Improving the public’s ability to find publicly placed bleeding control kits : The effect of signage and bleeding control kit placement

Abstract: Trauma is a leading cause of death, and in potentially preventable trauma deaths insufficient bleeding control has often been noted. For bleeding-related injuries, providing aid quickly is crucial since people may die from haemorrhage within minutes. One group that has been identified as able to provide quick aid is bystanders and other people present at the scene of injury. In such settings, using bleeding control (b-con) equipment such as tourniquets is effective to help control bleeding. Thus, b-con kits including such equipment has been recommended to be placed in public areas. However, for publicly placed b-con kits to be effective people must be able to find the kits quickly. This leads to the aim of this thesis, which is to explore how b-con kits can be made easier to find for the public by using signage and b-con kit placement. Two studies were conducted to explore this topic. In the first study, signage for marking b-con kits was developed since no standardised or well-recognised signage for b-con kits existed. Three b-con kit signage designs were developed in accordance with existing standards and regulations for safety signage. Then, the three signage designs were evaluated by a survey. One design, depicting an injured arm, was found to be most effective for marking b-con kits. In the second study, the effect of signage use and b-con kit placement on time to find a b-con kit was examined by an experiment carried out in a virtual environment (VE) using virtual reality (VR). The study found that providing directional signage made people find the b-con kit faster. The study also found that placing the b-con kit at a reception (a central location) made people find the b-con kit quicker compared to when the b-con kit was placed between emergency exits (a more peripheral location). The study also examined if people would find the b-con kit faster when b-con signage was used for directional signage compared to when general first aid signage was used, but no significant difference was found. In addition, the VE was validated. The results of the validation showed that the findings in the study would likely transfer to real world settings. In conclusion, using signage and placing b-con kits strategically were found to be effective ways to aid the public in finding publicly placed b-con kits, which may help people provide possibly life-saving aid to haemorrhage victims.