In the event of a life threatening situation, it is important to know how to control severe bleeding. There are three ways that you can use to stop the bleeding. They are tourniquets, wound packing, and chest seals.
Tourniquets
Tourniquets are used when there is severe bleeding, such as from an amputation or gunshot wounds. They’re often used in situations where a wound can’t be covered with a bandage or other dressing because of the severity of bleeding. If you think your patient needs a tourniquet, ask yourself these questions:
- Is there enough time to apply one? If not, let them bleed out until help arrives instead of applying one yourself (the longer they go without blood loss control measures like tourniquets or hemostatic dressings like QuikClot Gauze , the more likely it is that their condition will deteriorate).
- Can I accurately assess whether their limb has been injured? If not–for example if someone tells you they’ve been shot in the leg but refuses to let you see where on their body this happened–you should wait for medical professionals who know what signs indicate serious injury before considering using this technique on yourself.
Wound Packing
Wound packing is an effective way to control bleeding and promote healing.
- Take a dressing, such as gauze or cotton fluff, and pack it into the wound. Do not push too hard on any foreign objects in the wound; remove them gently with tweezers if necessary.
- Apply pressure over top of your initial packing material with another piece of material (such as paper towel) until bleeding stops completely or slows significantly enough for you to apply additional layers of bandages or tape over top without risk of reopening any fresh wounds within 24 hours after initial application of first aid measure described above
Chest Seals
Chest seals are a way to stop bleeding from wounds that occur in the chest area. It’s important to keep the wound covered, as it can cause serious damage if not treated immediately. A chest seal should be used when someone has been shot or stabbed in the chest or back.
- Place a bandage or cloth over the wound and apply firm pressure to it until help arrives.* You’ll know you’ve done it right if there’s no blood coming through your makeshift bandage.* If you don’t have access to a first aid kit or any other type of medical supplies, then using clothing items like shirts and jackets will do just fine!
If you are in a life threatening situation and someone is bleeding out, you can apply one of these methods to help stop the bleeding. We hope this article helped you understand how to control severe bleeding in 3 ways. As always, we encourage you to be safe out there and keep an eye on your friends!
