If you do choose to use one of these dressings, you can use certain techniques to ensure you get the best results possible and enhance their efficacy.
It stands to reason that if the bleeding is under high pressure or very brisk, none of these products is going to work. You'll need to apply direct pressure to the wound or to a pressure point above the wound. If you get the bleeding slowed with a pressure point, you might be able to get the wound dry enough to apply the material into the wound and allow it to work. After the dressing is complete, the tourniquet or pressure point may be released.
What would make the ideal hemostatic agent? It should be inexpensive, not cause allergic reactions, not need to be washed out, and able to be delivered into any kind of wound. Above all, it should work and not cause any harm.
There is one thing we do know and that is that the time-honored method of using direct pressure and a tourniquet for a bleeding injury really works. It seems prudent that a police officer should use the simplest and easiest technique in the field for hemorrhage control.
We recommend that law enforcement agencies proceed with caution before spending valuable resources on the new blood-clotting agents available until further studies are done and stick with old-fashioned direct pressure and tourniquets.
