Buying A Tourniquet

I am married to an ex-healthcare professional. I call her FLAG here as her call sign. She worked in a hospital and kept our many kids alive through their childhoods. So I have been around the medical field, but really have a limited training and experience. My son is an EMT and so I hear his stories and opinion on certain operations and gear. What I’m trying to say is I have to go other places for my medical information.
I am interested in tourniquets and in using them. This information comes from what I consider a credible source.
As usual, I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. I present this so that you may choose the tourniquets you want to purchase and learn to use.

Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) Guidelines and civilian EMS
Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) guidelines for the use of tourniquets.
All sources of bleeding should be controlled. A CoTCCC recommended limb tourniquet should be used to control life-threatening external hemorrhage or for any traumatic amputation. It is recommended to apply the tourniquet directly to the skin two to three inches above the injury. If the bleeding does not stop with the first tourniquet, a second tourniquet should be applied side-by-side with the first. For those injuries in which a limb tourniquet is not possible, a junctional tourniquet should be used.
As with any intervention, it is important to reassess the tourniquet to make sure that it has not slipped out of place or lost constriction integrity. Ensure that the hemorrhage is controlled. If bleeding continues or a distal pulse remains, consider tightening the tourniquet or use an additional tourniquet side-by-side with the first tourniquet. Then reassess to ensure that both bleeding and the distal pulse have ceased.
• Limb and junctional tourniquets should be replaced by hemostatic or pressure dressings as soon as possible if all of the following criteria is met:
• The patient is not in shock
• It is possible to monitor the wound closely for bleeding
• The tourniquet is not being used to control hemorrhage from an amputated extremity
Every effort should be made to convert tourniquets in less than two hours if bleeding can be controlled by other means. If possible, clearly mark all tourniquet sites with the time that the tourniquet was applied.
The CoTCCC 2014 guidelines approved the following limb and junctional tourniquets for military use:
• Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT)
• Special Operations Forces Tourniquet-Tactical (SOFTT)
• Emergency and Military Tourniquet
• Combat Ready Clamp (Croc) (junctional)
• Junctional Emergency Treatment Tool (JETT)
• SAM® Junctional Tourniquet.

I hope this was valuable information for you. I have always been partial to the SOFTT tourniquet only because it’s what I had in the military. They are not cheap in comparison. There is another that is much cheaper and I think just as good. The CAT. It’s the top of this list and it’s about 1/3 the price of the SOFTT.
Learn to use tourniquets properly and then make an informed decision. I think every first aid kit should have at least 1 tourniquet. Tourniquets used to be a “last resort” procedure. With combat medicine learning and experiencing so much during middle-east combat tourniquets have saved countless lives when used correctly.

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