Super-sticky-medic-thread

[christopherh]

the british army now is issued with the cat aswell as an israli bandage for compression.

[kayaker]

OK guys, let's have a class on tampons. Tampons work very well for what they were designed to do: stop blood from exiting the ****** and running down a womans' leg. They absorb blood, they do not stop the uterus from bleeding. When they are saturated, they are replaced, and the uterus continues to bleed until the lining has been shed and the 28 day cycle repeats. A tampon was not designed to tamponade a severed artery from a bullet wound. If you stick a tampon in a bullet wound, it will absorb blood. This is very different from STOPPING bleeding. You may think the bleeding is stopped, but in reality you just can't see it for a while. In the meantime, the patient continues to exanguinate and slips further into hypovolemic shock.

If you want to stop arterial bleeding, pack the wound with the latest QuickClot tea bags, and/or pack it full of Kerlix gauze or you may have to cut the wound edges open so you can get down to the artery and apply continuous direct pressure, and then pack it with a hemostatic agent like QuickClot and/or Kerlix.

good post, keep it up.

Another thing to remember is tampons are not sterile and you risk anaphylactic shock when inserting them into a wound.

[Waltzing_Matilda]

Question for HarleyDoc;

Are you guys using Novo7 in the field? If so are there any restrictions? $10,000 bucks per ampoule here in Aussie.

[Search&Rescue]

at about $1 per mcg, high-dose rFVIIa (160 mcg/kg) would cost about $11,000.
It has to be used only in some circumstances.

[DeerPark]

Hi folks,
Has anyone used QuikClot in a real-life situation? What do you think of the stuff?

Cheers.

[imedic]

We've just had a new order of treatment brought in, just wondering if this is the generic standard for most countries.

New order:

M - Massive Haemorrhage
A - Airway
R - Respiration
C - Circulation
H - Head Injury
H - Hypothermia

Old treatment algorithm:

D - Dangers
R - Responsiveness
S - Send for Help
A - Airway
B - Breathing
C - Circulation

Like the old system we still check for scene dangers and LOCs before anything else (so it should kinda read DRSMARCHH).

Basically the big change was to deal with any massive bleed before anything else.

[HarleyDoc]

Question for HarleyDoc;

Are you guys using Novo7 in the field? If so are there any restrictions? $10,000 bucks per ampoule here in Aussie.

I've heard of it being flown in special to the 'Stan, but I have not used it personally. I think it would be restricted to higher echelon level care.

[HarleyDoc]

Hi folks,
Has anyone used QuikClot in a real-life situation? What do you think of the stuff?

Cheers.

QuikClot works very well when applied properly. Try to find the newer "tea bag" formulation as it is much easier to use and doesn't generate heat like the earlier version.

I've seen guys sprinkle QuikClot on a wound like it was powdered sugar going on a donut. Wrong answer. It has to get packed into the wound up against the bleeding vessel and kept in place with some bulk kerlix or similar material.

[James]

QuikClot works very well when applied properly. Try to find the newer "tea bag" formulation as it is much easier to use and doesn't generate heat like the earlier version.

I've got some of that in my kit - it's available from Galls in 25mg and 100mg packs:

http://www.galls.com/style.html?asso...og&style=FA212
http://www.galls.com/style.html?asso...og&style=FA213

[jorn]

we also have the c.a.t.in ouwer trauma kit.but only in operations or in missions.we dont get the kit for training in belgium.but they are quit good.

[jorn]

you only use quikclot for major bleedings?and how do you use it?just put the pouder on the wound?

[Sabre]

you only use quikclot for major bleedings?and how do you use it?just put the pouder on the wound?

Conventional methods of haemorrhage control should be used first. Quick clot is a 'failure to control' option. Compressing the wound or pressure point and elevating the limb are the best options for any form of limb bleed. Quick clot is best used for junctional bleeding, so bleeds in the groin, armpit or neck. You also need to be able to see the bleed. Just pouring it in isn't enough. You need to try and apply pressure to slow the bleeding and then clear any pooled blood to visualise the vessel. You need to swiftly clear the blood, pour the granules onto the vessel and reapply pressure. You need to do it virtually as fast as you can say it, otherwise the blood will just pool up again and you either get a nice clot that's floating about, not sat in the vessel blocking it, or it will just wash the granules out of the wound.

The granules have been superceded by the sponges or bags of clotting agents that are easier to place in the wound and positively site on the vessel. They're very good, but they need a practiced medic to use them competently and should only be used when conventional simple methods won't work.

[kayaker]

Conventional methods of haemorrhage control should be used first. Quick clot is a 'failure to control' option. Compressing the wound or pressure point and elevating the limb are the best options for any form of limb bleed. Quick clot is best used for junctional bleeding, so bleeds in the groin, armpit or neck. You also need to be able to see the bleed. Just pouring it in isn't enough. You need to try and apply pressure to slow the bleeding and then clear any pooled blood to visualise the vessel. You need to swiftly clear the blood, pour the granules onto the vessel and reapply pressure. You need to do it virtually as fast as you can say it, otherwise the blood will just pool up again and you either get a nice clot that's floating about, not sat in the vessel blocking it, or it will just wash the granules out of the wound.

The granules have been superceded by the sponges or bags of clotting agents that are easier to place in the wound and positively site on the vessel. They're very good, but they need a practiced medic to use them competently and should only be used when conventional simple methods won't work.

Informative post...

BTW wasn't there a bloke from the military arrested because he used it to treat an injured civvy in the West Midlands?

[jorn]

thanks for the info.what country or army started whit tccc?we got the lessons before we went to lebanon.

[DeerPark]

Conventional methods of haemorrhage control should be used first. Quick clot is a 'failure to control' option. Compressing the wound or pressure point and elevating the limb are the best options for any form of limb bleed. Quick clot is best used for junctional bleeding, so bleeds in the groin, armpit or neck. You also need to be able to see the bleed. Just pouring it in isn't enough. You need to try and apply pressure to slow the bleeding and then clear any pooled blood to visualise the vessel. You need to swiftly clear the blood, pour the granules onto the vessel and reapply pressure. You need to do it virtually as fast as you can say it, otherwise the blood will just pool up again and you either get a nice clot that's floating about, not sat in the vessel blocking it, or it will just wash the granules out of the wound.

The granules have been superceded by the sponges or bags of clotting agents that are easier to place in the wound and positively site on the vessel. They're very good, but they need a practiced medic to use them competently and should only be used when conventional simple methods won't work.

Nice post, this one and the others with pointers on Quikclot.

I reckon this is one of those things which is almost impossible to teach in a classroom, unlike, say for example, teaching a medic how to insert an IV line. You can do this with relative safety with live casualties and botched jobs might result in bad bruises and some blood shed (especially if the medic under training has difficulty finding a vein).

Not so with Quikclot. Even the docs on my end speak about the product without having actually used it.