Submitted by Eric Daniel
I just saw that the Army named this product one of the "Top Ten Greatest Inventions of 2008."Now, I know that there were a number of these rapid clotting products fielded, but I thought most, if not all, of them were recalled because they were a bit exothermic in their operation, or that they caused blood clots to form internally. Apparently, though, this one is still out there.
Well my question to you all is, have any of you seen this or used it? As a Guardsman in a non-enhanced readiness unit, I'll see these things right about the time the regular army transitions to robot warriors, but I'm curious if any of you active duty types have encountered either this (which appears to be a kaolin impregnated gauze bandage) or the other product offered, QuikClot, which appears to be a powder (like the sulfa powder of old) that you apply directly to the wound.
In the blurb I read, the combat gauze is described as being inexpensive and easy to use (civilian prices for this range from $30- $50 so clearly the Army has a somewhat corporate concept of what constitutes "inexpensive") and I was just curious if anyone had ever actually used it (the SF folks we worked with had something similar I believe, though I don't think it was QC) and whether it was worth trying to trick my supply SGT into getting some.
In an interesting aside, it seems there's some discrepancy as to who invented this stuff. According to the Army, it was invented by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, while Z-Medica Corporation insists it invented it. I wonder if these are two different products with the same name or if they're debating about what the definition of "invented" is.
