EXTREMITY TOURNIQUET SELF-APPLICATION BY ANTARCTICA ZODIAC CREW MEMBERS.

Search and rescue teams and Antarctic research groups use protective cold-water anti-exposure suits (AES) when cruising on Zodiacs. Extremity tourniquet (ET) self-application (SA) donned with AESs has not been previously studied. Our study assessed the SA of five commercial ETs (CAT, OMNA, RATS, RMT, and SWAT-T) among fifteen volunteers who donned these suits. Tourniquet's SA ability, ease of SA, tolerance, and tourniquet preference were measured. All ETs tested were self-applied to the upper extremity except for the SWAT, which was self-applied with the rest to the lower extremity. SA ease mean values were compared using the Friedman and Durbin-Conover post hoc tests (p < 0.001). Regarding the upper extremity, OMNA achieved the highest score of 8.5 out of 10, while RMT and SWAT received lower scores than other options (p<0.001). For lower extremities, SWAT was found to be inferior to other options (p<0.01). Overall, OMNA was the best performer. The RATS showed significantly lower tolerance than the other groups in a repeated measures ANOVA with a Turkey post hoc test (p<0.01). Additionally, out of the five ETs tested, 60% of subjects preferred OMNA. The study concluded that SA commercial ETs are feasible over cold-water anti-exposure suits in the Antarctic climate.