What are Global Bleeding Control Kits?

Global bkcs (GBC Kits) are portable first aid kits designed to help control severe bleeding until emergency medical assistance arrives. They contain trauma dressings, tourniquets, gloves, and instructions needed to treat life-threatening hemorrhaging from an arm, leg, neck or torso. GBC Kits aim to provide the general public and first responders with simple, easy-to-use hemorrhage control solutions.

Contents of a Typical GBC Kit

A standard GBC Kit contains:

- Trauma dressings - These thick gauze pads or bandages are used to apply pressure directly over wounds to help control bleeding. Larger kits may include multiple dressings in different sizes.

- Tourniquets - Tourniquets are thin belts used to tightly and rapidly tie off an extremity above a severe wound to restrict blood flow. Most kits contain one windlass tourniquet.

- Gloves - Latex or nitrile gloves allow the user to apply dressings and tourniquets without risk of exposure to blood or other bodily fluids.

- Instructions - Illustrated step-by-step guides teach laypersons and first responders how to properly use each item depending on the type and location of hemorrhaging.

In addition to these core supplies, some GBC Kits may also include shears for cutting clothing, markers for labeling tourniquet times, nasopharyngeal airways, and training materials like videos. Kits are packaged in small, rugged carry cases for portability during emergencies or daily activities.

Origins and Development of GBC Kits

The concept of public access Bleeding Control Kits emerged following combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military medical experts observed that most deaths from extremity wounds on the battlefield occurred from hemorrhaging in the first few minutes before the injured could receive medical treatment.

This helped popularize the still-novel principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC), which emphasized simple, rapid interventions by non-medical personnel to keep casualties alive until higher level care could be provided. Techniques like tourniquet use and direct pressure dressing that had previously been applied mainly by physicians were now taught to all warfighters.

As research validated the potential survival benefits of early hemorrhage control by laypeople and combat medics, the need to make such solutions readily available was recognized. The North American Rescue Company developed one of the first commercial GBC Kits in the late 2000s based on suggestions from medical advisors involved with the TCCC guidelines. Improved second and third generation kits soon followed.

Advocacy and dissemination efforts led by the Hartford Consensus further increased awareness of hemorrhage as the leading cause of potentially preventable death from both civilian and military trauma. This encouraged adaptation of the combat casualty care concepts for the civilian sector and mass distribution of public access bleeding control equipment. GBC Kits are now stocked worldwide by government agencies, hospitals, businesses, schools, and individual citizens.

Effectiveness in Real-World Emergencies

While clinical trials are challenging to conduct on lifesaving trauma interventions, case reports and disaster responses provide real-world examples of GBC Kits successfully controlling bleeding in pre-hospital settings:

- 2011 Arizona shooting: Off-duty medical staff at a political event applied tourniquets from a kit to multiple victims of a gunman, likely saving lives before EMS arrived.

- 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: Citizens used GBC Kits distributed by police to secure tourniquets on severed limbs and apply pressure dressings while waiting for ambulances overwhelmed by over 200 casualties.

- 2019 California synagogue shooting: Worshippers trained in stop-the-bleed techniques stemmed bleeding with a kit until the lone fatality succumbed to uncontrolled neck hemorrhaging.

- 2021 FedEx shooting: Bystanders and off-duty officers at the package sorting facility credited GBC Kits with helping treat multiple gunshot and shrapnel injuries before transport.

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