Major Bleeds and Haemorrhage

Knife crime is still prevalent in today’s society, so knowing what to do if the situation occurs is always handy.

A major bleed can be caused by numerous things – internally and externally.

A hemorrhage is a term used to refer to a large amount of bleeding in a small amount of time.

There are three types of bleed;

	Recognition	Amount of Blood Loss
Capillary Bleed	Blood oozes from capillaries and is easily controlled. This is a common type of bleed.	Small
Venous Bleed	Blood from a vein flows steadily or gushes from the wound; this is easier to control than arterial bleeding. However, if the cut is deep, it could act in the same way.	Small to Large
Arterial Bleed	Blood gushes from the wound, and you could lose a lot of blood very quickly, leading this to be life threatening. This type of bleed takes precedence over anything else because if the person is still breathing but losing a lot of blood, they won’t be breathing for long. This is very difficult to control and will likely require a tourniquet.	Massive

So we have identified the bleed – what do we do now?

Always start with the Primary Survey. However, there may be a slight difference this time…

Danger
Response
– Is there a massive, hemorrhagic bleed, which will kill them within minutes, that you need to deal with first?
Airway?
Breathing
CPR (if required)

Dealing with a Massive (Haemorrhagic) Bleed

Sit or Lay the patient down
Examine the wound
Elevate the wound above the heart
Apply direct pressure – don’t be gentle!
If the direct pressure is not working, consider the use of a tourniquet

Call 999 as soon as possible

Want to know more? Attend a training course which covers this topic:

QA Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work (QCF)

QA Level 2 Award in Emergency First Aid At Work (QCF)

QA Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (QCF)