Evaluation of Stop the Bleed Training Among High School Personnel: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

RESEARCH BACKGROUNDWorldwide, trauma or unintentional injury claims an estimated 8% of deaths (World Health Organization, 2021). In the United States alone, trauma is the fourth leading cause of death for people of all ages (Ahmad et al., 2021;Kochanek et al., 2020). Of those who experience critical injury, uncontrolled hemorrhage accounts for 35% of all deaths prior to hospitalization

Epidemiology of Trauma-Related Hemorrhage and Time to Definitive Care Across North America: Making the Case for Bleeding Control Education

“…Feedback from STB participants across multiple studies indicate an appreciation of the significance of bleeding control training, confidence in the ability to intervene when necessary and willingness to do so, and the desire for regular refresher training. [23][24][25][26] Despite good intentions and willingness to help those injured, barriers to the provision of bleeding control aid in the prehospital setting exist among the lay community and may include: lack of access to supplies such as tourniquets and hemostatic gauze to effectively stop bleeding, fear of disease transmission on the part of the bystander without the use of gloves, fear of inflicting additional pain, fear of being sued by the injured person, concern for lack of physical ability to completely stop active bleeding, and fear of wound contamination or additional tissue damage with tourniquet application. 27 Importantly, the extent to which these or any additional barriers may exist, how they may most effectively be addressed, and the impact they have on bystander intervention have yet to be fully elucidated.…”