Devildoc
Verified Military
Looks interesting but I wonder how it will be handled once in the trauma center. How is it "removed" to allow surgeons to work on the injury.
It can be washed out with saline irrigation.
Looks interesting but I wonder how it will be handled once in the trauma center. How is it "removed" to allow surgeons to work on the injury.
I remember a bandage like 20 years ago that looked like a tampon, but was called a "bullet plug"? It wasn't issued to me, I think a contractor buddy showed it to me while we were working on a few Iraqis that got spaghettid by a vbied.
I am not sure what brand or if the name is right. But it was the same concept as a tampon, but I believe it was clotting agent impregnated gauze.
I think you're talking about XStat. I recall them but they really never took off. It is CoTCCC-approved but I never saw them used or fielded.
I've seen the xsat, never used it. The one I am talking about was in a gray/green package and was actually shaped like a large bullet almost the size of shotgun shell. I only seen it that one time, and homie was the one who showed it to me. I never used it, just watched him use it. I have never seen it again. Tried some online googlefu with no luck. It might have been some UK kit, not that it matters much. The few bleeds that I worked on were mainly TQ's followed with packing with gauze and pressure bandaging. Dealt with a nasty stomach wound once, that was a shit show until the medic got involved. Not really a bad bleed, but more a trying to keep the guts from coming out anymore then they had. Got yelled at for using an MRE bag, as I was taught to do...but whatever, I'm not a medic...
I'm not gonna lie. If I were your Army medic, I wouldn't have given a fuck if it were an MRE bag vs some fancy bandage. In the grand scheme of things, if your sausages were out instead of in, you got bigger issues than proper bandaging/dressings. Our chest seals were petroleum gauze foil packaging.
Then again, as a 90s era Army medic at Bragg, we still had the Nam Era M5 bags, Nam Era dressings, TQs were bad and IVs were the way Joe the grunt judged if you were a good doc. Lol
I got a good shot of morphine for the magic carpet ride to 95th Evac. Every time I talk to Doc I ask him if he’s got any leftovers.
Mmmm, morphine. If I ever became a junkie, that would be the drug.
Those canvas M5 bags were dope. I'd love to find one.
Not a tampon thing but this is an awesome thing.
First of all, very cool. It'll eventually go outside SOF.
Second, they implemented it in 2014, so it's been out a good while.
I'm aware on the second part, just never really dug into it before.
I know EMS is starting to see it, here in PA it's being discussed, not sure if it will make it in urban/suburban settings where we are trauma center dense.
NC has around 20 counties doing low-titer O-neg blood admin "My" system is planning it, but it is very expensive.
People used the whole trauma-center-is-only-N-miles-away argument, my response is, "great, that'll make the pin-in feel so much better." Also, NO, Dallas, DC, many urban areas have implemented low-titer O-neg blood. The ONLY negative is the expense.
ROLO takes it so much further, though, in sourcing the blood directly from teammates and people you (the medic) have cleared to give at the POI. Not sure civilian EMS will EVER assume that much risk, though I could see TEMS doing it.
I definitely agree regarding the pin in. I also see the money thing. I would love to see it here, and I'd be willing to wager that a massive GI bleed could also do well for this.
Problem in some settings is paramedic buy in. We all know some lazy medics that we'd love to see leave the system that would push back on this because they do the bare minimum. I see this doing QA for our Township level department.
Some protocols are pretty liberal and allow this, so are very restrictive for trauma only. Me, I'm like dude, bleeding is bleeding...
Yeah. In all cases the best fix is bright lights and cold steel. As long as these protocols do not inhibit transfer time, I am all about it. The argument of distance is great and I agree, that one unit in transport could be the difference.
In other news, my hospital doesn’t even have whole blood.