Use of Tourniquets and their Effects on Limb Function in the Modern Combat Environment
Abstract
First aid innovations in the current war have brought new lessons on casualty care with obvious differences between routine civilian and military casualty care regarding emergency tourniquets. The modern battlefield emergency tourniquet is a major prehospital treatment advance of the current war. The current standard-issue emergency tourniquet is an award winning Army innovation of 2005. The use of this device in saving soldiers' lives on the current battlefields has been so widespread that its use has spilled over to help save the lives of wounded civilians within the war zone. In one of the more publicized examples, CBS News foreign correspondent Kimberly Dozier recently reported that it was "...tying on the tourniquets that saved my life" after she suffered severe injuries in an improvised device explosion in Baghdad on Memorial Day 2006. A fresh look at the reasons why tourniquets have proved lifesaving is due. New knowledge can help clinicians decide when and how to use them in a multiply injured casualty or in the case of mass casualties.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA514928
Entities
People
- John Frederick Kragh
Organizations
- United States Army Institute of Surgical Research