You’re building a bleeding control kit. You’ve done the research and have covered the basics — picked out a tourniquet, selected a pressure bandage, compressed gauze, gloves and shears. You may have even taken a wound-packing or Bleeding Control course that taught you core techniques for controlling traumatic bleeding. But the question remains; “Should I add a hemostatic to my kit?”

And you might ask yourself “Why does this cost as much as everything else in the kit put together? What is the difference between the hemostatics, and are they worth it?”

The variety of available hemostatic agents reflects the fact that there are whole classes of products that use entirely different mechanisms to stem the flow of blood from traumatic injuries. Some promote the change of blood from a liquid to a gel by enhancing or accelerating the natural clotting process, some suppress the body’s natural means of “busting” clots, others interfere with blood flow through mechanical or chemical intervention.

When considering adding a hemostatic to your trauma kit, it’s useful to recall some guidelines developed in 2003, in concert with the United States Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR). These guidelines, which attempt to describe the perfect hemostatic agent for use in battlefield scenarios, advanced the following criteria:

• Ability to stop large-vessel arterial and venous bleeding within 2 minutes of application

• Ability to be delivered in the presence of blood

• Readiness for use with no requirement for on-scene mixing or pre-application preparation

• Ease of use by the wounded victim, a ‘buddy’ or a medic, with minimal training

• Being lightweight and durable

• Having a minimum 2-year shelf-life, in extreme environmental conditions, and

• Being safe to use with no risk of further injury to tissues or transmission of infection

• There are several hemostatic products that come very close to meeting the USAISR descrip

There are several hemostatic products that come very close to meeting the USAISR description of a perfect hemostatic, and those are the ones that are most commonly included in Stop the Bleed and hemorage control kits. All usually have an expiration date that is five years from date of manufacture, are lightweight and ready to use, and pose little if any risk to the injured party.

Modern hemostatic gauze products are extremely effective, especially when used in conjunction with standard wound-packing techniques. They are easy to carry, easy to apply and can save lives in situations where treatment times are limited or there more casualties than responders. We encourage anyone considering the addition of hemostatic agents to their own bleeding control kits and get proper training to Stop The Bleed.