Our research team conducted a study to investigate the factors that lead to retention of emergency bleed control training given during the U.S. Department of Defense’s Stop the Bleed program. In the event of a mass casualty incident such as a school shooting, it is important and beneficial for people to know how to react properly, feel confident enough in their knowledge, and participate with the assistance of others in a high stress environment. To review Wayne State University’s current emergency preparedness policies and procedures, we searched the school’s official website under the section labeled ‘Campus Safety’, from there we were given access to the schools’ campus safety information and resources. The information was accessible through categories including: Broadcast Messaging, Police Department, Crisis Preparedness, and Campus Resources. After reading though each category we decided to pull the information we found to be most relevant to our ‘Stop the Bleed’ research study, which was how the school prepares their students for crisis situations and how the WSU Police Department prepares students in the event of a school shooting or mass casualty situation. 

 

The training given through Stop the Bleed courses does not only adhere to mass casualty situations, but also to other, more common emergencies such as car accidents or workplace incidents. Through this training, a person gains the ability to potentially save a life through learning proper tourniquet usage and wound packing techniques. Pasley et al. (2018) directly aligns with aim 3 for our research, which is to examine the long-term effects of bleed control training, including retention of knowledge. The study found that 60% of participants were able to remember proper tourniquet application after 30 days, which establishes a point of comparison for our research. The limitation of this study is the sample size, which is significantly smaller than the sample for which our research is aiming. In this way, our study will work to expand on the findings of this study. 

 

However, the effectiveness of Stop the Bleed training relies on the participants’ retention of the information they learn from taking the course. People can only help in a real emergency if they remember the training after taking the course. Previous research has shown that Stop the Bleed training participants have generally low long-term retention of training (Pasley et al., 2018). Our study examined the different factors that contribute to retention in participates so that Stop the Bleed training can be more efficient in teaching people important, life-saving skills.