Wound Management/Bleeding Control
Severe bleeding or hemorrhage is a major cause of shock (hypoperfusion), which can be life threatening if the body loses an excessive amount of blood. If the body loses enough blood, the cells of the body will not receive enough oxygen and begin to die. Once cells begin to die, bigger cells such as organs will also fail and eventually the entire body will fail and death will occur.
There are three types of external bleeding:
Arterial bleeding: is usually bright red in color because it is rich in oxygen. Bleeding from an artery is often profuse and spurting due to the high pressure from the heart as it contracts, forcing blood out to the rest of the body. This is the reason why it is so hard to control and direct pressure will be required all the way to the hospital.
Venous bleeding: is usually dark red/maroon in color because it does not contain much oxygen. The red blood cells have already left its oxygen behind with the cells of the body, picked up carbon dioxide and wastes, and are on their way back to the lungs to get rid of them and pick up more oxygen. It is usually easy to control venous bleeding because the veins are under low pressure. The main difficulty with venous bleeding is in the neck because it can actually suck in air and cause further complications.
Capillary bleeding: is usually slow and oozing due to their small size and low pressure. Although there may be a significant amount of bleeding, the majority of capillary bleeding is considered to be minor and is easy to control in most cases. Capillary bleeding is usually the result of an abrasion also known as a scrape. The color of capillary bleeding can be bright red or darker red depending on the amount of oxygen it is carrying. The majority of problems that arise with capillary bleeding is infection due to due to contaminants becoming embedded in the skin. Care For External Bleeding
1. After taking infection control precautions for the caregiver, direct pressure is applied to the injury with sterile gauze. If bleeding is profuse or seeps through the gauze, add more gauze, but do not remove the existing pieces. This will prevent the clotting process from being interrupted.
2. If bleeding continues to be severe, the extremity or body part should be elevated above the level of the heart. This will decrease the amount of blood flowing to the injury site by using gravity to help decrease the amount of blood flow.
3. If bleeding continues, add more gauze to the existing dressing and tie a pressure bandage to the site of injury.
4. If direct pressure, elevation, and pressure bandage fail to control bleeding, apply pressure to a pressure point of the injury if it is to an extremity. This will aid in further decreasing the flow of blood to the injury site.
5. A tourniquet should not be used unless the bleeding is so bad the person will die if it is not controlled. This it to be used in rare circumstances and only by trained healthcare professionals. Once a tourniquet is applied, it is not to be removed unless so directed by a physician. You can expect to lose any part of the body past the end of the tourniquet since you have stop all flow of blood to the area.
(taking from ezine)
