Z-Medica introduces OTC version of Quickclot

[Jeff White]

We often have threads here about first aid kits and blow out kits for treating gunshot wounds. A product that is very good for controlling bleeding is Quickclot. Unfortunately it's make Z-Medica tries to lmit it's sale to first responders and other professionals. I carry Quickclot in the blow out kit on my plate carrier and on my RAV.

Today I received an email from Z-Medica announcing two new Quickclot products that they will market to the public. More information is available at this link:

http://www.z-medica.com/products/quikclot_sport.asp

I don't know any more about these new products then what Z-Medica says on their website, but I do trust their Quickclot. This post isn't an endorsment, I just wanted everyone to know it's available and you can do your own research and decide if a product like that fits your needs.

Jeff

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Thanks for the heads up, Jeff. I've been thinking to add some more gunshot specific first-aid gear to my range bag.

 

[ilbob]

Unfortunately it's make Z-Medica tries to lmit it's sale to first responders and other professionals.

One would think a wider audience would bring more sales.

My guess is restricting sales is a marketing scheme to eventually be able to bring technology to the masses that was previously available only to the military, first responders, and medical professionals.

 

[Jeff White]

I'm not sure what their marketing strategy is. I don't think the original Quickclot has even been approved by all the EMS boards nationwide. Perhaps some of the paramedics on the board could tell us?

Jeff

 

[P0832177]

Quik Clot is not a crutch for those not having proper training! Invest in yourself with some hands on FA training and common sense! All the geez whiz stuff in the world does not take the place of a properly trained and prepared person!

 

[torpid]

How about CELOX?

Anyone here with preferences based on experience?

 

[pax]

... and even the best-trained medic in the world cannot do much without equipment.

Two sides of the same coin.

Thanks for the heads up, Jeff.

pax

 

[roscoe]

Is this the stuff that does not heat up when contacting blood? The original QuickClot had problems with burning tissue, as I understand it.

 

[torpid]

I believe that CELOX doesn't heat up, but Quikclot still does?

 

[ShackleMeNot]

The new QuikClot is not exothermic. CELOX is not either. We currently sell CELOX in our gear store and should be selling QuikClot soon.

The price point on these products has come way, way down. Their ease of use and safety have also improved. While they are not a substitute for training and technique they are a tool that works very well at controlling severe bleeding. Good training and a well-stocked Blow Out Kit can make you better prepared to save lives. How many of you have anything in your range bag that can help treat a gunshot wound?

 

[ilbob]

Quik Clot is not a crutch for those not having proper training!

If a crutch is what saves your own or someone else's life, i would take it.

A few years ago I was chatting with a EMT about this stuff. he was opposed to using it, saying that he had better techniques available to him. I pointed out that his techniques took him 200+ hours to learn and get certified on, but just about anyone can learn to safely use this product in a few minutes. He was unconvinced.

 

[BryanP]

Interesting. Keep us updated on availability.

 

[P0832177]

Some people just do not get it! Simply put QC and other variants are for people who know what they are doing! So what if John Q Public can buy it! There is NO EXCUSE to not getting training! Toys are exactly that!

You can be the biggest gear head on the block, and it means diddly squat in real life. I have seen too many people get caught up in toys that they forget the patient.

I think a person would be better off with plan for dealing with GSW, then to be buying QC. Like how many people go to the range alone? Does your range have a locked gate to deal with? Do you know the address of the range? Do you have communication? Where is the nearest ED? Sure people can reserve the right to be their own first repsonder, but by gosh they better have an idea of what to do first! :banghead:

Just cause someone said does it make it fact? NO! You people have to invest in yourselves, a CPR class, First Aid Class, etc is easy and it has far more implications then dealing with a GSW!

 

[torpid]

You people have to invest in yourselves, a CPR class, First Aid Class, etc is easy and it has far more implications then dealing with a GSW!

Yes.

And if we already have, then can we consider adding hemostatic agents to our "bag o' tricks"?

