Tourniquet Protocol?

[Veneficus]

I was taught by a former US Army nurse who served at Pleiku than many if not most TK's used during Vietnam conflict were medically unnecessary. Maybe battle-hasty expedient.

(I thought they rejected the built-in TK uniforms years ago?).

Public Radio article said yesterday they now have a TBI "center" at KAF (Afgahnistan/ Kandahar). Now use multiple versions of TBI eval cards because troops were memorizing them!

Some approaches are later found not to be panaceas, like clotting agents.

At Kandahar, the biggest inroads I saw were mandatory hand washing before dining, and hand washing means available at toileting facilities. As well as disposable utensils and plates, and real live sewage and trash/garbage control, and bottled water in sanitary packaging.

R.O.T., 85% of war casualties are disease and accidents.

If you are interested, when I was researching medical issues there, I read something that said most of the Russian casulaties were from disease and public health issues.

 

[DPM]

I don't doubt that well made, though I'm not a huge fan of rip-stop. I lost the arse out of a pair of ripstop trousers climbing a fence in NI!

To me it just looks like a fancy extra gimmick. I'm a big fan of Kaizen (the Japanese system of continuous improvement) so I'll never have a go at some one for trying to innovate... but in this case though I can see several instances where these built in devices would work, I don't see them being enough of an improvement to justify $159 trousers. The CAT works better and it's cheaper.

 

[mycrofft]

Kaizen. Or "Total Quality Management" as their mentor W.E. Demings called it. At least we beat them to SOMETHING!

Veneficus, does drinking oneself to death count as a public health issue?

 

[EPFD112]

Weve just gotten TKs moved up in our bleeding control protocol. Now its direct pressure->TK

And our local SWAT unit wears BDUs with TKs built in, they stay secure under a velcro flap, rip and twist. pretty slick IMO

EMT student in NY here, and this protocol was just changed for us before I started my class. It's now:

Direct Pressure -> Direct Pressure again -> Pressure Bandage -> TK.

Arterial Pressure points used to come before the TK but have since been removed from protocol in NY.

 

[DPM]

Arterial Pressure points used to come before the TK but have since been removed from protocol in NY.

We tried them in the Army and I was never a fan. You have to put a lot of pressure on there for a long time, and that's essentially what a TK does anyway.

The biggest improvement we say in TK use in theater was teaching people that they only needed to tighten it until bleeding was controlled. And now we have triple amputees surviving, not that it's necessarily a good thing...

 

[Shishkabob]

Pressure.

Pressure not working? TQ.

TQ not working? You did TQ wrong.




Don't be afraid to do a TQ... you can even waste ~5 hours and still have little chance of any long term damage being done to the extremity. When in doubt, throw on the TQ and take them in.

 

[EMT91]

In Nevada, at least in my area, we are not allowed to use tqs.

 

[docmoods]

And our local SWAT unit wears BDUs with TKs built in, they stay secure under a velcro flap, rip and twist. pretty slick IMO

They're great till the injury passes over or is above one :censored:

-Moods

 

[NYMedic828]

I think it was already mentioned but NYS and NYC have changed their protocol to direct pressure, pressure dressing, tourniquet.

2-3 inches proximal to the injury sight, atleast 1" in diameter.