TravelGuides – Doctor’s ‘brilliant’ new first aid technique can stem blood loss after shark attack | Medical research
TravelGuides – Doctor’s ‘brilliant’ new first aid technique can stem blood loss after shark attack | Medical research
An emergency division physician says he has developed a easy new method to assist save the lives of shark attack victims within the essential moments after a chunk.
The technique is described in a paper printed right now within the journal of Emergency Medicine Australasia and works by closing off the femoral artery to forestall an individual from quickly bleeding out.
Applying the technique depends on a second individual making a fist and urgent it into an individual’s groin on the central level between the hip bone and the genitals.
From there they solely must lock their arm straight and use their body weight to use strain till blood circulation from the wound stops.
Following these steps then buys the sufferer time whereas assist can be sought.
Dr Nicholas Taylor, Associate Dean of the ANU Medical School, surfer and lead writer on the examine stated he started to develop the concept after a household vacation to Western Australia at a time when there had been a spate of shark assaults.
“I was looking for a few ways to make myself a bit more shark proof,” he says.
After talking to surf life savers and surfers he discovered most would instinctually react to a shark chunk wound by putting direct strain on it or trying to make a tourniquet from materials they’d readily available.
Dr Taylor stated his emergency room coaching informed him that this could be a mistake.
“A shark bite is a terrible sawing motion and putting pressure on it wouldn’t work,” he stated. “And it would be great if every surfer carried a tourniquet, but it isn’t going to happen.”
A greater answer, he thought, can be to chop the blood circulation from the femoral artery as taught in medical colleges and carried out in emergency departments.
To take a look at the effectiveness of the technique, Dr Taylor helped organise a examine of 34 wholesome volunteers. While the pattern dimension was small, it was greater than double the 16 individuals a pilot examine advisable was required for it to be statistically important.
Participants got no prior coaching or instruction in how one can apply the manoeuvre earlier than trying it, and the outcomes had been in comparison with the consequences from utilizing a makeshift tourniquet from surfboard leg rope.
Closing off the femoral artery stopped all blood circulation to the leg in three out of 4 individuals whereas utilizing the tourniquet decreased blood circulation by 43.8%. An ultrasound was used to gauge the speed of blood circulation by way of the artery and into the limb.
The researchers additionally examined whether or not a wetsuit may make it harder however discovered it made no distinction.
Now Dr Taylor says he needs to see the technique included into first aid coaching – and to assist he has developed a mnemonic for remembering the method: “push hard between the hip and the bits”.
However, for that to occur it could first have to be endorsed by the Australian Resuscitation Council and included into their guidelines for managing bleeding wounds.
Dr Anthony Brown, a professor of emergency medication on the University of Queensland who was not concerned within the examine stated the novel method was “brilliant” and must be thought-about for inclusion in first aid coaching packages, significantly for surf-life saving and the browsing neighborhood at massive.
“It’s a fantastic life-saving idea. Nothing else helps,” Dr Brown stated. “By the time you need to give mouth-to-mouth or CPR during a shark attack, it’s too late. It means the person has exsanguinated [drained of blood].”
Compared to making use of strain on the wound itself, Dr Brown stated that this technique can be more practical as it could keep away from probably re-opening arteries which will have closed off by spasm.
“Your sole priority needs to be to stop the bleeding and wait for help,” he stated. “You’re a bit buggered if you’re the only one there, but generally speaking there is someone else there to help. Nobody surfs alone.”
TravelGuides – Doctor’s ‘brilliant’ new first aid technique can stem blood loss after shark attack | Medical research
