Prehospital Control of Traumatic External Hemorrhage

The majority of all road trauma deaths occur either at the scene of injury or in the prehospital setting. The World Health Organization has identified uncontrolled bleeding to be the leading cause of preventable traumatic death. Emergency Medical Services systems play a key role in helping to reduce motor vehicle-related fatalities by providing medical care at the crash scene and by quickly transporting injured patients to the most appropriate level of trauma care. This book's purpose is to present a systematic review and assessment of the biomedical and clinical literature describing prehospital treatment of external hemorrhage caused by traumatic injury. The primary focus of the book is the efficacy of prehospital application of tourniquets and hemostatic dressings to control traumatic external hemorrhage.