What are Global Bleeding Control Kits?
Global bkcs (GBC Kits) are portable first aid kits designed to help control severe bleeding until emergency medical assistance arrives. They contain trauma dressings, tourniquets, gloves, and instructions needed to treat life-threatening hemorrhaging from an arm, leg, neck or torso. GBC Kits aim to provide the general public and first responders with simple, easy-to-use hemorrhage control solutions.
Contents of a Typical GBC Kit
A standard GBC Kit contains:
- Trauma dressings - These thick gauze pads or bandages are used to apply pressure directly over wounds to help control bleeding. Larger kits may include multiple dressings in different sizes.
- Tourniquets - Tourniquets are thin belts used to tightly and rapidly tie off an extremity above a severe wound to restrict blood flow. Most kits contain one windlass tourniquet.
- Gloves - Latex or nitrile gloves allow the user to apply dressings and tourniquets without risk of exposure to blood or other bodily fluids.
- Instructions - Illustrated step-by-step guides teach laypersons and first responders how to properly use each item depending on the type and location of hemorrhaging.
In addition to these core supplies, some GBC Kits may also include shears for cutting clothing, markers for labeling tourniquet times, nasopharyngeal airways, and training materials like videos. Kits are packaged in small, rugged carry cases for portability during emergencies or daily activities.
Origins and Development of GBC Kits
The concept of public access Bleeding Control Kits emerged following combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military medical experts observed that most deaths from extremity wounds on the battlefield occurred from hemorrhaging in the first few minutes before the injured could receive medical treatment.
This helped popularize the still-novel principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC), which emphasized simple, rapid interventions by non-medical personnel to keep casualties alive until higher level care could be provided. Techniques like tourniquet use and direct pressure dressing that had previously been applied mainly by physicians were now taught to all warfighters.
As research validated the potential survival benefits of early hemorrhage control by laypeople and combat medics, the need to make such solutions readily available was recognized. The North American Rescue Company developed one of the first commercial GBC Kits in the late 2000s based on suggestions from medical advisors involved with the TCCC guidelines. Improved second and third generation kits soon followed.
Advocacy and dissemination efforts led by the Hartford Consensus further increased awareness of hemorrhage as the leading cause of potentially preventable death from both civilian and military trauma. This encouraged adaptation of the combat casualty care concepts for the civilian sector and mass distribution of public access bleeding control equipment. GBC Kits are now stocked worldwide by government agencies, hospitals, businesses, schools, and individual citizens.
Effectiveness in Real-World Emergencies
While clinical trials are challenging to conduct on lifesaving trauma interventions, case reports and disaster responses provide real-world examples of GBC Kits successfully controlling bleeding in pre-hospital settings:
- 2011 Arizona shooting: Off-duty medical staff at a political event applied tourniquets from a kit to multiple victims of a gunman, likely saving lives before EMS arrived.
- 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: Citizens used GBC Kits distributed by police to secure tourniquets on severed limbs and apply pressure dressings while waiting for ambulances overwhelmed by over 200 casualties.
- 2019 California synagogue shooting: Worshippers trained in stop-the-bleed techniques stemmed bleeding with a kit until the lone fatality succumbed to uncontrolled neck hemorrhaging.
- 2021 FedEx shooting: Bystanders and off-duty officers at the package sorting facility credited GBC Kits with helping treat multiple gunshot and shrapnel injuries before transport.
Public access trauma kits meet an important need in the critical minutes after injury when definitive care may be delayed or distant. Even brief hemorrhage control can increase survival rates substantially for those in life-threatening situations far from hospitals. Spreading their availability wherever people gather aims to curb preventable death from bleeding emergencies wherever they occur.
Training Requirements and Limitations
While admirably simple to use during stress and chaos, GBC Kits are most effective when combined with basic hemorrhage control training. Proper techniques must be learned to apply dressings, tie tourniquets correctly high and tight, monitor placement and document vital information for rescuers arriving later. Urgent scenarios require focused skills, not attempts to improvise solutions.
Lay responders must understand limitations too. GBC Kits alone do not replace ambulance transport or substitute for medical evaluation and treatment of wounds. Dangers exist if used inappropriately or left in place excessively long without definitive care. Public access trauma training educates responders on these issues while empowering them to save lives rather than being bystanders during catastrophes.
Future Improvements and Challenges
As GBC Kits become standard preparedness items for more agencies and organizations, improvements aim to expand their lifesaving potential further:
- New dressing and tourniquet designs strive for even simpler and more effective use under stress without sacrificing pressure levels required to achieve hemostasis.
- Bleeding control simulation models and refresher courses develop hand-on experience for long-term skill retention beyond initial certification or awareness programs.
- Alternative response strategies target needs of underserved areas lacking transportation infrastructure through inventory kits for lay responders living remotely.
- Research assesses additional applications like augmenting first aid response during mass casualty disasters or combating non-traumatic hemorrhage from medical emergencies, such as strokes or cardiac issues.
In Summary, challenges lie in changing societal norms where bystanders historically hesitate intervening during emergencies. Public accessibility alone does not guarantee willingness and confidence to act. Overcoming barriers to the diffusion of simple lifesaving techniques demands ongoing advocacy emphasizing bleeding is reversible if addressed urgently before help arrives.
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Change in level of consciousness or alertness.
Paralysis or inability to move a particular body part.
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Cerebral aneurysms which refer to the life-threatening weakening and bulging of the artery walls that can burst and lead to severe brain haemorrhage.
