Stop the Bleed: Tourniquet Time has Come

By Brent Wheat

The Federal Government, particularly the staid Department of Homeland Security (DHS), isn’t typically noted as being an “early adopter” of cutting-edge techniques. Thus, whenever something becomes public policy for DHS, you can rest assured that concept has utterly become “mainstream.”

That’s why it is so revolutionary that DHS has announced the “Stop the Bleed” campaign on October 7, 2015 encouraging the use of tourniquets in emergency situations.

Tourniquets had been around since at least the 1700’s but their use was primarily limited to hospital settings as they were discouraged for non-professionals. That changed when research from the Vietnam War showed a significant portion battlefield deaths were due to “exsanguinations” (loss of blood) from an arm or leg wound rather than traumatic injury to the head or torso.

As such casualties were likely preventable if the blood loss had been stopped in the field rather than waiting until a patient got to a hospital, the U.S. military eventually adopted the tourniquet as standard first-aid equipment. They were first fielded in 1996 for special operations units and eventually all military personnel beginning around 2005.

Since widespread implementation, …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms