Overreacting

The agency I work for recently gave me a second trauma kit and some more rudimentary training in how to use it in case of gun shots, knife wounds, loss of consciousness, a tension pneumothorax, etc.

The first kit they gave us includes a nasopharyngeal airway, a decompression needle and both kits include Quickclot combat gauze, a tourniquet, Isreali bandages and a couple of other first aid items.

The Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) class I attended included watching videos of blood clotting agents utilized on piggies (not toes, the animals) and instructions on how to use all the gadgetry in the kit. Last week, I got a new kit and some videos on how to self apply the tourniquet in a tactical setting and how to apply the "Isreali bandage".

So, I was all ready to apply my new skills yesterday when Abigail came into the house with blood dripping onto the floor. She had been working on cutting some tree branches with her knife when she cut her finger.

I followed her into the bathroom where she began to run the wound under water. Since it was still bleeding, I got her some tissue and told her she needed to put some direct pressure onto it.

I then began to assess her. Maybe a little too vigorously.

She was breathing fine....airway, breathing, check......
No cyanosis in the lips or fingers, so her circulation must be fine.......
The blood flow was checked..........
I asked her if she hurt anywhere else...
"No", she said, irritably.
I asked if she needed to sit down or is she was feeling faint. It wasn't bleeding that much, but she could be going into volemic shock. She is small..........
I checked to see if the color was drained from her face. I looked for other injuries. Maybe I should get my trauma kit out.....


"DAD!" She finally said. "You are acting like I cut myself in half!"

I left he alone after that.

It seems when we get a new set of skills and tools that we are excited about, we can overreact in our application of them.