PS2-03: STOP THE BLEED: SKILLS ALL INCOMING MEDICAL STUDENTS SHOULD LEARN
Brienne C Lubor, BS, Cara L Berkowitz, BA, Nidal Sholi, BA, Paolo de Angelis, BA, Lauren Tufts, BA, Mayur Narayan, MD, MPH, MBA, MHPE, FACS, FCCM, FICS; Weill Cornell Medical College

Background: Uncontrolled bleeding is one of the leading causes of preventable death. There is an urgent need to educate bystanders in bleeding control techniques.  Stop The Bleed (STB) is a basic bleeding control course to educate the public. We hypothesized that conducting a session for our incoming first year medical students would improve likelihood of student response in emergency situations.

Methods: STB course entailed a 30-minute didactic session and a one-hour simulation session of bleeding control management, including wound compression, packing, and tourniquet application. Students completed pre- and post-training surveys. Survey questions were based on a 5-point Likert scale from zero (extremely unlikely/unconfident) to four (extremely likely/confident) and analyzed with Chi-square tests for categorical variables, and student t-test or ANOVA for continuous variables. Themes were generated from interviews conducted with trainees.

Results: 106 first year students participated in STB. 102 participants (96%) completed pre and post-training surveys. 93% of students reported having no bleeding control training prior to medical school. Post-training surveys demonstrated that after training, participants felt more confident about responding to emergency medical situations (p < 0.001), ability to stop bleeding (p < 0.001), applying pressure to wounds (p <0.001), packing bleeding wounds (p <0.001), and using tourniquets (p < 0.001). Participants also reported they were more likely to help someone who had been hurt (p < 0.001). Four major themes emerged from interaction with trainees: 1] enthusiasm about learning new skills 2] confidence building through hands-on training 3] peer-mentoring where first year students learned from senior medical students and 4] willingness to train other students and perform community service.

Discussion: Our study marked the first time an entire incoming medical school class was trained in basic bleeding control. We observed that incoming students have little training and low confidence in their ability to manage acute bleeding. Our data suggest that STB sessions significantly increase medical students’ likelihood of responding to an emergency situation and confidence in appropriate emergency responses and bleeding control techniques. These life-saving skills should be taught to every student entering medical school.