Stop the Bleed

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WDTV) - No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be the first on the scene. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, so it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Joining us tonight on House Call is Dr. Kyle Hurst, Emergency Medicine physician at United Hospital Center, here to discuss Stop the Bleed.

1). Doctor explain for our viewers what is Stop the Bleed?

It is important that as many people as possible survive their injuries if they sustain trauma. Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma. Approximately 40% of trauma-related deaths worldwide are due to bleeding or its consequences, establishing hemorrhage as the most common cause of preventable death in trauma. You can help save a life by knowing how to Stop Bleeding if someone, including yourself, is injured.

Stop the Bleed is a national campaign to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

2). If I am a bystander, what should I do first?

First, Ensure Your Safety

• Before you offer any help, you must ensure your own safety!
• If you become injured, you will not be able to help the victim.
• Provide care to the injured person if the scene is safe for you to do so.
• If, at any time, your safety is threatened, attempt to remove yourself (and the victim if possible) from danger and find a safe location.
• Protect yourself from blood-borne infections by wearing gloves, if available.

3). After I ensure my own safety, walk me through what other steps I would need to take to assist at the scene?

Look for Life-Threatening Bleeding

• Find the source of bleeding
• Open or remove the clothing over the wound so you can clearly see it. By removing clothing, you will be able to see injuries that may have been hidden or covered.
• Look for and identify “life-threatening” bleeding. Examples include:
  • Blood that is spurting out of the wound.
  • Blood that won’t stop coming out of the wound.
  • Blood that is pooling on the ground.
  • Clothing that is soaked with blood.
  • Bandages that are soaked with blood.
  • Loss of all or part of an arm or leg.
  • Bleeding in a victim who is now confused or unconscious.

Compress and Control

There are a number of methods that can be used to stop bleeding and they all have one thing in common—compressing a bleeding blood vessel in order to stop the bleeding.

If you don’t have a trauma first aid kit:

Apply direct pressure on the wound (Cover the wound with a clean cloth and apply pressure by pushing directly on it with both hands)

1. Take any clean cloth (for example, a shirt) and cover the wound.
2. If the wound is large and deep, try to “stuff” the cloth down into the wound.
3. Apply continuous pressure with both hands directly on top of the bleeding wound.
4. Push down as hard as you can.
5. Hold pressure to stop bleeding. Continue pressure until relieved by medical responders.

This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.

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