QuikClot Advanced Clotting Gauze
QuikClot belongs in every first aid kit you own – full stop. These are compact and lighweight, so they take up very little room in your kit. I keep a basic kit in each of our vehicles, my range bag, and my classroom. My wife and I have built out a much more comprehensive kit for our home since we live 20 minutes from the nearest hospital. QuikClot is in each and every one.
QuikClot gauze is impregnated with kaolin, which is a compound that activates fibers in the blood plasma, making them sticky and trapping platelets to stop the bleeding. This is the same technology that the U.S. military uses in its IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit) that it issues to all troops.
This product could buy time for paramedics to arrive in the event of a serious injury, especially if the accident occurs in a remote area. Even when an injury is not life threatening, stopping the bleeding helps put the victim’s mind at ease and prevents shock. It is incredible how much certain wounds can bleed even when the cut doesn’t seem that serious. I once cut my elbow with a pair of gas-powered hedge trimmers. It hardly hurt at all and only needed three or four stitches, but my sidewalk looked like a murder scene from all the blood.
Each strip is 3″ wide by 24″ long, so they’re long enough to wrap around an arm or leg to help keep pressure on the wound while the clotting agent is working. There are two strips to a package. At around $20, this product seems pricey compared to some other basic items that you would keep in a first aid kit, but QuikClot is worth its weight in gold when you need it.
