Review: Dark Angel Medical Stop The Bleed Online Course

Taking a Stop The Bleed course will educate you about how to properly care for wounds that have profuse bleeding. Not all wounds will need tourniquets, and by taking a Stop The Bleed course, you’ll understand how wounds work and why certain methods are best for certain types of wounds.

If you’re unable to find a Stop The Bleed class in person, this introductory online course by Dark Angel Medical is a great introduction and it’s FREE. This online class doesn’t take the place of an in-person class or physical training. These videos offer the groundwork and basic knowledge to familiarize you with terms and the basics of Stop The Bleed. I highly encourage you to take an in person class when you find one available. Dark Angel Medical offers in person classes. You can also find classes through Eventbrite, just search for ‘stop the bleed’.

All of the videos are short and to the point, which is nice for the general viewer and to get the knowledge quickly without a lot of fluff. The entirety of the course can be watched in 30 minutes or less.

The webpage has all the videos on one page and while it looks like they organized it into a specific order, you can watch them in any order and get the necessary information.

Below I’m going to briefly make notes about each video.

Here are key notes about each Stop The Bleed video:

*these aren’t the actual videos, these are just screencaps of the videos, head to their website to watch the videos

Part 1:

1. Talks about why we would use a tourniquet
2. Get a dedicated trainer tourniquet as your actual tourniquets could stretch out
3. ‘High and tight’, in reference to where to place the tourniquet
4. He busts the myth that tourniquets cause more damage than good
5. Train with it
6. Talks about placement on the arm

Part 2:

1. The main concern is to get the tourniquet on as quickly as possible, it’s a ‘hasty’ tourniquet, the actual medics can replace it
2. This part talks about placement on the leg
3. Tourniquet to be used on an extremity, such as arm or leg, only to stop that bleed
4. it will be painful
5. Some tourniquets won’t work on bigger arms or legs, may need an additional tourniquet. *I wish they had shown how to connect another tourniquet

Wound packing intro:

1. Where to pack a wound? Neck, armpits, groin areas that we can’t put a tourniquet
2. Put gloves on
3. Get the wound packing dressing out
4. Probe the wound, make sure there’s nothing that can hurt you when you pack the wound (like shrapnel)
5. Get down to the source of the wound and use a ‘sewing machine’ method
6. Just because you have it, doesn’t mean it’s going to work when you need it to, without training

Space blanket:

1. Get patient into recovery position
2. Tuck under, roll patient back
3. Grab the blanket and make sure the blanket is all the way underneath
4. Put patient back into recovery position, always make sure airway is open
5. Always reassess patient

Intro to SOFTT-W

1. Shows another type of tourniquet
2. Quick disconnect buckle
3. Shows placement on an arm and leg

Applying a chest seal:

1. Use a non-venting seal over a wound that’s less likely to vent (a smaller wound)
2. Vented seal would go over a bigger wound, wound that is actively or passively venting
3. If you only have a non-vented seal and there are signs of pressure build up, just ‘burp’ it, then seal back up
4. If unconscious, lay down on bad side, good side up

As far as general knowledge and groundwork is concerned, this certainly offers a lot of insight into how to properly Stop The Bleed in a variety of ways.

Is it worth it?

As far as free courses go, I would recommend this course for anyone looking to get some basic understanding of how to Stop The Bleed.

Again, this does not replace an actual in person class nor any other physical training that you can do, even on your own. I think one of the main take-aways from this, outside of training often, is to get a trainer tourniquet so you’re not stretching out and potentially damaging your actual tourniquet(s).

Having the proper first aid supplies is a great first start. The second step, and probably the most important, is to get training and to consistently practice. Use all resources that are available to you, even if you need to invest some money.

When the time comes to use this gear, you’ll be happy you took the time to invest in your training.

Go take a look at all that Dark Angel Medical has to offer.