 

[Jeff White]

P0832177,
Perhaps you are the one that doesn't get it? In what post in this thread has anyone suggested that QuickClot or any other device was a substitute for training?

You need to point that out to me in your next post because I seem to have missed it.

Why don't you tell us all what your plan for treatment of a GSW is, instead of berating the membership for not having one? How do you know that myself, pax, shackle me not or any other poster in this thread doesn't have a plan for treatment of gunshot wounds?

Tell me, when is a trained person supposed to employ a tool like QuickClot?

I think you'd better cool your jets just a little. Answer these questions before you post another rant. What do you know about the training level of anyone posting in this thread? How much training is necessary to treat a hemorrhage to save a life? I can remember learning enough about it in about 30 minutes 40 years ago in the Boy Scouts. Direct Pressure, Pressure Points, Tourniquet, and now as a last resort a hemostatic agent like QuickClot. Since then the Army taught me to treat sucking chest wounds and tension pneumothorax along with other basic combat lifesaving skills. Does that mean that I'm going to push the paramedic out of the way on an EMS call? Hardly, but I'm not going to stand by and watch someone bleed out while I wait the 20 or more minutes it might take EMS to arrive in a rural area.

I have to ask, are you really concerned about saving a life, or are you more concerned about the guidelines of some EMS board somewhere?

I think it would be more productive use of THR's bandwidth for you to tell us what training is appropriate and where one can receive it.

Jeff

 

[Len S]

ILBOB
If you see that EMT again ask him just what he has that is better especially a couple of years ago? I am a Paramedic in IL and have been since we could do paracardialcentesis. We do not even now have a better blood management tool. Gauze and elastic bandages. I had a dialysis patient whose av shunt let go. His whole white bathroom was red. he was still talking and with 3 rolls of kirlex and two elastic bandages we got him to the hospital. As a side note I have had 20-30 GSW patients in the past couple of years. Except for a head wound, who was DRT, there was very little external bleeding. A couple of stab wounds left the room looking like red paint was splashed around. Had one kid stabbed in the chest very little blood of course the blade bisected his heart.
Jeff, no where that I know of uses any form of clotting tool in the field. THat is not to say it is not happening just that I do not know of any.
Everyone who does not have some formal tranning and even better some expierence, Books dot do it all unfourtnatly, should understand every wound is not going to be a active bleeder. THere has to be a wound channel opened to the outside. A lot of the times the skinand fat self seals. THat DOES NOT mean there is no bleeding. You can bleed to death and have all the blood in your theigh and it will not deform the leg. In the abdomen it can get rigid but not always. Bleeding is not always a indicator Signs and symptoms of shock is!!!!!

DRT=DeadRightThere


Len

 

[Blakenzy]

I beleive that Z-medica authorized sales only to those PROFESSINALS with certified training and not to the general public (who may or not be trained) because of liability issues. Pouring a clotting substance into just any wound without considering the proper criteria of indications and counterindications might make a bad situation worse.

The human body is more than just a sponge full of blood.

 

[Jeff White]

Jeff, no where that I know of uses any form of clotting tool in the field. THat is not to say it is not happening just that I do not know of any.

I know the EMS people around here don't use it. It's being widely issued in the military though. In my experience gunshot wounds to the extremities are the ones that are going to involve arterial bleeding. The GSWs and stabbings I've seen in the torso didn't bleed much at all considering the severity of the injury.

Jeff

 

[allmons]

Certified trauma nurse here -

We don't use it in the hospital, but we can deliver 15 - 25 units of blood while a surgeon finds and stops the bleeding. It is an excellent product and I have been following it's use for several years. As a paramedic noted above, the only thing you have in the field is direct pressure dressings ( MAST compression trousers have been out of favour for some time ), so anyone who arbitrarily dismisses QuickClot or Celox is not using all the brain cells God gave them.

As far as training, most of my friends and shooting buddies are ex-military, which means SOME level of emergency wound care. Many of us have also been through Law Enforcement Training, EMT certification courses, Nurse and Physician Trauma courses and on and on.

Not all us gunnies are ignorant slobs.

