Real World Trauma Training

[mckenney99]

Now that I am fully retired I have been trying to take a couple different training classes each year, depending on cost/budget. Usually I focus on different firearms training classes but every now & then I try to include something a little different.
Last Saturday I took an all day class dealing with real world immediate action trauma treatment. This was actually a refresher class for me as the last class I took was about 5 years ago. While all of the students in this class were shooters, the types of injuries/situations covered were VERY applicable to our everyday lives. If you work around the house, cut your grass, hunt, ride a bike, ride horses or drive anywhere, you could benefit greatly from this type of training. The focus of the class dealt primarily with stopping catastrophic blood loss for wounds all over the body and effective use of proper tourniquets and pressure dressings.
The class also made recommendations on putting together a basic trauma kit to have in the home and vehicle (surprisingly little equipment is actually needed if selected properly).
This class also included a quick refresher on the use of AED's and CPR where the protocols have actually changed since the last time I was formally certified.
This type of one day trauma training is not meant to make you an EMT/ParaMedic. However when some type of catastrophic bleeding injury occurs you only have seconds or minutes to take action and unless the injury occurs in the firehouse/ER you are on your own.
If you have kids, grand kids, spouse or other loved ones around you, I believe this is 6-8 hours very well spent. In most cases that I have found here locally, the cost for a 1 day class is usually less than a half dozen boxes of ammo.

 

[Rustyt1953]

We have a trauma kit here at home. Nurse Ruthie has schooled the boys and me on its use.

Ya just never know how long it would take EMS to get here.

 

[jeffrefrig]

That’s actually a good idea and money well spent, IMO. I retired from PGH Public School District as a Steamfitter, but if I remember correctly we tradesmen had CPR training every year. Every year the chest compressions and mouth to mouth changed. I believe the last one I remember was pretty much all chest compressions and AED training. Basically keeping the blood flowing to the brain and the AED pretty much told you what to do. We had them in all the buildings. It was pretty good training. The same guy came every year. Former Marine and Afghan vet and worked for the city EMT. Thrown in was some trauma training, too. Also the Heimlich training. Pretty good our general foreman did this for us.
Also, it usually led to overtime afterwards! It’s good to know that stuff. Actually our general foreman saved a guy’s life on the walking trail along the Mon River with an AED who had a heart attack. Good stuff to have in the back of your head.

 

[jimmyj]

Old school cops practice was to carry a triangular bandage inside their uniform hat/cap. used as a pressure dressing or tourniquet in case of serious bleeding

 

[Eric300]

I keep well stocked IFAKs in all my vehicles and in my house. Among the usual 1st Aid supplies always carry tourniquets and some form of QuikClot.

 

[Rudi]

Indeed, the Bot Scout motto. Be prepared.

 

[Farmer17]

Very interesting, anyone know of good on-line videos that would give basic instructions?

 

[Jon651]

There was a fairly recent thread here titled: "First Aid Kits - a question for the medical folks" that was interesting. The topic comes up every now and then. It might be worth looking back at.

I think this is the link for it: First Aid Kits - a question for the medical folks

 

[SMSgt]

My son's trauma training involved a live pig, heavily sedated. In no particular order, it was shot, slashed, leg amputated, etc., and each student had to treat am injury. The class object was to keep the pig alive, although no pig ever survives the class. No CPR dummies were harmed during this class.

 

[mckenney99]

Old school cops practice was to carry a triangular bandage inside their uniform hat/cap. used as a pressure dressing or tourniquet in case of serious bleeding

Jimmy, I also received my first aid training while in the Academy and that also was focused on the ubiquitous triangular bandage. I now realize that most of the first aid training we received was sadly lacking and didn't begin to prepare us for the types of traumatic injuries I encountered at traffic crashes.
However one major side benefit from our military involvement in countless military conflicts across the globe for the past decades has been huge advancements in emergency care of traumatic injuries.
One of the biggest lessons learned was that all the stuff we old guys were taught, was basically useless for the victim, but it sure made the responder feel like they were helping.
The new EFFECTIVE Tourniquets and their PROPER USE is one of the biggest life saving pieces of equipment/training developed for those traumatic bleeding injuries. It has been found that most improvised tourniquets are wholely ineffective. New effective wound management strategies/training have increased victim survivability exponentially.

 

[Tom S.]

After I was put on Eliquis last year, I picked up some Qwik-Clot packs.

 

[Hair Trigger]

I suppose it's still taught in some circles, but I attended a class as part of my Flight Nurse training (USAF) back in the 1980's that was as realistic as I can imagine. It was Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and certification was only for MD's, although we were allowed to audit the class, as there were times we did not have an MD available and the techniques could still be used in emergencies.

It sounds cruel and PETA/SPCA would cringe and raise Cain, but we used an animal lab where goats were actually shot and otherwise injured and were then treated as a human would have been under combat conditions. Since it was military I guess they could get away with that, but it didn't get much better as a way to learn to treat penetrating wounds or shrapnel injuries.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I take a daily blood thinner. I am never far away from these.

 

[smoothshooter]

That’s actually a good idea and money well spent, IMO. I retired from PGH Public School District as a Steamfitter, but if I remember correctly we tradesmen had CPR training every year. Every year the chest compressions and mouth to mouth changed. I believe the last one I remember was pretty much all chest compressions and AED training. Basically keeping the blood flowing to the brain and the AED pretty much told you what to do. We had them in all the buildings. It was pretty good training. The same guy came every year. Former Marine and Afghan vet and worked for the city EMT. Thrown in was some trauma training, too. Also the Heimlich training. Pretty good our general foreman did this for us.
Also, it usually led to overtime afterwards! It’s good to know that stuff. Actually our general foreman saved a guy’s life on the walking trail along the Mon River with an AED who had a heart attack. Good stuff to have in the back of your head.

I have wondered if the reason CPR training has dropped the mouth to mouth forced breathing part is that they know a lot of people were dying only because people were refusing to do the whole process anyway because they did not want to lock lips with a total stranger, especially if they were dirty and smelled bad.
I can actually understand the reluctance to lock lips myself.

 

[SMSgt]

I have wondered if the reason CPR training has dropped the mouth to mouth forced breathing part is that they know a lot of people were dying only because people were refusing to do the whole process anyway because they did not want to lock lips with a total stranger, especially if they were dirty and smelled bad.
I can actually understand the reluctance to lock lips myself.

Chest compressions also compress the lungs, so MTM not required.

 

[jimmyj]

a triangular bandage and a roll of duct tape. what else do you need?

 

[lihpster]

a triangular bandage and a roll of duct tape. what else do you need?

A pint of 95% grain alcohol. All kinds of medicinal uses.

 

[GaryS]

My partner at the time and I were allowed to "audit" an ATLS class put on by the chief of trauma surgery at a very large teaching hospital.

We did all of the things that you outline. Unfortunately, now live animal labs are almost impossible to run because of PETA etc.

I went to one with some military special ops providers and it was incredibly well done. I learned a lot and when I went back to my civilian EMS job I was able to make a couple of "suggestions" to my medical director about how to improve training.

Back to the original topic. I carry a CAT tourniquet when I ride my bike and have another in my range bag. I also have some quik clot. Which BTW never expires. At least the stuff I got some years ago doesn't.

I also took a "Stop The Bleed" course that was originally designed for people caught in a mass shooting to be able to save themselves and others. I recommend that to everyone as it will tell you what you need to know to keep a person who has an otherwise survivable wound from bleeding to death.

BTW, one of the deaths at Columbine was of a teacher who had an otherwise survivable wound, but bled to death before medical personnel could get in to save him.

I suppose it's still taught in some circles, but I attended a class as part of my Flight Nurse training (USAF) back in the 1980's that was as realistic as I can imagine. It was Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and certification was only for MD's, although we were allowed to audit the class, as there were times we did not have an MD available and the techniques could still be used in emergencies.

It sounds cruel and PETA/SPCA would cringe and raise Cain, but we used an animal lab where goats were actually shot and otherwise injured and were then treated as a human would have been under combat conditions. Since it was military I guess they could get away with that, but it didn't get much better as a way to learn to treat penetrating wounds or shrapnel injuries.

 

[Jon651]

One thing that always seems to come back around in the discussions of first aid that is one of my pet peeves - and that is the use of DUCT TAPE. Please only use it as a last resort if you have absolutely nothing else and absolutely know what to do. Why? Here are two reasons:

1. Duct tape is very (VERY!) sticky and if adhered to skin may just make things worse, especially when trying to remove it. Even with medical-grade adhesive solvents found in most ERs and on some ambulances, it's a slow, painful process that can cause additional bleeding, injury, pain, and infection. If it's that tough to get off the roll then just imagine how much of a problem it could be to get it off of a wound...

2. Duct tape DOES NOT STRETCH, and it is far too easy to wrap it around an extremity causing blockage to the flow of blood. And when you combine that with it's adhesive properties it may be a problem if you need to loosen it. If you absolutely must use it, please ensure that you are covering the wound and all surrounding skin with something else first (such as a t-shirt for bleeding control, a magazine as a splint, etc.), or at least ensure that it only adheres to itself.

Hope this helps someone!

 

[ladder13]

Folks posting here in this thread have a much higher level of training than I received. They know what they speak of.

I let my EMT/AED certs expire after retiring. My utmost respect for all the first responder police, medics, fire, etc out there doing what they do. Did my share of rib breaking myself otj.

My training, which you never forget, but may be behind on protocols, came in handy two months ago in Italy. Coming back to our hotel from a pizza making class it was dark and raining one night.
An 85yo woman slipped and fell on an uneven walkway and face planted right ifo me. She was laying there hysterical. We picked her up and she had a large gash right above her right eye, blood pouring out, making the scene chaotic.
Everyone else thought it was a minor cut but I knew otherwise, I could see the cut was deep to the bone. Not a let’s put a bandaid on and call it good situation.
Took out my clean hanky and applied direct pressure to the cut. Mike, from west of Cleveland, helped out with lifting her and trying to calm her.

She was taken by Uber back to the hotel despite my advice to go straight to the hospital. The tour director, who is responsible for everyone in the group, went to her room with a doctor who happened to be on our tour but took an Uber back to the hotel earlier while the rest walked. The doc convinced her to go to the hospital where she received multiple stitches to close the wound.
Saw her the next day at breakfast and she thanked me profusely. Just something anyone with even minimal training could do. I sorta watched her for the remaining days of the tour.

Those who have and still do this work, thank you.