Craig Nolan

Shark Attack Immediate Treatment

Treating shark bites is another story. Like lots of things that paramedics, first responders or first aiders, come across in pre-hospital care emergency situations, it could be a relatively minor injury or involve major torrential life threatening bleeding. Recent shark incidents around Ballina, Byron Bay, Lennox Head, Evans Head and other areas of Australia have us scared and understandably so but what can you do to help if you need to, until the ambulance arrives.

First Aid Management of Extreme Bleeding

First aid training in the management of traumatic wounds is initially about controlling the blood loss. It is the key to the initial treatment of shark bites. How the first aid treatment is managed initially at the scene can have a dramatic effect on the victim’s chance of surviving the attack. The Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) is the peak body who makes recommendations   that all first aid programs follow in Australia. Its guidelines recommend firm direct pressure, sufficient to stop the bleeding, over the bleeding site. The ARC suggests you could use a pad or your hands.

If bleeding continues you should apply another pad and a tighter dressing over the wound site. If a limb is involved then you need to check circulation to the hand or foot regularly.

Other things that will help control bleeding are elevation of the bleeding part, restricting movement and of course you should have the patient remain at rest.

How to use a tourniquet to control bleeding

Arterial blood loss can be rapid as the heart is pumping the blood out each time it beats. As a last resort and only when your other attempts to control bleeding have failed the ARC recommend you apply a tourniquet to the limb to control life –threatening haemorrhage with a wide bandage high above the bleeding point.

The time of application of the tourniquet should be noted and it should not be removed until the victim receives specialist care. I find if you think of a tourniquet as being like the blood pressure cuff used by your doctor,  paramedic or nurse to take your blood pressure. That feeling when they inflate it around your arm is when it works like a tourniquet to initially stop the arterial blood flow and then let it re-establish as the cuff is deflated to measure your blood pressure.

Military conflict accelerates the pace of change in first aid management of trauma A range of new tourniquets are around now which have come from military application and development. We can show you a range and some samples of these new products and how they work. First aid training courses may change and there may be a wide-spread adaptions of some of these military style products in general first aid treatment of bleeding in the future as revisions of the medical evidence and clinical trials and application evolve.

Major blood loss like this can quickly lead to Poole shock, if we break that word down it doesn’t seem so bad. Hypo in medical speak means low, just like hypothermia means low body temperature. The Volemic  bit means volume, and shock means a widespread inadequate perfusion or in simple terms not enough blood to transfer oxygen around the body to meet its needs. At its simplest level it is oxygen to the cells that keeps us going. An old paramedic adage is that “perfusion determines treatment”.

Understand what you need to do in a shark attack

If this all sounds a bit daunting perhaps it’s time to come along to a first aid class here in Byron Bay, Alstonville, Ballina or Lismore. In the course I can show you some “tricks of the trade” to control bleeding and a range of new products that can help.

Any way you look at it shark attacks are traumatic events and there will be a lot of emotional trauma as well as the physical trauma of the initial event. The initial clinical intervention and management is what I have tried to focus on here, Paramedic thinking is about the immediate response. you have to be able to survive the initial event and then manage the recovery phase over the longer term

Full details on the management of bleeding and other emergency situations are available in the ARC guidelines

You can contact us to talk to your local community group about how to manage severe bleeding and what other products and skills are needed.

Shark Attack Pack

We have developed a shark attack pack containing a military style tourniquet, emergency bandages and training in their use. Details are here

Shark Attacks in Ballina Lennox Head Evans Head and Byron Bay

Shark Smart Living

Teaching first aid, emergency medicine and prehospital care on the far north coast of NSW, or the northern rivers as it is sometimes called, I am often asked about shark bites or attacks as  I come from Ballina a small town at the mouth of the Richmond River and recently it is something that has been on my mind too. I am sure most of us have thought about sharks when swimming in our rivers or on our beaches, particularly recently.

It is a traumatic event that often has ripple effects beyond the initial trauma to the patient. Effects on those who witness the trauma and try to render first aid, the paramedics, lifeguards and emergency services workers who assist at the scene, the community fear and apprehension and the damage done to those who know and love the victim’s exacerbates the trauma and stress beyond the incredible trauma of the initial shark attack emergency itself.

In paramedic practice of emergency medicine, prevention is better than cure

Could I start by saying there is some great truth in the old proverb “prevention is better than cure.” It’s better to stop or reduce your risk of something happening in the first place rather than trying to repair the damage afterwards. With that in mind the NSW Department of Primary Industries has released some pretty common-sense guidelines, its common sense stuff but worth repeating here

• Swim in groups
• Swim between the flags and at a patrolled beach. The royal lifesaving society and lifeguards or lifesavers can give first aid on the beaches and do a fantastic job, many volunteering to watch over us, to monitor the situation
• If you see a shark, tell the lifesavers or lifeguards on the beach
• You should avoid having pets in the water with you
• Remember that sharks may be around between sandbars or near steep drop offs in the water
• Dusk and dawn swimming should be avoided
• Dolphins and sharks often feed together so don’t think just because you can see dolphins there will be no sharks about
• And if you hear a shark alarm, leave the water immediately

And of course you could also download the SharkSmart (IOS) and Beachsafe (IOS and Android) apps to keep you informed and give you all the latest information. Remember to call an ambulance quickly on Triple 000, get them on the way to you quickly

Controlling bleeding is the key to survival

Good stuff to keep in mind over the long hot summer.  Shortly we will talk about how you treat shark bites. Bleeding control will be the key as their is only so much blood in the body and you need it to carry oxygen to the cells to survive.

Perhaps its time to look at a first aid course where the training in the methods of control of bleeding could make all the difference to your children, friends or fellow surfers. Ballina First aid training courses are running now and can show you a range of new techniques and life saving CAT tourniquets that can conserve the vital blood we all need to survive. If you live in any of the towns along coast of the northern rivers of NSW, like Evans Head, Ballina, Lennox Head, Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads or Ocean Shores then we will have a First Aid course near you and can teach you some of the new first aid techniques that could save a life.

You could download a sharksmart poster here

Try a local first aid course and you can also learn how to control severe bleeding here.