Class: Basic Trauma Management
Instructor: Dustin aka CavMedic
Date & Time: Sept. 21, 2013 @ 1400
Location: Hummel Park in Plainfield
Instructor: Dustin aka CavMedic
Date & Time: Sept. 21, 2013 @ 1400
Location: Hummel Park in Plainfield
I have been wanting to get some medical training beyond basic first aid and CPR and have found that unless, I am willing to travel several hours and spend hundreds of dollars, there doesn’t seem to be much available in the Indianapolis area. I know where to get firearms training, but medical training doesn't seem to be as prevalent. In my opinion, Dustin is filling a void of medical training with this class.
Dustin introduced himself as a current EMT with the city of Indianapolis and former Combat Medic with the Army who has served in Iraq and was at Ft. Hood during the tragic mass shooting. He described the situation at Ft. Hood as a real eye opener for him and how at first he had to overcome the initial shock of what had happened, but quickly let his training take over and treat those who needed medical help.
Subjects
Triage
After his introduction he talked about making sure the scene was safe and that any threat to yourself and others is no longer there. After all, if you become wounded or killed, you are no longer an asset. He then talked about how to triage the scene and who to take care of first, then to methodically look for wounds to prioritize them in order of severity in the case of multiple wounds on an individual. He also emphasized the importance of self treatment and being able to do so one handed.
EMS Response Time
Next he discussed the importance of knowing how to treat people because EMS response time could be 10 minutes and police may have to secure the scene first before EMS is allowed to enter. This could take a substantially long time considering that a person may die from arterial bleeding in less than a minute.
Basic Anatomy
Dustin covered some basic anatomy that covered where the main arteries are in your body. It was also mentioned that an artery, when severed, may retract into one’s body and make treatment difficult. He explained how to identify arterial bleeding and why it is so important to ID this quickly to be able to move right to treatment.
Use of tourniquet
We then moved on to the subject of tourniquets, which he spent quite some time discussing. He made sure to tell us that a tourniquet was not always needed and should not be a go to method of treatment. It was explained that if arterial bleeding was present and not controllable, then that is the time to use a tourniquet because it could be life saving. He explained how long a tourniquet could be on before damage to the limb would occur. Lastly, he covered the different types of tourniquets from readymade to improvised. His favorite improvised tourniquet is cheap and easy to make out of a bicycle inner tube. He had a few tourniquets that he demonstrated and passed around to us and also explained which ones he recommended.
Gauze and Wraps
Because of my very limited medical knowledge, I thought that once a tourniquet was applied, everything was done; I was wrong. He explained how to fill and dress a wound with gauze. It was also explained what combat gauze/quick clot was and how to fill the wound and when to not use it because it may cause damage or even kill a person if used incorrectly. After we learned everything that we needed to know about gauze, we learned how to properly wrap and secure the wound. Here we also learned that it was acceptable to somewhat release the tourniquet (but not completely) and monitor to see if there was any blood flow. This was done so that damage to the arm from the tourniquet could be mitigated but if any blood flow from the wrap was noticed that tourniquet was tightened again. It was also explained how to properly use gauze and wrap on a slash wound, like one you would get from a glass or knife cut.
Trunk Wounds
Dustin called wounds to the torso trunk wounds as opposed to the limb wounds that were described above. He described the differences in treating chest wounds versus abdominal wounds. Then moved on to occlusive dressings, which are made with a non-permeable material to prevent a sucking chest wound and even talked about the medical use of cellophane which he said he carried in his med bag in Iraq! We were taught how to treat a puncture wound while an object was still there. Next we were shown how to treat axillary wounds (under arm) and how to place gauze and wrap to secure the arm while stopping the bleeding. We even where shown a NCD needle which is used to treat tension pneumothorax and went on to explain what it was, but didn’t want to go into too much detail. He answered questions anyone had about it, but emphasized that he felt it fell a little outside of the scope of a basic course and that we should do some further research on the matter.
Head and Neck Wounds
He started with the head here and said to not get hung up on superficial wounds on the because there are many small blood vessels here that cause much bleeding. Next he told us to try and stop the blood loss thorough pressure but not to use too much pressure on the head. He mentioned that if there is brain matter present, then to treat that last with light dressing. With neck injuries it was also taught to use enough pressure to stop blood loss but to be careful not to cause any damage to the trachea. He explained how to use two wraps to dress the neck so that you don’t choke the individual and to create enough pressure on the wound to stop it from bleeding.
CPR
CPR is one subject that Dustin felt should be taught and emphasized more often. He went as far as saying that he thinks it should be taught in all schools and that everyone should know it. He taught us how to feel for a pulse and how to position the person and check their airway. He even had a nasal airway that he showed us and described how to use it. He taught that there should be a rescue breath, followed by 30 chest compressions, and then 2 breaths. He described how a breath should be given and what to look for. He also described how much pressure and what pace the chest compressions should be. It was brought up that the American Red Cross currently teaches hands only CPR and he responded saying that the ratio of breaths and compression changes often and that he felt that giving breaths was an important part of administering CPR.
Shock
Here we were taught what the signs of shock were and how to treat it. He did a good job explaining why we do the things that he was teaching which helped me understand how to properly treat shock. It never occurred to me that I didn’t know why I was taught to cover a person or raise their legs when treating for shock. Dustin thankfully explained this and even mentioned that you don’t always want to cover and warm a person if it’s hot outside because you will overheat them.
Medical Kits
We were handed basic trauma kits that Dustin had put together from supplies that he purchased in bulk. He had explained to us how each item was to be used and recommended other supplies that could go in them. He also gave us some names of websites that he felt had the best completed medical kits and what to look for when buying a kit.
Conclusion
For being Dustin’s very first class I think he did a great job teaching it! This class was packed full of information and while we met for about three and a half hours, it could easily be a four hour class. This was my first class outside of basic first aid and CPR and I was hoping to learn life saving skills that could be useful in treating yourself or others in many situations from auto accidents to any self defense situation. Dustin did not disappoint with the information provided and was the type of training I was looking for. In fact, I would like to attend this again to not only be exposed to the material once more but also because I know that this class will get better the more he teaches it.
I stuck around after class and talked with him about what he plans on doing with this class in the future and said he is looking to teach this on a regular basis. For this class we met at a park and the class was conducted on a couple of picnic tables. It would be nice to have some place that is free from distractions where he can better present his material. I hope that he can find a suitable venue because I would like to see him succeed so that more of us can get some medical training right here in the Indianapolis area!
Last edited:
Doh!
