, blew apart and sent the sliver through his leg. He was gone in a couple of minutes. A nearby tourniquet may have easily saved his life and he would have seen his wife and kids that night.

But he got the impeller off the shaft, didn't he?

[lupinus]

I like that TQ are catching on and a lot of the BS surrounding them is going away "ZOMG USE THAT AND HE'S LOOSING HIS ARM/LEG/WHATEVER!" They are also one of those tools that planning to improvise with is a flat out bad idea.

I tried to get work to add them to our emergency bags. Request was denied, but I'm being a pain in the ass. Eventually they'll get tired of me suggesting it and add them to the bags to shut me up if nothing else 

[HeroHog]

Tourniquets are WAY easy to improvise! People still wear belts, right? Trees still produce sticks, right?

[French G.]

I always chafed at the last resort training that I heard for twenty years. By all means if someone has an arterial bleed let's futz around with 3 things that don't work first. I have only taped up one good bleeder at work. Minor cut, venous bleed, but guy wason blood thinner. After rummaging through the shop first aid kit I ended up getting a good bandage from my car. After that I put one of my kits in my toolbox. 10 ft away, not 100 and has the right stuff. Hope I never need it, but bad things happen around lathes, and forklifts and such.

Short of the torniquet, i love these things. http://www.chinookmed.com/cgi-bin/item/05102/s-bandages_dressings/-CoFlex-UMAFD-4%22-%28Universal-Medic-Absorbent-Foam-Dressing%29--

[lupinus]

Tourniquets are WAY easy to improvise! People still wear belts, right? Trees still produce sticks, right?

Sure.

ANYTHING can be improvised. When someone is rapidly bleeding out I'll take the real thing thanks.


Sent from my iPhone. Freaking autocorrect.

[dogmush]

http://www.narescue.com/C-A-T_-_Combat_Application_Tourniquet-CN33B7051138B3.html

I've had a couple of those handy in my First Aid kit's since Uncle Sam first issued me one and I got to see just how much better they are than the improvised ones I was trained with before.  It's money well spent.

[Devonai]

I have a CAT and several Israeli bandages around pretty much all the time.  I do need to get another CAT for the trunk of my car, though.

[HeroHog]

Sure.

ANYTHING can be improvised. When someone is rapidly bleeding out I'll take the real thing thanks.


Sent from my iPhone. Freaking autocorrect.

My point is, if they don't have it, improvise. Yes, an actual medical grade kit is desirable but ya gotta do what ya gotta do and ya gotta do it NOW is my point.

[vaskidmark]

Tourniquets are WAY easy to improvise! People still wear belts, right? Trees still produce sticks, right?

Trees may still provide sticks, but based on the way I'm seeing pants being worn I'm not so sure belts are as common as you suggest.  And I'm not so sure how much arterial occlusion you are going to get trying to cinch down a gun belt that's built not to twist.

Yes, I have a purpose-made TQ in my kit.  But I also have a bandanna and a ball point pen should the need for multiples arise.  ER doc says they can flush out boogers and their associated cooties easier than putting blood back in half an hour later.

stay safe.

[Boomhauer]

My point is, if they don't have it, improvise. Yes, an actual medical grade kit is desirable but ya gotta do what ya gotta do and ya gotta do it NOW is my point.

We all know about improvisation but what we are talking about in this thread is getting the purpose made stuff ahead of time.

Right tool for the right job, so to speak, and having that right tool more available is a good idea.

Yes, I still wear a belt but it's a big thick heavy gunbelt. I don't know how well it's going to work as an improvised tourniquet. You consumer grade dept store belt might be a better bet in that case...but a lot of people simply don't wear belts anyway. With a tourniquet at the house, in the car, and at the workplace and if they start putting them in public places then the chance of having the right tool for the job is a lot higher rather than trying to rig crap up.

When I'm out in the woods I carry a tourniquet and a trauma kit (very handy since I'm often doing work in the woods, including cutting trees), along with some additional pressure dressings just in case plus other stuff nice for being out in the woods.  I used to do search and rescue work so I tend to go out with a lot different mindset than your average person who often doesn't have a clue and doesn't think to carry along a daypack with even a boo boo kit. I got plenty of morons out of the woods and I'll damn well not end up like them.

[HeroHog]

Ya get my point. I'll sacrifice a pants leg, shirt, whatever it takes to get the job done to save a life. When it's all said and done, if it's at a job site, I will have a "discussion" with the head cheese about having proper medical supplies on-site and things like OSHA, and Lawsuits and the like.

[lupinus]

Ya get my point. I'll sacrifice a pants leg, shirt, whatever it takes to get the job done to save a life. When it's all said and done, if it's at a job site, I will have a "discussion" with the head cheese about having proper medical supplies on-site and things like OSHA, and Lawsuits and the like.

But do you get their point?

[HeroHog]

Yes, everyone should have a personal med kit that includes one as should the wrok place. I was just pointing out that they were fairly easily improvised with available items unless you are buck necked in the desert/ocean.

[vaskidmark]

Yes, everyone should have a personal med kit that includes one as should the wrok place. I was just pointing out that they were fairly easily improvised with available items unless you are buck necked in the desert/ocean.

I've been buck nekkid a time or two, but never heard of anybody being buck necked.  Does that mean you have horns higher up?

stay safe.

[HeroHog]

necked/naked, whatever it takes...

[dogmush]

I've been buck nekkid a time or two, but never heard of anybody being buck necked.  Does that mean you have horns higher up?

stay safe.

That's what happens if you put the Doe-in-heat stuff on you instead of the tree......