The safety and efficacy of improvised tourniquets in life-threatening hemorrhage: a systematic review

The increased incidence of mass casualty incident (MCI) with penetrating injuries in the civilian setting creates a call for implementing devices, such as a tourniquet (TQ), in civilian first aid. Bystanders could act as immediate responders after an MCI in order to prevent a victim from exsanguination using direct pressure or commercial tourniquets (C-TQ). Reports have shown that immediate access to C-TQs was not available and bystanders used...