Funded Projects

Equipping Schools to Stop the Bleed

Project Year

2023

City & State

Providence, Rhode Island

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Injury & Violence (LHI)

Program Description

Problem, Setting, and Children Affected Firearm violence is a significant issue in the United States, with firearm-related mortality becoming the #1 cause of death in children and adolescents (age 1-19 years) in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in overall firearm violence. However, the likely multifactorial reasons for this increase have not been elucidated. We therefore cannot assume that the calming of the COVID-19 pandemic will decrease firearm violence. Policy level change has unfortunately been haphazard since before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the partisan coloring of firearm control leading to a revolving door of grief, anger, activism, deflection, and inaction. Firearm violence continues to have a devastating impact on social, psychological, and economic levels. School shootings, though they account for <2% of youth homicides, bring this devastation to families, schools, and entire communities. After the tragedy of Sandy Hook, Stop the Bleed was formed by a national consortium of medical associations and military branches to bring hemorrhage control training to the public. While some states have started implementing Stop the Bleed, there remains much room for improvement. States have passed policies requiring training and/or kits for schools (staff and/or students), first responders, and/or the general public, though not necessarily all of the above at once. To our knowledge, Rhode Island has no state policies requiring or supporting Stop the Bleed implementation. The Rhode Island Medical Reserve Corps (RI DMAT/MRC) is the state’s sole provider of Stop the Bleed training. Thus far, individual police departments, schools, businesses, and colleges have received training upon reaching out to the RI DMAT/MRC, but plans for statewide efforts were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Goal and Intervention Given that firearm mortality rates peak in late adolescence/early adulthood, our current goal is to train a representative group of staff in at least five Rhode Island public high schools, and to place hemorrhage control kits in each of these schools. Our first round of training will be geared towards school nurses, who will be trained in Stop the Bleed at the Training, Innovation, and Leadership Institute through the RI DMAT/MRC. We will conduct pre and post surveys that assess the impact of the training, including relatability, effectiveness, and more. In the background, we hope to acquire more individuals to volunteer as trainers and support sustainability. For this, we will raise awareness at the Warren Alpert Brown Medical School. We will also start to plan for expansion by developing relationships with more high schools and encouraging high school students to form Stop the Bleed interest groups. Outcomes We anticipate that this training will improve trainees’ skills in hemorrhage control and therefore prevent students or employees from hemorrhaging after accidents ranging from accidental injury to active shooter. We also anticipate that this process will raise general awareness about and interest in Stop the Bleed—amongst staff who did not receive training at the involved schools, parents and students at involved schools, the Rhode Island Legislature, and leadership of the other non-involved schools within the greater public school system. We see this CATCH project as a test pilot project for wider implementation later—to discover barriers, needs, and potential new resources and supporters. Via our connection as medical providers to the Rhode Island Certified School Nurse Teachers Association, we also hope to give the RI DMAT/MRC an opportunity to build their own connections with the public high school system, so that RI DMAT/MRC can build upon this project.

Project Goal

Increase participant understanding of and comfort with hemorrhage control, with an emphasis on, but not limited to, crisis situations.

Project Objective 1

80% of trainees participating in Stop the Bleed training will demonstrate improved comfort with and mastery of hemorrhage control concepts and practical application, assessed by pre and post survey scores

Project Objective 2

80% of schools involved in Stop the Bleed training will obtain hemorrhage control kits for their school nurses by the end of this CATCH grant distribution period (May 31, 2023)

Project Objective 3

65% of schools involved in Stop the Bleed training will develop plans by the end of this CATCH grant distribution period for expansion of training to their other staff members and students after this CATCH grant distribution period

AAP District

District I

Institutional Name

Rhode Island Disaster Medical Assistance Team / Medical Reserve Corps

Contact 1

Maya Tsao-Wu

Contact 2

Anita Gandhi