I just went through my recert for emergency first responder training.

When going over wound care/stop the bleed, the topic of sucking chest wounds came up. The directive we were given was to control bleeding and NOT seal the chest wound. The idea is that we control the bleed and that there will be enough time for EMS to get there before we start being concerned with tension pneumothorax.

I disagreed with that and stated I would go into bleed control and then sealing the chest wound if it was indeed a sucking chest wound.

Can anyone add any their thoughts on this?

Is it good to just control the bleed, stabilize and wait or get to it and seal the wound if needed?