MAT Tourniquets?

[somedic]

For my upcoming deployment (7th since 9-11-01) I will be carrying some MAT tourniquets (Mechanical Advantage Tourniquet). I have experience using the SOF, CAT, and NATO tourniquets as well as the old stick and rag routine.

Does any one on here have any experience with MAT in actual application?

If you have actually used one, how effective was it?

I will have access to CATS and SOF-Ts as well as MATs but want to know of anyone's experience with them. Thanks for the help.

Somedic Sends.

[Dustdevil]

I don't have any experience with the MAT specifically. I haven't seen it in my AO. The CAT is the big thing here, along with the occasional SOF-T, and the rare SATS. I have yet to use the SATS, as I just received them a couple weeks ago, but they look okay. Maybe overcomplicated. The locking mechanism and quick release are theoretical advantages, but I don't see a lot of practical application.

It's interesting to note that there were no less than nine (9) self-application tourniquets tested and considered by the U.S. Crazy! There is a good article on them all available here... http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0VV..._n17213746/pg_1 It includes discussion of the MAT. The article, incidentally, concludes the EMT, the CAT, and the SOF-T to be the leaders.

[somedic]

Thanks Dust! I knew you would have some good input.

Somedic Sends

[Doczilla]

I have seen a more recent study done by the Navy. Good info, well done study.

Go to http://www.handhfirstaid.com/ and click on the NAVSEA tourniquet study on the home page. Yes, they are touting the results because their products did well, but don't let that throw you on the objectivity of the study. They combined objective data along with subjective reviews and comments from the users (which are included) in the study.

'zilla

[somedic]

Doc: I actually got my hands on that study you posted about earlier today. I have mixed feeling s about it

One thing I found during training today was that the MAT pinches into the skin. This may or may not be a big issue to a patient with a traumatic amputation or other injury requiring a tourniquet.

Doc: You probably would look cool in MultiCam. Don't rule it out.

Somedic Sends

[Dustdevil]

I take it back. I have seen the MAT out here. Not in the field, but we did have a couple laying around at the surgical hospital I used to be at. I never really gave it much thought because it just looked too impractical for carrying in the field. I'm surprised to see that it was that highly rated. Very interesting study.

They make a good point in the conclusion, that specific features have to be considered in context when making your own decision about what you want to carry. The one that is best for self-application is not necessarily the best one for use by a medic on patients. And if you move self-application ease and time down on the priority list, it changes the grouping.

It's kind of amazing that the topic has become this complicated. TKs have always been such a simple concept and application for all of our careers. It's crazy how much research and development has taken place in just the last 6 years.

[Doczilla]

Doc: You probably would look cool in MultiCam. Don't rule it out.

Somedic Sends

Damn skippy. Hoping to make some contacts along those lines and sit down and talk with some folks in Tampa in December.

'zilla

[Dustdevil]

Doc: You probably would look cool in MultiCam.

Anything is better than gAyCU's!

Zilla is too cool for that. I think he's more of a Nomex kind of guy.

Hey Doc, I got a flight suit with your name on it out here!

[somedic]

Doc: I hope to be in Tampa for SOMA as well. Dust: Thanks for bringing fashion and glamour to this thread. Where is the "stiff upper lip" and "steely eyed-thousand yard stare" :wink:

Back to TQs: After a day or two of plying around with them and having my guys try to self apply them-Im not impressed. the strap falls of really easy. I do like the wratchet drive but it sounds like an MP-5 during when you turn the wratchet handle. Again I'll have SOF-Ts and CATs at my disposal so I got options.

Somedic Sends

[Dustdevil]

Where is the "stiff upper lip" and "steely eyed-thousand yard stare" :wink:

LOL!

I was leaving on R&R that day, so nothing was going to wipe the grin off of my face. :wink:

Back to the topic at hand, I find that ease of carrying dictates what I carry. The CATs are the most compact and storable, so that's what I have in my IFAK pouches on my gear. But I also keep a couple SOF-Ts inside the STOMP. I trust the SOF-Ts more simply because they are sturdier, although they are a bit bulky to carry on your person. The plastic on the CATs worries me, even though they have improved them since the early models, and I have not personally witnessed any failures. And all that Velcro is a little complicating too. No such problem with the SOF-T, which could not be any simpler to figure out.