Dr. Nicholas Kman (left) demonstrating proper tourniquet application to Kayla Borton (right), a laboratory safety compliance officer with the Wexner Medical Center, as other attendees of Thursday’s training session observe. Credit: Emma Wozniak | Arts and Life Assistant Editor
“STOP THE BLEED,” a new emergency preparedness program, has expanded its training to staff members at the Wexner Medical Center, aiming to prepare health care workers in the event of a medical emergency.
Ohio State emergency physician Nicholas Kman hosted a “STOP THE BLEED” training session Aug. 31, informing staff members of various outpatient facilities within the Wexner Medical Center on emergency preparedness skills like wound packing and applying compression. Kman said the timing of the program’s introduction to Ohio State is no coincidence as highly viewed, tragic events often influence people to request corresponding training such as this.
“As there’s more unfortunate shootings that happen, people need to be taught what to do in those situations,” Kman said. “In disaster medicine, all response is personal first.”
Though STOP THE BLEED is a nationwide campaign, assistant director of ambulatory risk and safety Deonna Hale said this was the first time the class was offered at the Wexner Medical Center.
Hale said university clinics had previously received medical emergency response training, but it wasn’t until Kman presented the STOP THE BLEED program as an initiative to expand the scope of emergency preparedness training that it took effect in the medical center.
“We want to get the training out into the community,” Hale said. “It’s something that can be useful in churches, schools, libraries, not just health care facilities. And so, our goal is to educate as many non-clinical and clinical staff across the organization so they can take that back out into the community.”
Similar to Kman, Hale also emphasized the necessity of such programs given recent events across the country, including shootings on university campuses and in stores.
“Watch the news,” Hale said. “Unfortunately, every day in the community we see opportunities where we can get in and save a life. Something as small as learning how to work a tourniquet could be a life-or-death situation.”
With the next session scheduled for this month, Hale said the STOP THE BLEED training is currently being offered to anyone within the Wexner Medical Center, with the hopes of soon expanding to include all Ohio State students.
“The program will hopefully become a train-the-trainer program, so as we get more trainers we can expand our program to reach more people,” Hale said.
Nicholas Marchal, a second-year in biomedical science and Buckeye Shadowing Club major events co-chair, said he reached out to Kman about bringing STOP THE BLEED training to students outside the College of Medicine because he feels the content is relevant to all workplaces.
“I believe that everyone has good in them and would want to help in these situations if they are able to,” Marchal said in an email. “Yet something I have found from talking to friends or reading news articles is that sometimes people just don’t know how to help.”
Marchal said he is currently in touch with Kman about setting up dates for training sessions open to the general student body, which may be available as soon as this month. Though there are currently no resources for interested students to sign up for these sessions, Marchal said he intends to change that soon.
“Once I get confirmation from Dr. K, we will begin working on creating the proper forms and advertisements, and they will likely be published on our Instagram, website and our GroupMe,” Marchal said.
Kman said he thinks it’s important for students to receive this training, even those who may feel intimidated or frightened by the intensity of its hands-on style.
“It is scary,” Kman said. “But I think it’s less scary if you know that you have the skills to help someone.”
Students can find more information on the program’s website and can stay up to date on Buckeye Shadowing Club’s training sessions on their Instagram or website.
“There’s no better preparation than being prepared,” Hale said. “The more exposure you get to the training and the equipment, the more comfortable you are, and you may be able to act quicker in a life-threatening emergency.”
