At some point in your life, you will be someplace where you simply won’t have dedicated equipment available. In Army Special Forces, there is a PACE mnemonic used in planning: What’s the Primary plan? The Alternate plan? The Contingency plan? The Emergency plan? The Emergency Plan is sometimes referred to as the “Everything went to shit plan.”
If you have a fire in your house, it’s best to use a fire extinguisher to attempt to put it out while waiting for the fire department. However, you’ll settle for a bucket of water if you have to, rather than standing back watching the fire get out of control and potentially burn down your house.
Improvised techniques can save lives. The more you begin to see improvised equipment in your everyday surroundings, the quicker you’ll be able to respond and save a life without dedicated equipment.
The techniques posted here have some evidence and proof of concept to support their use in an emergency when better materials simply aren’t available.
April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon Bombing At the Boston Marathon in 2013, two pressure cooker IEDs were detonated resulting in three fatalities, 264 casualties, and three triple amputees. Although 27 “improvised tourniquets” were placed at the point of injury, none …
So easy even your teenager can do it. . . This improvised inguinal junctional tourniquet from the Special Operations Combat Medical Sustainment Course is presented in JSOM Vol. 19, Ed. 2 Summer, 2019, unconventional medicine section We demonstrate its effectiveness …
Critics of improvised tourniquets say they are ineffective. Some claim, “if you’re planning to improvise, you’re planning to fail.” We disagree statement. Proper planning includes having a primary plan, in this instance a commercially available tourniquet, and an alternate plan: …
Proven commercially available tourniquets are always our first choice. Though many say improvised tourniquets don’t work, 12 students in a recent class all successfully made them work, when using appropriate materials, verified by Doppler ultrasound. The key to a successful …
Although dedicated medical equipment is always preferred, if the only thing that is going to keep someone from dying is a creative solution, you better get creative. Using everyday items, including a Zebra F-701 pen, we complete an improvised surgical …
Kneeling on the casualty’s groin for distal hemorrhage control When I was in the Special Forces Medical Sergeants course a very long time ago, I was taught a stopgap measure…
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