Thread: whats in your first aid kit?

Originally Posted by ebf

Koshogi, the reason St Johns (or any other first aid course) does not teach/recommend tourniquets is that there is a little more involved to it than just shutting off bloodflow to the affected limb...

Most first-aiders would do more harm than good by applying a tourniquet. For the general public direct pressure and elevation is a much safer technique to teach.

In all the time I was an army medic and then a volunteer paramedic in civie life I never once got a pt that required a tourniquet. This included serious gunshot and stab wounds, vehicle accidents involving compound femur fractures, degloving injuries etc.

I'm aware of the complications that can occur due to the use of a tourniquet, but the risk outweighs the survival benefit.

I disagree with you that first aiders would do more harm than good. Part of any training is going to include when to use it and when not to.

Attitudes towards the use of tourniquets have been changing for the last 20 years. Their increased use on and off the battlefield is credited with saving hundreds of lives. I know several of those lives personally. I also know people who applied a tourniquet to themselves(GSW) when it was not required, no harm was done.

Even the Army(Australian) was slow to change their attitude and include their training and use.

Stumpy's incident highlights why ST. John should include the tourniquet in it's training courses. Thankfully somebody was on hand to apply one. Do you think pressure and elevation would have caused hemostasis?

Training always beats gear.

Training and gear is seldom a bad thing.

Originally Posted by Koshogi

I'm aware of the complications that can occur due to the use of a tourniquet, but the risk is outweighed by the survival benefit.

Correction to my previous.

Originally Posted by Koshogi

I'm aware of the complications that can occur due to the use of a tourniquet, but the risk outweighs the survival benefit.

I disagree with you that first aiders would do more harm than good. Part of any training is going to include when to use it and when not to.

That's your view, and you're entitled to it...

I think what you are missing is that when scope of practise protocols are worked out that they look not only at the benefit of a procedure when it is applied correctly, but also at the harm when it is done by well meaning people without sufficient training or experience.

Of course there are situations when a tourniquet is a life saver, but there are also many, many situations where incorrectly applied tourniquets will cause limbs to be lost unnecessarily or caused severe tissue or nerve damage.