PHILADELPHIA — It doesn't take a health professional to save the life of someone bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound or other traumatic injury. Any bystander can undertake a series of crucial first steps until an expert reaches the scene.
These can include using a low-tech tool that's been around since the early days of medicine: a tourniquet.
Experts recommend an in-person training session before using one of the straplike devices, which must be wound so tightly around an arm or leg that it cuts off the flow of blood. But for those who have not had a hands-on lesson, the American College of Surgeons offers an online version of its "Stop the Bleed" curriculum at stopthebleed.org.
