Stop the Bleed - Collaborative Initiative Improving Bystander Response to Trauma

Abstract

Session H presented Friday, September 28, 2:30-3:30 pm Purpose: After the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) developed policy to increase survival from active shooter events. Termed the Hartford Consensus, the policy advances a bleeding control curriculum called “Stop the Bleed” (STB). The Consensus calls for diverse stakeholders; from emergency medical organizations to Boy and Girl Scouts; to disperse the Hartford Consensus curriculum to improve bystander resilience to act as first responders. Design: A group of nursing students, faculty and emergency nurses implemented the STB curriculum to address the public health threat of injury in active shooter events. The group partnered with a trauma program in Southeastern Louisiana and engaged other emergency stakeholders: the School of Nursing university and the local chapters of the Emergency Nursing Association and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society. Setting: The project was implemented in a parish of Southeastern Louisiana. This parish is the residence of a university and its partner trauma center. Louisiana has the second highest homicide and the third highest firearm death rates in the country. Educational settings have the second highest incidence of active shooter events, thus the first site chosen for implementation was the campus community of the university. After the November 2017 active shooter event at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a large church reached out for training to the student faculty member and therefore a second training was conducted as part of the project. Participants/Subjects: The local population is approximately 130,000 residents. The university campus community of interest has a student enrollment of over 14,000 and employs over 1,600 faculty and support staff. Of the registered attendees at the University training 50% were students, 6% healthcare professional, 21% faculty and 23% other. The church community has a membership of approximately 500 members. Methods: A national survey in 2015 conducted by the Hartford Consensus group found that training and supplies improve the lay public’s willingness to render immediate aid to victims of active shooter events. The STB curriculum teaches principles of immediate response using the simple structure of the “ABC’s of Bleeding”. The program is about an hour in length and includes hand-on practice for control of bleeding through proper tourniquet and pressure dressings use. Bleeding control kits were provided to the training sites that included gloves, tourniquets, pressure dressings and commercial quick clot dressing. Results/Outcomes: Bleeding control training was provided to 57 community members, and 12 bleeding control kits were donated to the scholastic and religious community sites. The events were covered by local news and those interested training referred to the trauma center project partner. The community based, grassroots effort to disseminate the ACS/COT Stop the Bleed training continues to be a valuable outreach initiative for emergency providers to improve outcomes from active shooter events. Implications: Emergency nurses must incorporate injury prevention education into their practice in collaboration with interprofessional colleagues. Current STB instructors train eligible emergency providers to disseminate the curriculum. The Hartford Consensus goal is increase survival through enhancement of citizen resilience and emergency nurses are integral to this effort.