REVIEW: WOUND CUBE MEDICAL TRAINING TOOL

Wound packing, besides applying a tourniquet, is one of the most basic techniques of bleeding control in a pre-hospital environment. In theory, the concept is relatively simple: hold pressure on a wound, and after several minutes, the applied pressure will help to encourage the body’s natural clotting factors. This can vary from just three minutes of pressure if using specially manufactured gauze (i.e. Combat Gauze) impregnated with hemostatic agents, to 10 minutes if using standard gauze or other fabrics.

The trick to this technique, however, is that the correct pressure application point may be several inches down inside the muscle. Pressure is much more effectively generated once you reach a hard surface, such as a bone, to push against. Otherwise, trying to compress relatively squishy fat and muscle starts to feel like pushing rope.

The Wound Cube from Phokus Research Group is a new training tool to help teach this vital technique. We’re featuring it because it’s difficult to make a similar tool on your own, and even harder to make it for less money than its current retail price.

Although the premise of the Wound Cube is very simple, it’s also very effective and robust. Wound packing isn’t a delicate act — fingers have to work fast, plunging repeatedly into the wound cavity in an effort to tamp down as much gauze as will fit inside, in a hurry. First timers or the untrained may look like they’re delicately trying to knead the world’s tiniest pizza dough, softly feeding one finger in after another and alternating index fingers. More experienced medics on the other hand, may use more arm motion to aggressively pack in the gauze and make sure they’re hitting the bottom of the wound or a hard bone.

With a price point starting at $140 and first responder discounts available, the Wound Cube is a relatively affordable, durable training tool that’s significantly less expensive than similar competing products. For a homegrown alternative, there’s no easy way to accurately recreate the enlargement of the wound cavities as they vary in depth, and it becomes even more difficult if you’re trying to find a semi-transparent material so you can actually see what’s happening inside.