Your doctor, nurse practitioner, physicians assistant or veterinarian can prescribe or just give it to you. But it's unlikely that they'd do that, unless they know you very well, know you have had training and experience, and trust you.

Our vet knows my wife is a nurse practitioner, ran the ICU and the ER at a level 1 trauma center, I'm an (ex) paramedic, and we both ran an ambulance service for many years. They send us home with IV supplies, injectable meds, etc. for our pets all the time (this same vet has taken care of our pets for many decades and obviously we know each other well).

It sounds like you are one of the better preppers we have here on ETS. I'd recommend that you take an EMT class and get certified. Become friends with your physician adviser (most likely this person will be an ER physician). Do some volunteer EMT work in the ER, or better yet paid work if they have it. Your knowledge will increase exponentially and so will your personal contacts for things like, "Hey, can I have a bag of NS, a drip set, and an 18ga?"

If you are traveling overseas to remote areas, (mountaineering trips, mission trips, Peace Corps) and have some training, find Doctors who do the same kind of adventures, they are likely to supply you with all kinds of stuff.

For life-threatening extremity bleeding, a tourniquet applied correctly and immediately is the most likely way to save a life, at least according to CoTCCC. Medical professionals have many more tools and skills than I do and I won't second-guess them once they arrive; but as someone who isn't a medical professional I want to carry the tools and practice the skills that are most likely to solve problems.

The SWAT-T is better than nothing. Light, small, and inexpensive, it also takes two hands and significant effort to get full occlusion, and I've broken a few in training.

The CAT can be applied one-handed (for self-aid) and is easy to use correctly. Having trained quite a bit with both I made the space in my laptop bag to carry a CAT.

If you are not trained to use a tourniquet, go get trained.

Thank you. I strive to work out problems I foresee.

If you look at my profile, you will see I am disabled. Even volunteer work would be a challenge. Let me explain. In 2005, Timberlawn diagnosed me as having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It is especially difficult for me to ride in a car. I'm fine on buses and trains [That's one of the reasons I love Dallas. I could get around]. I do okay on the backroads; anything more than a couple of blocks on the main road, I would need 1 MG of Lorazepam before the trip. Due to the nature of the medication, I must use it sparingly. It is for that reason I limit my travel and have most things delivered.

If anyone is wondering how I can bug out under these conditions, I can be in a car all day if I take 1 MG of Lorazepam, 2 MG if I have to be in mid-air in an overcrowded plane. Again, I have to be careful. Lorazepam is not the type of medication that I can take more several days in a row. Otherwise, it will not be as effective.

Anyhow, for the time being, I don't see how I can get the I.V. training or supplies as much as I would love that. I try to focus on everything else I can do even if there is only a slight chance it would come in handy. I also considered getting a suture/syringe kit, that Westerners bring with them when traveling to third-world nations, on the off chance I run into someone who knows the procedure but lacks the sterile equipment.

Jeanette Isabelle

Ouch! You make a good argument for not using the SWAT Tourniquet.


Fortunately, the C-A-T has a training version.

Jeanette Isabelle

I’m by no means an expert on tourniquets, but make sure you get a real one and not a fake. The SkinnyMedic guy in the video below indicates there are a lot of fake TQ’s on the market. STOP Buying Fake CAT Tourniquets The video is a little light on determining real from fake.

Although I was trained in my FA class to make a TQ in the field, including the windlass, that’s difficult to apply to one’s self -- possibly down to one hand, possibly not thinking clearly through pain and shock...

There are a lot of TQ’s available on Amazon. Is the TQ at: CAT Combat Application Tourniquet - GEN 7 (Gray Time-stamp) , recommended?

What brand name is recommended?

I don't have experience with any tourniquet, though I own a few SWAT Tourniquets. I hear more good things about the C-A-T from trusted sources, even on this forum. Another tourniquet that has received almost as many rave reviews is the SOFTT-W.

https://www.chinookmed.com/05189/softt-w-tourniquet.html

I heard arguments for both as to which is better. I've seen videos to back it up; you can apply the C-A-T a split second faster. The SOFTT-W, because of its materials, is less likely to be damaged; I never heard of a C-A-T breaking.

I would make the case it comes down to what environment are you using the tourniquet. If you are in the Battle of Armageddon (where everything that can go wrong will go wrong), give the SOFTT-W a serious consideration. For my situation, I think the C-A-T would be best.

Jeanette Isabelle

Which of those TQ’s is easier to apply to one’s self. As as example, in the video the guy applies the TQ to his left arm using only one hand.

In the Wilderness First Aid course we learned to fabricate a tourniquet from available items. IIRC I used a triangle bandage and don’t recall what was used as a windlass, but that too can be fabricated; it’s not rocket science. However, the TQ’s were being applied to another student in the class and not to ourselves. The ability to apply one to your own arm using only one hand, is a good reason to carry and practice with a purpose built item.

All this emphasis on tourniquets puzzles me. In 40 years of SAR work, 15 of which was quite intensive, I never had occasion to apply a tourniquet, nor did i ever hear of one being applied. And we had plenty of bleeding wounds, almost all stopped by direct pressure, perhaps aided with a pressure bandage. Multiple, bleeding traumas were common. The worst case I recall was an arm amputation at the shoulder (ran into a moving rear helo rotor), probably clamped by involuntary muscle pressure - a good thing because there was literally no stub for a T site.

Ts seem to be very popular in combat settings. i speculate that this is because those situations are radically different from civilian accident settings in all sorts of ways. The prudent combat first responder needs to keep a low profile, is likely to be dealing with more than one patient, probably multiple injuries per patient, and needs a quick fix. While experienced in civilian accident scenes, I have no combat experience.

Just wondering that T's are useful in combat zones, but are not necessarily appropriate in relatively gentler conditions. I generally have the means to improvise a T, but for me, in the situations I have experienced, Ts are entirely too specialized to justify their inclusion in a FAK, at least one carried by a responder on foot, deep in the woods, in most situations.

A TQ does not weigh much, does not cost a lot, does not take up much space. It can be used to improvise a splint, to aid in constructing an effective pressure bandage, in addition to its intended purpose. I look at it this way: it is unlikely that I will need it in civilian life but when I do need it it will prevent a catastrophic result.

In my small trauma kit I carry a nasal pharyngeal airway, compressed gauze, an elastic wrap, a triangular bandage and a TQ. My larger trauma kits just have more of the same, along with chest seals, larger bandages and a decompression needle (yes I have the training), and shears.

Most people do not realize how much pressure is required to stop serious bleeding.

Yes, most of my training and experience is focused on combat zone needs.