Not sure what you are trying to get across?howdy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:13 am How many people walk around with a tourniquet? How many have a trauma kit close at hand? You can pack a sucking chest wound until the cows come home but the victim will die without a trauma surgeon. External bleeding with a chest wound is not THE major problem. Even an upper leg wound can bleed out very quickly. Tourniquets are good for extremities and marginal for upper leg wounds. Learn to use the stuff you have on hand. Carry a sharp knife and you can make a tourniquet out of the clothes you cut off the victim. A sucking chest wound needs a hand over the wound so the victim does not collapse a lung and put pressure on the heart. Internal bleeding is the killer and the only solution to that is a trauma hospital. Learn what hospitals can handle what kind of emergency. Most don't have surgeons on standby or a cardiologist and a heart cath lab. Going to a wrong hospital could be a death sentence. I live in Houston so we have a wide variety of hospitals to chose from. Most ambulances don't have Paramedics. There is a big difference in what a Paramedic is trained/allowed to do than a basic EMT ambulance. Some Paramedics are better than other's. I was a fairly inexperienced Paramedic and there were guys/girls in my department that were very knowledgeable and skilled.
STB teaches the proper use of a TQ, teaches you pack extremities, and seal the torso. It also encourages carrying, or having close at-hand, at least a TQ if not a more complete “trauma kit”.
It also teaches that we are just trying to keep the victim alive until the Calvary shows up, hopefully in a fairly short time.
Studies show improvised TQs have a 60%+ failure rate. Making a TQ or scrounging for materials takes time, time the victim may not have. Yes, an improvised TQ may be better than nothing but it isn’t hard to carry a TQ.
I cannot control what kind of first responder that shows up, the type of hospital they go to, or the training of any of the personnel. My concern is trying to give the victim a chance.
I can’t control how many people carry a TQ. I can train them and encourage them but I can’t make them. I can encourage them to learn how to improvise when they find they don’t the proper tools with the caveat that the improvising may not work and take too much time.
STB training is good for lay people. It covers the basic of how to keep someone alive for long enough for EMS to get there in most populated localities. If STB doesn’t work or it takes EMS too long to get there then it probably didn’t matter anyway, too much damage already done. Nothing is promised, just trying to give a chance.