Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system to keep us from losing too much blood, or potentially bleeding to death. While we don’t want the blood to clot too easily, we need blood to clot appropriately. Blood coagulation or clotting is a homeostatic process to preserve blood volume and flow. With this question, you will describe the process of what would occur with a severe injury in a car accident that precipitates a large blood loss.
Post: Assume a person has been in a bad car accident and has severe bleeding from a partially severed arm. Describe the body’s response to this by answering the following prompts (minimum of 300 words for initial post):
What mechanisms will occur to reduce the blood loss (hemorrhaging)?
What events happen as part of the clotting process?
How does the body slow down blood loss?
What would happen if blood volume falls too low?
What happens if homeostasis and blood clotting is not sufficient?
