Recommended Hemostatic agents

 In my post on Trauma First Aid, it was my intent to create a fast and easy guide to trauma first aid that the layperson could use without much training. In the comments, there was a reader who began a discussion on the use of QuikClot versus chitin agents, claiming that “doctors say they have to clean it out of wounds.”

I had no intention of offering a comprehensive course for medical providers in the pages of this blog. Nor do I want to spend it giving away my services for free, nor do I want to get into an intricate discussion about the pros and cons of one hemostatic agent over the other. 

Instead, I will leave you with the opinions of the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. They are two of the leading agencies for prehospital care of trauma victims. 

QuiikClot impregnated Combat gauze is recommended by the CoTCCC and the NAEMT as the first choice for hemostatic dressing of uncontrolled hemorrhage. Celox Gauze & ChitoGauze may be used if Combat Gauze is not available. They worked as effectively as QuikClot Combat gauze in laboratory testing, but neither ChitoGauze nor Celox Gauze have been tested in the USAISR safety model. Chitosan-based hemostatic dressings have been used in combat since 2004 with no safety issues reported.

Since the two largest bodies recommend the use of QuikClot as the first line, that is what I recommend when I conduct training. However, I do not wish to continue debating this, so I am pulling the plug on my online guide. 

I recommend that the people who want this information take a class. The company I sometimes teach for charges 

$300 for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care

$300 for Tactical Combat Casualty Care

$100 for Basic Life Support

$300 for Prehospital Trauma Life Support

I would also point out that Doctors and Nurses take these courses as well. Doctors and Nurses don’t think like prehopsital providers because they aren’t. What happens in the field is a completely different kind of medicine that what happens in a hospital.