Your management of bleeding wounds could be reminiscent of the 60's movies; tourniquet on the upper portion of the extremity. Not anymore , Sir.
Wherever the wound is, whether it be on the head, abdomen, chest or extremities, press on it with your fingers if it is small enough to be covered by the finger. Or, use your handkerchief rolled into a ball and press it hard into the wound. If it is an artery, it would bleed no matter how much you press. If it is venous it will stop in about 5 minutes. If it is arterial, the more you wait for it to clot, the more likely the patient will bleed to death. Go directly to the hospital. Movie scenes of suicide with the actor/actress bleeding from a wrist slash could not happen in real life in a span of 95 minutes ( the usual length of full length movies). Arterial bleeds from the wrist may last for 30 minutes without stopping but it gradually slows down because of the clotting system of the body.
Way back in the 80's when cautery machine was not available yet, we do mastectomy for breast cancer manual; that is, while the main surgeon cuts, we go for the bleeders with forceps. At the end of 4 hours ( that is how long we do it way back), we wet our under-wears with blood to the consternation of our wives who did the laundries. Well, we had to transfuse blood after the procedure.
Today, mastectomy is a breeze. Not a drop of blood on the spread sheets. Blood loss is less than a menstruation period to the max. Blood transfusion? The last time I transfused for a mastectomy was way back in 1986.
Wherever the wound is, whether it be on the head, abdomen, chest or extremities, press on it with your fingers if it is small enough to be covered by the finger. Or, use your handkerchief rolled into a ball and press it hard into the wound. If it is an artery, it would bleed no matter how much you press. If it is venous it will stop in about 5 minutes. If it is arterial, the more you wait for it to clot, the more likely the patient will bleed to death. Go directly to the hospital. Movie scenes of suicide with the actor/actress bleeding from a wrist slash could not happen in real life in a span of 95 minutes ( the usual length of full length movies). Arterial bleeds from the wrist may last for 30 minutes without stopping but it gradually slows down because of the clotting system of the body.
Way back in the 80's when cautery machine was not available yet, we do mastectomy for breast cancer manual; that is, while the main surgeon cuts, we go for the bleeders with forceps. At the end of 4 hours ( that is how long we do it way back), we wet our under-wears with blood to the consternation of our wives who did the laundries. Well, we had to transfuse blood after the procedure.
Today, mastectomy is a breeze. Not a drop of blood on the spread sheets. Blood loss is less than a menstruation period to the max. Blood transfusion? The last time I transfused for a mastectomy was way back in 1986.
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