How ACS Stop the Bleed Teaches Bystanders to Control Severe Bleeding

ACS Stop the Bleed (stopthebleed.org) is the American College of Surgeons program that trains ordinary bystanders—not just medical professionals—to control life-threatening bleeding using three basic actions. If you want to know what to do in a bleeding emergency and where to learn it, the site's core answer is: find an instructor-led course through Get Trained, and use the three techniques demonstrated there. The program reports more than 5 million people trained and courses taught in 168 countries, and it identifies itself as the original U.S. Department of Defense STOP THE BLEED® partner.

The three bleeding control actions the site teaches

The site frames the stakes directly: bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death after injury, and 80% of operating room deaths within 24 hours of trauma are due to severe blood loss. Its "How to Control Bleeding" section states that anyone can save a life using three techniques, demonstrated by Megan Quintana, MD, FACS.

The page names the three actions as a set but does not spell out each step in the text captured here. What it does make clear is the intended audience and delivery: the techniques are taught for use by bystanders in an emergency, and the demonstration is the reference point for the mechanics. To get the actual step-by-step hand positions, pressure points, and tourniquet application, you need the course or the demonstration itself rather than the summary page.

Why the bystander framing matters

The program's stated goal is to move you "from bystander to lifesaver." That framing sets expectations for the course: it assumes no medical background, and it is built around the first minutes after an injury, before responders arrive. The site's news stories reinforce this—an instructor who had taught courses for a decade used a Stop the Bleed kit to help a stranger after a motorcycle accident in Georgia, and first responders used bleeding control skills on one of their own after a training accident left him bleeding from the neck.

How to find and take a course

The primary path on the site is Get Trained, which leads to Find a Course. The flow is:

1. Go to stopthebleed.org and select Get Trained.
2. Use Find a Course to locate an instructor-led ACS course near you.
3. Complete the course to learn the three bleeding control actions hands-on.

The site describes its offering as "the premier bleeding control course" and positions itself as the largest global provider of bleeding control training. Courses are taught by instructors, and there is a separate Instructor Portal for people who teach them.

What to expect and what to verify

• Format: The site's language points to instructor-led courses found through Find a Course, not a self-paced online module. Confirm the format when you search.
• Audience: Designed for anyone, including people with no medical training.
• Verification: Because the page does not list course length, cost, or certification details, check those on the individual course listing before you commit.

Kits and stations you can order

Beyond training, the site sells the tools that support the techniques. Order Kits & Stations covers two products:

The site's description says you can "order Stop the Bleed kits," and the navigation includes both Shop and Buy a Kit. Pricing, shipping, and payment details are not stated in the material available here, so treat cost and availability as something to confirm at checkout rather than assuming.

Where the program's claims come from

The site supports its message with program-level numbers: 17 states have passed bleeding control legislation, 168 countries teach ACS Stop the Bleed, and more than 5 million people have been trained. These are the program's own figures and are useful for judging scale and adoption, not as clinical guidance.

For the actual emergency procedure, the site directs you to its demonstration and its courses. If your goal is to be ready to act, the practical next step is to find a course through Get Trained and learn the three actions directly from an instructor.