Battlefield injuries can be the most difficult emergencies to deal with, requiring both immediate treatment and properly trained clinical professionals to perform under intense pressure. Severe hemorrhaging is usually the greatest threat to an injured soldier’s life and tourniquets have been used in countless situations to save life, if not limb. Severe bleeding in places where a traditional tourniquet cannot be applied requires constant focused pressure delivered to the wound site. The Combat Ready Clamp was introduced recently for just such situations, but SAM Medical out of Wilsonville, Oregon worked with Ziba, a design consultancy, to developed its own device that was created to be smaller, easier to apply, and to be deployable in less than 30 seconds.
The SAM Junctional Tourniquet weighs less than a pound and folds into a neat package that can be carried by soldiers. It’s strapped around the wounded person like a belt, with the round pressure point positioned atop the wound. Once in place, a pump, similar to ones used in manual blood pressure measuring units, is used to deliver the needed pressure to the wound. The entire process can be performed in less than 25 seconds with little initial training, and doesn’t require terribly steady hands while the platoon is continuing to take on fire. Here’s a quick video presenting the SAM Junctional Tourniquet:
Flashback: Combat Ready Clamp Cleared for Stopping Acute Bleeding…
Info page: SAM Junctional Tourniquet…
Product page: SAM Junctional Tourniquet…
Link: Training video for the SAM Junctional Tourniquet…
(hat tip: Wired)
