Quick Clot for first responder

[Trooper894]

Has anyone had any experience using Quick Clot product for severe injury?

Is it worthwhile to add to first aid kit carried in the field in extremely rural areas, where help can be aways off?

After use protocol for medical professionals, is special training required for use or for hospital personnel once used?

[familyman357]

In the August 2004 issue of "Police" magazine (they also have a website at www.policemag.com), they did an article on the various blood-clotters, including QuikClot. Long article short, none of the clotters were deemed satisfactory and many had some significant drawbacks (for instance, QuikClot can cause second degree burns). They conclude that none of them will help if you're really bleeding out, because the blood pressure will just flush the clotting agent from the wound. Direct pressure to the wound or to a pressure point above the wound is what is needed. I'm a better-to-have-it-and-not-need-it-rather-than-need-it-and-not-have-it type of guy, but none of he current batch of clotters look to be truly satisfactory to me.

[familyman357]

Since you asked specifically about QuikClot, I'll post pertinent extracts (because I type so slowly) of what they had to say along with the authors' credentials:

QuikClot

QuikClot is manufactured by Z-Medica of Newington, Conn. According to product literature, newspaper articles, and press releases from Z-Medica, QuikClot was used extensively during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The active ingredient in the product is called granular zeolite, a substance derived from lava rocks. When this material is placed into a bleeding wound, it absorbs the water molecules in the blood and creates a high platelet content to promote clotting. This causes an exothermic reaction. In other words, it gives off heat.
Several U.S. Navy physicians who served in Iraq report that QuikClot produces sufficient heat to cause burns to the skin if measures are not taken to wipe off water, sweat, and excess blood from the wound and skin before use. In fact, Navy corpsmen that served with Marine combat units in Iraq reported that they observed "second-degree burns" in Iraqi soldiers treated with QuikClot.

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The clot, according to Z-Medica, is then easily removed through suction or irrigation of the wound when the patient arrives at a care facility.

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....the Navy and Marines performed a limited study using a swine model and were impressed with the results enough to issue the product to combat medics serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Lt. Bruce Webb, Battalion Surgeon, 2nd Tank Battalion attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, saw action in central Iraq from March 20 to May 30, 2003 and reported to us his first-hand battlefield experience with QuikClot.
In one instance, the product dried the wound but then flaked off so much that gauze was used more effectively. In another case, blood gushed out of a female patient's wound so profusely that the product was always flushed out of the wound. The victim died.
In Webb's experience, QuikClot is not very effective on the battlefield. "It doesn't stop bleeding as advertised in the real world," he says. "We are better off focusing on the established techniques of pressure, packing, and dressing."
Webb also found that 25 percent of the packets he received had leaked and absorbed water so they were unusable.

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Also Webb: "It is impossible to dry the wound enough to prevent burning. If you can dry the wound that well, you don't need QuikClot."

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The article also said that the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences was asked by the Marine Corps to evaluate the continued use of QuikClot. The panel reinforced the FDA's recommendation that QuikClot should be used only for life-threatening external wound hemmorhaging after conventional hemorrhage control efforts have failed.

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The last two paragraphs of the article:

There is one thing we do know and that is that the time-honored method of using direct pressure and a tourniquet for a bleeding injury really works. It seems prudent that a police officer should use the simplest and easiest technique in the field for hemorrhage control.
We recommend that law enforcement agencies proceed with caution before spending valuable resources on the new blood-clotting agents available until further studies are done and stick with old-fashioned direct pressure and tourniquets.
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Lawrence E. Heiskell, M.D., FACEP, FAAFP, is a practicing emergency physician, a reserve police officer, and a tactically trained SWAT team physician with the Palm Springs (Calif.) Police Department, as well as a member of the "Police" advisory board.

Bohdan T. Olesnicky, M.D., is a practicing emergency physician who serves as a tactical medic and SWAT team physician with the Clifton (N.J.) Police Department and the Saint Barnabas Healthcare System Special Operations Division in Livingston, N.J.

Sydney J. Vail, M.D., FACS, is the director of trauma & trauma critical care at the Carilion Health System Level 1 Trauma Center in Roanoke, Va., and a member of the Tactical EMS Support team for the Salem (Va.) Emergency Response Team.

