Heavy Bleeding: What to Do When You Don't Have a First-Aid Kit

 

Heavy bleeding can be a serious emergency that, if left untreated, can even be fatal. Bleeding has a purpose - which is to clean out an injury - but when too much blood leaves the body, you can go into shock and even die! That’s why it’s important to cater to bleeding emergencies as soon as possible.

But there are always situations where you don’t have the supplies needed for this with you. Here’s how to deal with heavy bleeding when you don’t have a first-aid kit on hand.

Assess Injury

The first thing to do is to assess the injury and determine how severe it is. In some cases, you shouldn’t deal with it yourself, and call professionals instead. This is true in cases of heavy bleeding where the wound has an embedded object.

If the wound is deep and jagged, if it is on the face, a result of an animal bite, or keeps bleeding even after 20 minutes have passed, seek immediate care.

When losing blood, the patient may be at risk of shock, which you have to be very careful about.

Apply Pressure & Elevate

Even if you need to call for medical help, you can still try to stop the bleeding while you wait. The first thing to do is to apply pressure to the site of the injury and elevate it. For example, for a cut on the arm that will not stop bleeding, hold it up above the heart, and apply pressure to it with a clean and absorbent cloth. This will ‘plug’ the vessel walls and slow down blood loss, if not completely stop it.

Keep checking every few minutes to see if bleeding has stopped. If it hasn’t, keep applying pressure until it does, or until help arrives. If you don’t have a bandage on hand, use a cloth to tie the

If a wound has an embedded object, do not remove it. It may make the bleeding much worse, since the object may be acting as a plug as well. Instead, apply pressure on either side to make the bleeding stop. When help comes, they will deal with the wound accordingly. Your top priority should be to minimize bleeding as much as possible.

Ice

When your body temperature is high, bleeding often happens for longer. You can try to use ice to keep from losing too much blood by applying it to the wound. Don’t apply the ice directly, but wrap it in a clean cloth. However, if body temperature is higher or lower than usual, don’t use ice.

Bleeding can get complicated very easily. By taking some First Aid Level 3 courses, you can make sure you’re equipped to handle bleeding emergencies. Metro Safety offers comprehensive courses for basic first aid that can help you and the people around you in emergencies. Head over to our website to learn more, and register yourself!