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Is gauze packing like this something that a typically trained police officer could do? If not, that might be the main benefit of the device. Otherwise, yeah, I

Is gauze packing like this something that a typically trained police officer could do? If not, that might be the main benefit of the device. Otherwise, yeah, I guess an EMS that deals with these issues regularly may have the process down well enough that speed isn't the issue. Also curious, because I know nothing about trauma wounds like this. I know I'm wrong, but I don't know why: Could you use tissue glue to seal the edges? It seems like that's what would happen in surgery for a permanent "fix" anyway, so doing it temporarily in the field, with the edges adhering to themselves, would reduce the need for compression.

JshWright 5y ago
Yeah, cops (at least around here) generally know how to pack a wound. It's not terribly hard (you're just repeatedly shoving your finger in the hole, stuffing a bit more gauze in there each time). The external wound isn't the issue, and that's really the only thing that you could practically "glue" in the field. The issue is the artery inside that's spurting blood (and even if none of that blood actually escapes the body, there's more than enough room to lose enough blood inside the body to kill someone. The surgical intervention will involve opening up the area of the wound a bit further so that you can actually find the hole in the artery and have room to work. Once the specific location of the bleed has been found, generally a clamp will be applied "upstream" of the bleed, which will then be stitched closed (ideally reattaching it to the other end if it was severed completely). Glue isn't going to hold up against arterial pressure.