I got a thigh mounted trauma kit!

[Wounded Ronin]

I am very excited about a thigh mounted trauma kit by Tactical Medical Solutions I just got from FedEx today. In this post I'll put a few pictures of it up and talk about the contents, and my rationale for ordering it.

Before going any further, I have to give a big shout out to Lord Skeletor and his friends for the really amazing training opportunity I had during the most recent Camp Skeletor. I was able to attend a tactical trauma lecture, where I learned about first aid and stabilization for pneumothorax and proper use of tourniquets, including commando tourniquets. This was very valuable information because although I've been certified in First Aid and CPR multiples times, and I've recently been certified in Healthcare Provider CPR, none of these courses covered what I would really need to know when it comes to helping someone who has been injured with a gunshot wound.

Because there's a risk of the patient losing a limb if a tourniquet is left on for too long, many first aid orgs have gone to the extreme of not wanting to even tell you about it or explain to you how you could apply one in an emergency. Hopefully this will change in the future, as the CDC recently recognized in their new 2011 guidelines for the field triage of injured patients that,

Successful medical treatment of soldiers on the battlefield prompted researchers to explore the potential use of tourniquets for the rapid treatment of vascular injuries seen in the civilian population. Recent battlefield experiences indicate that tourniquet use reduces mortality by limiting exsanguinations (43,44). A retrospective review of 75,000 trauma visits at two Level 1 trauma centers in Texas identified 14 patients with penetrating extremity injuries who arrived at the hospital dead, required emergency thoracotomy, or underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Eight decedents (57%) were identified as having extremity injuries that might have been amenable to application of a tourniquet in the prehospital environment (45).

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr6101.pdf page 10

I have recently taking up hunting in the desert with friends, and I realized that if god forbid there ever were an accidental shooting, the standard first aid kit that I had carried on my belt before could be inadequate, especially if help is going to be at least an hour or so away. So, at first, I shopped amazon.com and got a chest seal, a military bandage, and a quik clot sponge, but all the extra pieces of my first aid kit began to take up a lot of pockets and feel pretty bulky while I was also carrying ammunition, longarm, sidearm, water, PPEs (gloves and mask and surgical prep) for cleaning game, knife, and so on.

I wanted to be able to carry a legitimate trauma kit (as opposed to a "trauma kit" some folks will sell you that's nothing more than a backpack filled with bandaids and kerlix rolls) where I would have some hope of helping someone with a gunshot wound, but which at the same time wouldn't require me to wear a backpack, and which wouldn't make my pants fall down upon clipping it to my belt along with my water, sidearm & mags, knife, etc, or at least without taking up lots of valuable belt space.

After looking around on the internet for a while, I found a product that looked promising, which I eventually ordered, the thigh mounted trauma kit from Tactical Medical Solutions. It was the only thigh mounted trauma kit I personally found on my internet search.

Photos:

http://tinypic.com/r/2cx1f7/5

http://tinypic.com/r/smxfs5/5

http://tinypic.com/r/309h6o3/5

It cost me just over a hundred bucks. Initially it sounds a bit expensive, but it contains a commando tourniquet, which normally retails for $30, and other supplies, so the way I see it, the actual thigh mounted pouch cost me only $50 or so.

I got it today and so far I'm very pleased with it. The design is rugged and high quality. No Made In China crap, and most of the supplies inside are also manufactured in Europe or Israel.

It comes with 2 modular bandages, 1 blast bandage, 1 commando tourniquet, 1 roll of tape, some scissors, a little bit of gauze, a casualty card, and an airway thingie which I'm not qualified to use.

The way I see it, they took out all the crap you don't really need in a trauma kit, like bandaids, and just left the stuff you'd really want to use if someone got shot. Which is as it should be. This is so much better than paying a few hundred dollars for a backpack full of aspirin and kerlix rolls.

My plan for the next time I go out is to throw in a CPR shield, maybe replace one of the modular bandages with my quik clot sponge, and see if I can fit that chest seal in there as well. In a worst case scenario, I'll be as ready as I'll ever be. If someone gets a little boo boo, well, I guess I can still throw a roll of kerlix and a fistfull of bandaids in a pocket.

[Rock Ape]

Buy a good few rolls of zink oxide tape.

The chest seal you intend to buy/use won't stick to the skin if it's damp (including the presence of blood) so, you'll need additional tape to create the required seal for the thing to work - I speak from experience. If there's a large exit wound, don't waste your time with the seal.

