Man, I could rant about my organisation for days. I once asked if I would be allowed to wear a personal TQ and was told that’s what ambulances are for.
We just had a stabbing at the courthouse and they had to stop the bleeding with brown paper because all we have is an AED and plasters. Hopefully this will change things.
FYI I personally would have no problem using on myself expired combat gauze as long as the vacuum seal was still intact and I knew I wasnt leaving that stuff in a hot car all summer long aka it was on my belt all the time. Not legal or medical advice YMMV 
Just adding as an option as I just ordered one of their kits for our new issued external carriers.
High Threat Innovations
LE Discount of 20%
I personally went with the Micro 2.0 TraumaPAK ELITE with the QuikClot option.
*Micro TraumaPAK ELITE (With QuikClot)
1 Micro 2.0 TraumaPAK ELITE Holder in your color choice
1 Tourniquet (Choose from CAT, SAM-XT, SOF-T)
2 Hyfin Vented Chest Seal
1 Battle Wrap or SWAT-T (Orange or Black your choice)
1 QuiKClot rolled gauze
1 Trauma Shears
1 Pair of medical gloves
1 Sharpie
1 SAVE a life card
Your choice of patch*
Hmm not really sold on these saran wrap or rubberized style pressure bandages, Id probably swap it out for an Israeli or another type of stretchy trauma dressing. Way more versatile especially with the limited space on a belt kit.
SWAT Doc didn’t object but… like you, I felt an Israeli may be better and snagged one to replace the Saran Wrap with.
As a pressure bandage the SWAT-T works well. Anecdotally at least as well as the Israeli.
One thing to watch out for, some manufacturer’s Quikclots now use chitosan, ground-up shellfish shell frequently crustacean. No big deal for most, but potentially lethal for us with shellfish allergies.
Read your labels and ALWAYS check patient allergies, VERY carefully on both!
Off to go find some NO-chitosan quikclot for the first aid kits here…
There’s some data that shows no difference in outcome between using hemostatic vs regular gauze. The best studies we have are animal studies with just better than equivocal results. Kind of “might help, won’t hurt.” A lot of places are going away from hemostatics because of this and cost.
Respectfully, I think there are good reasons to temper your stance on this topic. Perhaps when I have more bandwidth I will explain why.
In the meantime, I’d suggest that “kaolin” is a substance that can be read about.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the stuff is trash, I’m just noting that it is contraindicated for some patients and some manufacturers are doing a poor job of noting the allergen. Similar to how there are some dyes they used in MRI/similar imaging 20-odd years ago where they have a fish or shellfish derived ingredient and some that don’t, and mom had some complications with her cancer treatment then because despite being specifically told “we’ll use the allergen free option” some putz in Supply loaded the cart for her procedure with the regular stuff. As soon as they injected and it started moving through her she reported feeling like her whole body was on fire. Trademarked QC does specifically indicate they use kaolin so they’re potentially on my Green list, Rhino Rescue is one of the bigger brands I’ve seen with chitosan so they’re on the Red list, I need to check on NAR.
Would you knowingly give a beta-lactamase inhibitor to someone with a penicillin allergy? (BLI’s are a penicillin derivative, but you gotta read the label to know.)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22128651/
If you can find me documented cases where someone has died specifically due to the combination of hemostatic dressings and shellfish allergy, I’d be pretty appreciative of the knowledge.
I’m not telling you what to carry…this isn’t medical advice. But there is a biochem reason that you’re going to have a hard time finding those documented cases. Additionally, one of the most common hemostatic dressings, kaolin-based Combat Gauze, that I have no affiliation with, contains no chitosan, chitin, or shellfish products of any type.
Anyone in a line of work where carrying or applying hemostastic gauze is a relevant thing would do well to be professionally trained on how and when to use it.
This topic involves prompt prevention of rapid death, which I think is a pretty serious thing. Anaphylaxis is pretty serious, too, but might not be relevant here. And antibiotics are also a different topic. Including hypersensitivities to them. So hold your fire unless you really know your target, please.
I guess its something to think about but I agree that logic dictates that you treat what is going to kill the patient faster, the life threatening bleed vs potential for anaphylaxis and the answer is pretty obvious. It seems that the clotting agent would be limited to the site of treatment since its not like you are shooting them up with the hemostat so systemic absorption should be extremely limited, again my opinion not medical advice but I would personally feel comfortable applying combat gauze to some unconscious patient thats bleeding out that I couldn’t get a proper allergy background from. Hopefully someone with allergies that severe would have an Epipen on them since its not something I regularly stash in my IFAK/MFAK but maybe its something I should consider, those things are damn expensive though and being an injectable liquid is definitely something that needs to rotated based on exp dates.
Diamondback, chitosan impregnated gauze does not contain the protein that will cause a reaction due to shellfish allergy. Anyone reading this should assume that it is possible that I am wrong, but should also be aware that kaolin impregnated gauze is a thing as an alternative to chito, as is gauze with no hemostatic chemical agents. Don’t listen to me…listen to the Committee of Tactical Combat Casualty Care. Not saying they’re infallible, but they’re not WebMD, either.
Also, I dig your Orwell reference.
I make zero point zero dollars and zero point zero cents from sales of these products, and have no involvement in the sale or marketing of them whatsoever, but I also have pretty extensive experience in their use in both real and training context, and some formal education on the subject.
I do have a financial interest in the training on this subject, but not tied to any particular brand.
If you have a patient/victim/subject dying from both bleeding out and anaphylaxis, well, it’s just their day to go.
Seriously, with this topic, there’s no ‘there’ there. Use what you want, if approved by CoTCCC they have been vetted.