Do Participants Retain Tourniquet Skills 12 or More Weeks After Initial Hemorrhage Control Training?

Objective: The objective was to determine whether participants are able to retain tourniquet application skills over a 12 week period.

Background: Based on military research, layperson intervention in life-threatening hemorrhage can be reduce hemorrhage mortality by 85%. Teaching these skills to the layperson is the goal of numerous hemorrhage control course, but as of yet, the optimal approach to education and retention of skills is unknown.

Methods: A prospective quasi-experimental design with two different groups measured at two different times with a primary outcome to successfully apply a tourniquet to a simulated amputation.

Results: Participants in group A were able to reduce the average time to successfully apply a tourniquet, while those in group B increased their time. (p>0.130.) All of group A self-identified as having prior healthcare training, with only 20% reporting prior hemorrhage control training. 60% of group B self-identified as having prior healthcare training with 45% having prior hemorrhage control training.

Conclusions: The results highlight a trend towards maintaining effective tourniquet application skills beyond 12 weeks. The results also suggest that skill retention appears influenced by the training method and background of participants.