Do Experienced Nurses Benefit From Training on Bleeding Control in the Community Setting?

Nurses' preparedness to provide hemorrhage control aid outside of the patient care setting has not been thoroughly evaluated. We evaluated nurses' preparedness to provide hemorrhage control in the prehospital setting after a proof-of-concept training event.

We performed a secondary analysis of evaluations from a voluntary hemorrhage control training offered to a group of experienced nurses. Education was provided by a nurse certified in Stop the Bleed training and using the Basic Bleeding Control 2.0 materials. The training lasted approximately 1 hour and included a didactic portion followed by hands-on practice with task trainer legs. Participants were surveyed after training to assess their preparedness to provide hemorrhage control aid using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree); comments and feedback were also requested. Mean (SD) was used to analyze Likert scale data. Content analysis was performed to identify common themes in qualitative data.

Forty-five experienced nurses participated in the voluntary training. Nursing experience included obstetrics, pediatrics, critical care, acute care, community health, and psychiatric/mental health. Only 39% of participants reported having previously completed a similar course. After training completion, participants reported an increase in their preparedness to provide hemorrhage control aid (mean 3.47 [SD = 1.40] vs mean 4.8 SD [.04], P < .01). Major themes identified included wanting to feel prepared to help others, refreshing skills, and knowing how to respond in an emergency.

Regardless of background and experience, nurses may benefit from more advanced hemorrhage control education to prepare them to provide aid in prehospital emergency settings.