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What's an IFAK? (and why do you need one)
Individual first aid kits, sometimes called IFAKs, are equipped with supplies to treat a single person suffering from severe bleeding. The acronym “individual first aid kit” comes from military terminology for kits issued to soldiers in WWII.To get more news about quickclot combat gauze, you can visit rusuntacmed.com official website.
What goes in an IFAK?
Choosing the contents of an IFAK depends on several factors—what is the level of training required, the willingness to learn and where will the kit be located? Regardless, every IFAKs should include some form of the following products:
1. Tourniquets: The single most critical piece of life-saving equipment in the event of penetrating trauma to an extremity, and probably the best investment in emergency medical gear for any trauma kit.
Selecting the best tourniquet for your needs can be confusing. Windlass style tourniquets such as the CAT (Combat Application Tourniquet) and the SOFTT-W are most popular in military and law enforcement, while products such as the SWAT-T may be more intuitive and faster to apply for untrained bystanders. Functionally, they all work to stem arterial bleeding from an extremity. Whichever you choose, it is recommended you become familiar with the tourniquet, practicing on others and yourself, before you need it.
2. Wound Packing Gauze:Effective wound packing involves forcing gauze into the wound cavity and maintaining direct pressure until bleeding stops. There are two types of wound packing gauze, referred to as conventional and hemostatic.
Conventional gauze relies on physical pressure to constrict blood flow -- the more gauze that is packed into the wound, the less room for blood to flow out.
Hemostatic gauze is impregnated with a hemostatic agent which accelerates clotting and can reduce the amount of time direct pressure must be applied to an arterial bleed. The downside of hemostatic agents is the higher price and the expiration date (generally a five-year shelf life).
3. Pressure Dressing and Bandages: Designed to be applied after the wound is packed with gauze. They work by further restricting blood flow from a penetrating wound by applying pressure over the injury and holding the wound packing gauze in place. The product choices range from an elastic bandage (think ACE wrap) to more sophisticated designs with military origins.
In a school situation, rolled bandages such as the NAR Responder, which has a hook-and-loop closure, or the NAR Control Wrap, which has a special feature to prevent the bandage from accidentally unrolling during application, are intuitive and proven.
Other designs, such as the Olaes Bandage, incorporate wound-packing material (gauze) along with a bandage for the ability to apply direct pressure to a wound site and to cover/protect the wound. The popular Israeli Bandage consolidates multiple first-aid devices -- primary dressing, pressure applicator, secondary dressing, and a foolproof closure apparatus to secure the bandage in place.