 

[Sistema1927]

I just obtained a large pack of Celox for the first aid kit that I carry to the range, and whenever I am in the boonies. I figure that it and a couple of large compression bandages may make the difference in the case of a gunshot wound.

I am hoping that I throw it away three years from now.

(Yes, I just completed my bi-annual first aid and CPR certification through my work.)

 

[Jim March]

Can I ask a question here?

My med skills are pretty basic - civilian-grade first aid. But I've done some reading since, I tend to do OK in an emergency, I've had to do first aid a few times and long term wound care a couple more - on myself and one other. No lives on the line but, good outcomes.

My understanding is that in a serious bleeding case, if it's not me hurt, with my bare hands I'm likely to be able to keep the liquids in ONE victim.

One.

If there's a multiple casualty situation, I'm screwed if all I have is hands. Now we get into hastily rigged tourniquets and the like, and having to risk people losing limbs.

THAT is where QC or similar starts to look damned smart if the main alternative is tourniquets.

Now, this is assuming an urban area where help IS on the way and I can simply keep applying hand pressure until relieved by a pro. Under such circumstances, and one victim, I believe plain ol' hands are better than QC.

In a situation where it's just one or two people trying to transport the injured long distances, again, QC looks smart if there's no other choice. Risky? Yeah. Got a better answer? I sure don't.

Have I basically got this right?

 

[thebaldguy]

Wouldn't something like this be a good addition to a first aid kit? I think something like this could save a life in an emergency situation with no medical help around.

 

[alucard0822]

Being hurt far from where you can get immediate medical attention can really slow you down, or worse. With QuikClot® Sport™ you can stop bleeding fast, bleeding that might otherwise be difficult to control. With bleeding under control, you can seek medical attention – then let the adventure continue.

I have had standard DOD and FD training, I keep a basic aid kit at home, and in my vehicle and am about as prepared as i guess i can be. Quick clot "fixes" nothing, and does require basic instruction. it is intended to buy you time in case of life threatening bleeding. In a case where I am far away from medical assistance (hunting, boating, hiking and so on) an extra 10 min can save a life. We often argue that in case of trouble (robbery, break-in or so) a phone will allow the police a good chance to collect evidence and catch your murderer, but a trained and prepared gun owner has the power to not become a victim in the first place. THR and the pro-gun movement in general are about empowering citizens to have the tools to proactively defend lives, turn the tide of fate, and to be self sufficient enough in an emergency to save a life. This is just another tool that could help some people including myself living the Independent lifestyle.

p.s. I think they got Geraldo to write their web page

 

[hso]

There's no question that gear is not a substitute for training and knowledge, but no one has suggested that gear is an alternative to training.

My wife's a Nurse Practioner. We have trained in first aid/CPR, advanced first aid, backcountry first responder and we've taken training on GSW field care. The trainer for the GSW field care was an SF medic before he became a big city EMT and is a consultant conducting training and setting up care facilities for the State Department in less than perfectly safe 3rd world countries.

He uses Quickclot and advocates its use when other methods have failed to staunch blood loss. That's when other methods have failed, not instead of other methods.

It's another tool like curlex and pressure dressings.

The new QC sponges look like a very handy new tool as well.

If someone has specific problems with QC I'd like to hear them.

 

[swatmedic]

THAT is where QC or similar starts to look damned smart if the main alternative is tourniquets

.

I am am medic on a regional SWAT team and may have something to add here. If your victim has a gun shot wound to an extremity, and the bleeding can not be controlled by direct pressure and bulky dressings, then the best treatment to control bleeding is a tourniquet. Tighten the tq just until the point that bleeding stops. Hemostatic agents such as quickclot, and hemocon are designed to be used in massive wounds to areas that a tourniquet can not be applied (think shotgun wound to abdomen).
I would suggest that a quality tourniquet such as the CAT be included in your kit, as well as several combat type bandages. For the non medics I would suggest the newer version of Quickclot ACS. the newer formulation has the agent enclosed in a large sponge, and does not have the exothermic complications as the original