UPMC Expert: Stop the Bleed
Tony Bixby, director
Prehospital Services, UPMC
The No. 1 cause of preventable death from trauma is uncontrolled bleeding. To help encourage bystanders to become trained and empowered to help in life-threatening bleeding emergencies, Stop the Bleed, a national awareness campaign was launched in 2015 by the White House. The general public’s need for this information is immense, as four out of five victims of a mass casualty are delivered to the hospital by someone other than a trained first responder, and the fact that 35 percent of all pre-hospital deaths are caused by blood loss.
Serious bleeding emergencies can be caused by a number of things in various settings – at home, work, sporting events, vehicle accidents, animal bites, and episodes of mass casualties are just a few.
How to Stop the Bleed
There are a few key steps in stopping the bleed. The first is to ensure your own safety by making sure that you are in a safe place to help. If this changes at any time, attempt to remove yourself and any other victims, if possible, from danger. Once your safety is established, remember your ABCs of Bleeding:
- Alert – Call 911.
- Bleeding – Find the source of the blood.
- Compress –Cover the wound and use both hands to apply pressure, use a tourniquet above the wound, or pack (stuff) the wound with clean cloth or gauze and then apply pressure with both hands.
Tourniquets