Be careful with any quikclot product, they're excellent at what they do however, BE VERY AWARE that any residue powder on your hands will burn YOU if it touches any mucas membrane of your own - Particularly your eyes/nose and mouth.

NEVER OPEN A QUIK CLOT PACKET WITH YOUR TEETH as you'll likely inhale residue into your mouth or worse still into your lungs. You might think this sounds stupid but, when the **** hits the fan and your heart is pounding, you'll likely have blood on your hands and opeing a pouch/packet with your fingers becomes difficult, resist the urge to use your teeth for the aforementioned reasons.

The CAT or combat applied tourniquet is a supurb bit of kit but, make sure it's prepped for use and out of any packaging it may have been shipped in, you should practice applying the tourniquet on yourself one handed, this will give you confidence in it's use.

Always apply the tourniquet as close to the site of the injury as you can and ALSO look to apply pressure not only on the wound its self but also on local arterial pressure points as well.

From a military perspective once a tourniquet is applied it's never released unless by the hands of a medic/doctor, this ultimately means an individual will likely loose whatever limb (below the injury) on which a tourniquet is applied, this philosophy is based on the premise of better to loose part of a limb than bleed out and die. Combat tourniquet aren't really designed to be released and reapplied and if you do so, you can run the risk of the tourniquet failing on you as you attempt to retighten it to stem the flow of blood loss.

With any hemcon bandage or quikclot product, never attempt to remove it once applied.

[Wounded Ronin]

Thank you for your very detailed and thought out reply.

[Rock Ape]

No problem, never hesitate to ask about stuff like this mate, the experience from which I talk is based on practical rather than just theory based knowledge.

When I get home, I'll have a dig about on my PC and see if I've got some pictures of my med kit but, basically all you need, as you identity, is kit which is life saving in nature and nothing else really.

[Cassius]

The CAT or combat applied tourniquet is a supurb bit of kit but, make sure it's prepped for use and out of any packaging it may have been shipped in, you should practice applying the tourniquet on yourself one handed, this will give you confidence in it's use.

To add to this: Take your combat tourniquet out of the packaging. Expand it so that it slips easily over your largest limb. Fold up and repack into your first aid kit. Seconds count if you are bleeding out of a major artery.

From a military perspective once a tourniquet is applied it's never released unless by the hands of a medic/doctor, this ultimately means an individual will likely loose whatever limb (below the injury) on which a tourniquet is applied, this philosophy is based on the premise of better to loose part of a limb than bleed out and die. Combat tourniquet aren't really designed to be released and reapplied and if you do so, you can run the risk of the tourniquet failing on you as you attempt to retighten it to stem the flow of blood loss.

SOCOM perspective: Current research shows that your limbs will last much longer than previously thought after a tourniquet is applied. If you AT ALL feel that you cannot control the bleeding coming from a limb, slap a on a tourniquet to control bleeding.

If medical help is more than 4 hours away, and you aren't worried about the tourniquet breaking if you loosen it (you have backups): If the wound appears to have solidly clotted, it is okay to try loosening the tourniquet to attempt to restore blood flow to the limb. This is especially relevant in the era of chitin/quick clotting products.

Random bit of medical wisdom: Survival rates from catastrophic injuries increase exponentially when casualties are evac'ed within 1 hour. Make your hunting plans accordingly.

Final bit of advice: I have two first aid kits for home/outdoors use, both mainly stocked with products from Adventure Medical Kits. I add tourniquets and quikclot products from my military issue to improve them, but that's about it.

[Rock Ape]

Random bit of medical wisdom: Survival rates from catastrophic injuries increase exponentially when casualties are evac'ed within 1 hour. Make your hunting plans accordingly.

Within BritFor "Catastrophic bleeds" are those from lost limbs, is that the same definition with US forces ?

We catagorise as following.

Catastrophic
Arterial
Venal
Capillary

[Cassius]

Within BritFor "Catastrophic bleeds" are those from lost limbs, is that the same definition with US forces ?

We catagorise as following.

Catastrophic
Arterial
Venal
Capillary

Catastrophic injury is defined by the general US Military population as anything that could or does result in the loss of life, limb, or eyesight if not treated immediately. Catastrophic bleeding is generally defined about the same as you guys.

[charlie echo]

Hmm. Cool. I want one. Or two.