A Basic Guide to Wound Packing

What do you do when confronted with a horrific accident scene? The kind where the victim is terribly injured and the wound is gushing blood?

Obviously, you need professional help and should call for medical assistance. But there are steps you can take while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Unsurprisingly, loss of blood is the largest cause of preventable deaths during or after a traumatic injury.

These deaths could be avoided by the application of simple hemorrhage-control techniques.

Tourniquets:

Tourniquets are a type of dressing that you tie around the limb and tighten until the bleeding stops.

Wound Packing:

- works best on limbs, areas such as the groin and armpit, injuries where tourniquets can’t be applied, and wounds, where the bleeding is deeper and maintaining pressure, is difficult.

The material used for packing can range from bandages to hemostatic products designed to enhance clot formation. But plain gauze is acceptable.

The process is straightforward: Apply pressure to the wound using whatever material you have available.

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