Project BLEED (Blood Loss Estimation and Evaluation Determinants) is part of the larger project and research initiative Stop the Bleed. BLEED investigates visual blood loss estimation. These estimations are used in several medical situations and by laypersons present at incident sites, but both professionals and novices have been shown to often understate large volumes of blood. The cases involving massive bleeding are the clinically relevant ones, since majority of deaths in traumatic injury and blood loss happen in the prehospital setting. There are also few relevant studies performed on blood loss estimation. The aim of the current project work is to develop requisites for performing robust and validated studies on blood loss estimation and evaluation. A system for showing video sequences of simulated bleeding incidents has been developed. The system functions also as a data collection tool, and the system will be further developed for e.g. controlling of experiments with different variables such as different surfaces on where the blood accumulates and bleeding frequency.
I was introduced to disaster medicine through a presentation by a KMC researcher, and today I find it rewarding to work within health care and with medical education of laypersons
