DoW STOP THE BLEED, home

Many kits sound like STOP THE BLEED®.

Only licensed kits are built to the standard.

Kits and courses are sold under names, colors, and packaging that look a lot like the program. No kit sold outside the program is built to the STOP THE BLEED® standard, because the standard is available only to licensees.

That leaves you guessing. Without a standard behind it, there is no way to know what is actually in the box, whether the tourniquet will hold, or whether the gauze is what your class trained you to pack. You find out when you open it, and by then you cannot go get a different kit.

  • Not the program

    BLEED CONTROL KIT

  • Not the program

    STOP BLEEDING PACK

  • Not the program

    TRAUMA + BLEED RESPONSE

  • Licensed

    The STOP THE BLEED® registered trademark: a red octagon with a raised white hand, beside the words STOP THE BLEED.
Illustrative only. The first three are examples of names you may run across, not real products. Only one of these four is a STOP THE BLEED® kit.

What to watch for

  • Descriptive names built from the same words.

    “Bleed,” “bleeding control,” and “stop bleeding” are ordinary English. Seeing them in a product name says nothing about what evidence shaped the product.

  • Red octagons and raised-hand graphics that gesture at the mark without using it.

    The borrowed look implies a review that never happened.

  • Equivalence claims made without a license,

    such as “meets STOP THE BLEED® standards,” “STOP THE BLEED® compatible,” or “for use in STOP THE BLEED® classes.” No standard has been applied to a product the program never reviewed.

  • “FDA-approved kit” or “government-certified kit.”

    No such designation exists. The tourniquets and dressings inside a kit are medical devices regulated by the FDA; kits themselves are not approved or certified by anyone. What a kit can be is licensed by the Department of War to carry the STOP THE BLEED® mark.

  • “Military-grade,” “tactical,” or “battlefield-tested” used as a substitute for a named clinical recommendation.

    The program’s reference is the Department of Defense Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) list of recommended devices. Ask whether the device is on it.

  • Unbranded tourniquets that copy the look of an accepted device.

    Counterfeits are a documented problem. They fail under load, and the failure turns up at the worst possible moment.

  • Generic names standing in for the category.

    “Trauma Kit,” “IFAK,” “Bleeding Control Kit,” “Pro Kit,” and “Premium Kit” are not STOP THE BLEED® configurations, and a licensee may not use them. On anyone else’s product, they tell you nothing about what is inside.

  • Kits assembled to a price rather than to a standard,

    where the contents are chosen by what fits the margin.

How to check

  1. The mark comes first. A licensed kit is named STOP THE BLEED® followed by one of three terms: Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced. A company name in front of the mark, or any other configuration word, means the kit is not licensed.
  2. Look for “Assembled by.” Every licensed kit names its assembler. No single company makes all the components, so “Manufactured by” is never correct on a kit. Seeing it is a reliable tell.
  3. Check the seller against the licensed seller list on the Equipment page.
  4. Read the device labels. The tourniquet must be one of the four accepted tourniquets, and any hemostatic dressing must be one of the three accepted dressings.
  5. If anything is unclear, ask us. We will tell you whether a seller or product is licensed. Contact the program.

If a kit fails any of these, it is not a STOP THE BLEED® kit, whatever the name suggests. If you see a product using the STOP THE BLEED® name or mark without a license, report it.