Survey: Civilians support wider access to education on how to help victims of mass casualty events

Respondents also were asked about their interest in taking a bleeding control class and their support for requiring bleeding control kits in public places. Among the respondents who were physically able to provide first aid, 82 percent said they would be “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in attending a two-hour bleeding control course.

In addition, 93 percent supported the public placement of bleeding control kits (containing gloves, tourniquets, and compression dressings).

The authors also noted strong public approval (91 percent of all surveyed) for training and equipping police officers for severe bleeding control to act as soon as possible before the arrival of EMS personnel, with 65 percent also supporting “faster access of EMS to victims in areas that may not be totally secure.”

“It takes internal fortitude to want to get involved as an immediate responder. We were overwhelmed to learn that the public is prepared to accept this responsibility,” Dr. Jacobs said. “Moving forward, we plan to use these new insights to develop a training program for the public, not just health care professionals, so civilians can learn how to act as immediate responders. We want to steer interested people toward getting the right training and to understand when victims are experiencing the signs of massive bleeding so they can ‘stop the bleed’ and save lives.”