Most people are more afraid of the tourniquet than of the bleeding it stops. That fear is understandable, and it can be deadly.

This episode of First 5 Minutes takes on the myths that still keep people from using one of the simplest lifesaving tools there is. It traces how military trauma evidence from Iraq and Afghanistan overturned decades of caution, lays out what the research actually says about risk, and walks through, in plain language, how severe bleeding is controlled before help arrives. The show draws on the work of Dr. Alexander Eastman, a trauma surgeon and EMS physician who helped carry that battlefield evidence into civilian practice.

In this episode:

• The myth that a tourniquet automatically costs a limb, and what the evidence shows
• Why tourniquets are not just for soldiers and SWAT teams
• Why " ...