Americans express broad support for initiatives to train and equip first responders and the public to render first aid for bleeding control in mass casualty incidents. Large majorities also say they personally would be likely to give such aid – especially if training and supplies were available.

There are compunctions: Six in 10 or more cite the risk of causing additional pain or injury, being responsible for a bad outcome or exposure to disease as impediments to aiding trauma victims. Yet for many, the desire to help outweighs these concerns.

These results from a national survey for the Hartford Consensus are forthcoming in an article in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, written by Lenworth M. Jacobs, MD; Karyl J. Burns, RN, Ph.D.; Gary Langer; and Chad Kiewiet de Jonge, Ph.D.

Dr. Jacobs leads the Hartford Consensus, a group of trauma surgeons and other concerned professionals formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in December 2012. The group seeks to enhance the survivability of intentional mass casualty events by improving emergency treatment of severe bleeding, one of the leading causes of death in trauma victims.

The survey was produced by Langer Research Associates; the original report is available here.

Gary Langer presented the results at the Hartford Consensus IV meeting on Jan. 8 in Dallas to participants including Kathryn Brinsfield, MD, Assistant Secretary, Health Affairs, of the Department of Homeland Security; Frank Butler, MD, Chairman of the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care at the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Trauma System; Richard Carmona, MD, former Surgeon General of the United States; William Fabbri, MD, Director of Emergency Medical Services for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; David Hoyt, MD, Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons; Andrew Warshaw, MD, immediate Past President of the American College of Surgeons; Jonathan Woodson, MD, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs; and other leaders in the field.

Follow these links for the journal abstract, a news release by the American College of Surgeons and the proceedings of the Hartford Consensus IV. The survey has been reported by several health-related news outlets, including Reuters, U.S. News and World Report and Science Daily.