[Trooper894]

familyman357,
Thanks for the info. Most of the information I've been able to find appeared to be promotional "anecdotal" claims from the manufacturer. I had heard that it was seeing use in Afghanistan and Iraq, but had not heard any reliable reports back on actual field use. Sometimes it takes actual use in a battlefield situation to test the real world reliablity of some equipment. Fortunate side benefit to military conflict, some very good technological advances become available to the public sector.
Friend and I travel to some fairly remote areas in the west to shoot/hunt. Both of us tend to pack & plan for worst scenarios. Closest medical attention can be quite a ways off. Aways pack a standard first aid kit and was wondering if the Quik Clot would be benefical for the space it would take up.
Trooper894

[0007]

The proper use of quik-clot is a combination of the product and direct pressure. It is really a last-chance product, but that said, I'd rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it... The website is www.z-medica.com. If you call the phone numbers, live people will talk to you about the product. And it is pretty reasonable insurance. CCosts about $50.00 for a "kit" that has two packets and your choice of bandage types.

[familyman357]

No problem. The gist of the article is that the clotters basically work, just not particularly well... certainly not at well as the manufacturers would have you believe. They should only be used as the last step as a supplement if nothing else (pressure, tourniquet) works. And if a tourniquet doesn't work, you're pretty much f'ed anyway. Is it worth the money? Is it worth it taking up space that other medical supplies might occupy? Maybe. Maybe not. I won't be buying it, but I'm not out in the serious boonies either.

[TimW]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Second-degree burns?

Or dead?

Let me think which I'd choose....

:)

[familyman357]

Originally posted by TimW
Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Second-degree burns?

Or dead?

Let me think which I'd choose....

:)

Considering that direct pressure/ tourniquet works better than the current clotters, time spent dicking around with a clotting agent is time better spent applying direct pressure / tourniquet. Personally, I think I'll choose to just save my life the old-fashioned way and skip the burns. :)

[JoeLad]

You'd be better off buying some pressure dressings and trauma pads. The pads are bigger than the dressing and are used for a larger area of injury.

JoeLad:D

[yovinny]

Tampon, for in a hole.
Kotex, for over the top or larger wounds.
Duct tape for pressure.

Tampons & kotex are both sterile products and made to absorb blood. Duct tape is good for damn near anything :biggrin:

It wont look pretty, but there cheap, available most anywhere and will help keep you alive untill you recieve proper care.

[Rifleman 7.62 NATO]

Cayenne pepper is a coagulant(sp) also.

[Master Blaster]

Some of the tried and true methods for controlling hemorrhage are IMHO still the best and easiest to employ. Save yourself some money and buy a half dozen Kerlex bandages, they are inexpensive and weigh almost nothing.

1. Kerlex can be packed into an open wound (all or partially, as the situation permits) very quickly and provides a pretty effective method of controlling hemorrhage. The nice thing is that if the wound keeps leaking you can simply stuff another Kerlex into it and then apply a pressure dressing.

2. Next comes direct pressure (pressure point) technique, it's only practical if you have one casualty.

3. The tourniquet is next on the hit parade. Now, if the casualty is you (this is something that few people ever seriously consider) STOP the bleeding the fastest and most effective way that you can.

The reality is that farting around with some BS chemical concoction may result in your untimely demise. Shock will soon set in (it always does to one degree or another) and unconsciousness may result very quickly. You pass out (without stopping the bleeding) and you die, it's that simple.

Oh yeah, if you think this is easy, try tying a tourniquet around one of your arms or legs and tighten it down to effectively stop blood loss the painful truth will soon be revealed to you. It F*#king hurts, BAD!

If you have thought about using one of the new one handed tourniquets be advised, they are only marginally effective in stopping blood loss in an upper extremity only. Doppler sounding equipment was used to determine the efficiency of a variety of tourniquets and the tests revealed that the one hand wonders will not completely stem the loss of blood in a lower extremity injury.

Once again, the old dowel and cravat (Strap, belt, rope, you get the drift) tourniquet is still one of the best last ditch methods going.

History continues to show us that those casualties who might otherwise survive their initial injuries and then expire do so primarily because of uncontrolled bleeding.

I hope this is useful, the intent is merely to inform. The Army Medical Department has tested all of the current clotting agents and found that they all have significant issues which prevent them from fully endorsing these products.

Sticks and rags still reign supreme!

[chrsdwns]

An Isreali company has developed an very effective dresssing that incorperates a pressure pad and elastic wrap. It has proven very effective in stabilizing bleeding wounds and is use by the IDF. Might be worth looking into.