We've talked about the medical supplies you should stash away. We've talked about the skills you need to develop so you can use those supplies.  But there's a ton of medical advice on the internet that is just terrible, as this video with two professional paramedics discussing first aid myths shows.

It's important to note that giving the wrong first aid treatment can sometimes be more harmful than no treatment at all. It's important that you call 911 if you can. Their operators are trained to help callers remain calm and to walk them through the correct steps.

First things first, remain calm.

Remaining calm is of the utmost importance, as Selco noted in this article with a video of an example of terrible first aid. It's perfectly natural to be adrenalized in a first aid situation, but with the proper training, you can put that adrenaline to good use.

Without undermining those folks' wish to help, it must be said that they overreacted in treating a wound that looked absolutely like a wound that does not require the use of a tourniquet.

In the survival movement (and not only there), a tourniquet is seen as a magical device that saves lives, and that almost should be used whenever blood occurs.

In reality, the explanation when you should use a tourniquet is very simple – whenever you can not stop the bleeding in any other way. The bleeding in the video looks like it could have been stopped by good old direct pressure without any problems. However cool the use of the tourniquet may look, there is (or there should be) common sense in using it.