Prevention of excessive blood loss?

Question

How do you prevent a cut/wound from overbleeding?

Another question I have is, when a patient accidentally stab his/her pulse, should you take the object out or should you leave it in? Would leaving the object in make a difference in terms of blood loosage? How would you prevent blood loss in this case?

Thanks

Answer 1

Some of the ways are, applying pressure , immediate cold packs, if available some styptics (stop bleeding)

In case of a stab wound removing the object will cause more bleeding.  

Answer 2

Good question. To prevent blood loss from a wound first apply pressure and elevate the wound if possible above the level of the heart. If bleeding persists call 911, and apply pressure to the "pressure point" between the wound and the heart. The last resort is to apply a tourniquet. But just remember pretty much anything below a tourniquet will later have to be amputated.

The answer to your second question is NO! If an object is impailing someone, ie a knife, tree branch, s***w driver, etc. LEAVE IT IN PLACE. It not only drastically reduces bleeding, but you could also do more damage pulling it out. Paramedics and/or EMTs arriving to transport the person to the hospital will stabilize the object to keep it from moving around in route to the hospital. The only person that should be removing an impaled object is the surgeon in the operating room. Those were two great questions!

Answer 3

For your first question: You can use the 4 C's when you have a severe bleeding.

C - Control bleeding by applying direct pressure.

C - Care for the wound by applying a sterile dressing.

C - Care for shock by elevating the injured part esp if the injured part is an extremity.

C - Consult a doctor.

For your second question: Do not remove the object, instead you try to stabilize it and transport immediately the patient to the nearest hospital, but if the patient is suffering from difficulty of breathing due to the impaled object, carefully remove it and control the bleeding and transport the patient immediately to the hospital.