Using geographic information systems to identify Stop the Bleed training locations

The Stop the Bleed (STB) Campaign seeks to minimize preventable deaths from hemorrhage by educating community members on how to respond to life-threatening bleeding. A persistent challenge is connecting the training to individuals most at risk of witnessing a bleeding event. We hypothesize that geographic information system (GIS) software can identify STB training locations in at-risk communities and that trained individuals will be willing to respond to a bleeding event.

Publicly available shooting locations in a large urban city with a high violent crime rate were assessed for spatial clustering using ArcGIS to map "hot spots." Community training locations were colocalized on this map to identify sites in areas more likely to experience a violent event. Of eight high-risk sites identified, two were receptive to hosting a STB course, and one was chosen. Skills, knowledge, and attitudes were assessed precourse and postcourse. Knowledge, attitudes, and real-world tourniquet use were also evaluated at 1-month and 12-months.

15 community members were trained at one community center within an area with a high violent crime rate. As expected, skills improved significantly from precourse to postcourse as did knowledge. Knowledge remained improved at 1-month and 12-months compared with pre-course. Attitudes toward responding to life-threatening bleeding were more positive after the training and remained more positive at follow-up. None of the participants applied a tourniquet within 12-months of the STB course.

GIS software can identify STB training sites within high-risk communities with a receptive audience as evidenced by durable knowledge retention and favorable attitudes toward controlling hemorrhage. Future efforts should seek to identify barriers to community training site participation in STB and to further leverage GIS software to identify and train individuals most likely to be present at a life-threatening bleeding event.

Prognostic and Epidemiological, Level III.