Major
Animal Science and Technology
Minor(s)
Spanish
Advisor
Davis, Erin
Advisor Department
Biological Sciences
Date
5-2024
Keywords
STOP THE BLEED, Bleeding control, Tourniquet, AED, Certification, Pressure
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Abstract
The number one cause of preventable death is uncontrolled bleeding from traumatic injury. From the unlikely scenario of a school shooting, to a campus car accident or an injury during a sports or club event, possessing skills to effectively stop a life-threatening bleed becomes a matter of life or death. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS COT) STOP THE BLEED® program is a campaign to teach communities how to respond effectively and efficiently to life-threatening bleeding in emergencies. STOP THE BLEED® aims to empower individuals with the knowledge and skills to stop severe bleeding by tourniquet application, pressure, and packing of wounds.
Currently, STOP THE BLEED® certification courses are not offered for lay people in Rhode Island, creating a significant gap in emergency preparedness within our community. My mission was to utilize my STOP THE BLEED® certification and Associate Instructor title to host certification courses on campus for University of Rhode Island (URI) students. To assess interest, I surveyed 5,000 graduate and undergraduate URI students and received an 8% response rate, primarily from nursing students. While awareness of STOP THE BLEED® was low at 15.8%, there was considerable interest among respondents at 90.4%.
After leading a session for URI's Greek Life Directors, I successfully conducted my first certification class, with 18 students completing the course. Through collaboration with URI’s Public Safety Department, Police Department, Health Services, and the Honors Program, we have raised funds to place SAM-XT tourniquets at all 54 AED locations across campus. In observance of STOP THE BLEED® Month in May, my objective is to secure increased funding for the acquisition of additional tourniquets and to enhance awareness and training efforts.
Media Format
embedly
Additional Media Format
youtube
Included in
Biology Commons, Cardiovascular System Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Fluids and Secretions Commons, Medical Education Commons, Medical Sciences Commons, Patient Safety Commons, Physiology Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons