LSM Type II IFAK with a couple of great options and one bad option for controlling major bleeding. Plan to win, not just to improvise. Photo: author
Top: one of author’s favorites, Olaes Modular Bandage from Tactical Medical Solutions in four-inch version. Bottom: four-inch wide Israeli bandage. Note how they are packaged and able to be stored in a range bag, not just on a shelf in a hospital closet. Photo: author
“Improvised” Tactical Medicine
The word “improvised” gets thrown around in the field/tactical medical industry more than I want to acknowledge. Yes, in the field and in a clinical setting, we healthcare professionals do on occasion have to improvise a little in order to make things work regarding patient care and treatment. When I was a combat medic, improvisation was not only encouraged, but we also were tested on it several times throughout our training at Ft. Sam Houston. One thing we learned as new medics in the Army was that if we can’t get more than three uses out of one object/item/device/piece of equipment, we didn’t carry it. A handful of tongue depressors were not used just for looking down someone’s throat. They were also finger splints, a windlass for a tourniquet, puppets for keeping kids occupied during transport, and you could even use them to help organize your M5 Aid Bag. A bomb tech once showed me a cool trick using a tongue depressor broken in half to make part of a trip fuse. My point is that sometimes we may have to use a little ingenuity to save a life or two. But that doesn’t mean we should be trying to re-invent the wheel!
Viewing both bandages opened, it’s easy to see that these dressings are designed specifically to control moderate to severe bleeding in the field.
Photo: author
But for the record — blood-letting was a good idea back in the day too. Just because something worked once doesn’t mean it will work again. We’ve got over 12 years of “well, that didn’t work — let’s try something else” to learn from. The technology that has developed far superior products now available to healthcare providers and the layperson alike is unprecedented today.
In regard to choosing a product that controls major bleeding, plenty of bandages have evolved from the old few rolls of Kurlex gauze and a six-inch ACE wrap, to what is now considered an actual “pressure bandage/dressing.” Companies like Tactical Medical Solutions, QuikClot, Celox, H&H, SAM Medical and others have produced some of the most advanced, effective, and efficient bandages and dressings for the treatment of penetrating traumatic injuries in the field and tactical medical industry. Yet for some reason, people still feel the need to treat patients like they are living in some bad Mad Max remake. The pressure dressings designed by the companies I just mentioned are specifically designed for moderate to severe arterial bleeding and packaged for austere environments.
Very thin paper or plastic offers little protection to the actual tampon. Photo: author
What Is a Tampon Designed For?
A tampon is designed to be inserted into the vagina of a female human being in order to absorb menstrual fluids, which are discharged over the course of a few days. The discharged fluid is made up of about 40-50% actual blood, and then several other types of tissues, such as uterus lining, broken-down unfertilized eggs, some hormones, and maybe even small amounts of vaginal secretions. This fluid is not pressurized like arterial blood is throughout the body. Nor are these menstrual fluids needed to sustain life to other organs of the human body, for example the brain.
During a high-stress event, trying to open, deploy, and apply such a small “tool” with limited fine-motor-skills may prove difficult. You have to open the package three times before you can even use it. Photo: author
When using a wound packing simulator from QuikClot; it is obvious that a tampon doesn’t come close to filling a ballistic wound cavity.
Photo: author
Bleeding from a Gunshot Wound
Now let’s talk about the type of bleeding one might come across from a single gunshot wound. Arterial blood is made up of oxygen-rich pressurized blood that transports minerals, vitamins, nutrients, and all sorts of other good stuff the body and its organs need in order to function. The brain requires several of these things in order to keep the rest of the body alive. This is why we assess and treat injuries in the order of Circulation, Airway, Breathing (CAB). But that’s another article for another time. The point is that we have to control the bleeding first, in order to ensure blood circulation. That way the brain can continue working and keep the rest of the body going — which is what we’re after here.
Modern-day pressure dressings are in fact designed to treat penetrating traumatic injuries related to austere or combat environments. They are designed from the ground up to control moderate to severe bleeding, including pressurized arterial bleeding. Pressure dressings like the Olaes from Tactical Medical Solutions are packaged for field-like environments. Most manufacturers use gamma irradiation to sterilize their pressure dressings. Yes, we fight for life now and treat infection later. But consider that in order to properly control bleeding from some injuries, you may have to pack a wound with that bandage in the field.
Olaes Modular Bandage has additional bulk gauze inside it. You can use it to pack the wound and then wrap it up tight, as shown here. Wrapping the entire dressing ensures that the bandage is being used to its fullest potential. Photo: author
Which of these three products do you want to use to save your life or your loved one’s life? Photo: author
If cost is a concern, it shouldn’t be. You can buy two Olaes bandages for under $15, and two Israeli bandages for under $10. These aren’t going to break anyone’s bank account. They do come with expiration dates, but some last up to four years. For maximum shelf life, store the bandages in a med kit where the outer wrapping won’t be compromised.
Do yourself and your loved ones a favor: buy a real pressure dressing and take a class on how to use it effectively and efficiently. If you’re going to be carrying one or the other as part of your EDC kit, don’t plan to improvise … plan to win!
As a former nurse LPN I have to agree with a lot of what this article said. While I would have cause for pause, in a situation where someone is about to DIE from massive bleeding. AND, miles away from the nearest hospital? You’re dang right, I’m gonna use whatever absorbent reasonably clean items I have on hand to help stop OR slow down the rate of blood loss!! BUT! No a tampon or a small pad is not the greatest thing for preventing an infection long-term.I’m now retired from the medical field. And I USE too provide EMT service in my brother’s hunting camps in the high mountain country of New Mexico and Colorado.
OUT there? Where you’re anywhere from 5-8-even 10 miles away from the nearest forestry department roads?. Let alone the extra 20-50 miles to the nearest hospital? You’ll do just about anything to help stop bleeding from a potential stray bullet wound! OR even a bad cut from a hunter that accidentally slit his hand while field dressing a deer or elk!! OR, like the camp cook that was prepping food in the dining and cook’s tent! NEARLY SLICING OFF his thumb! Cutting up potatoes for a pot of stew. The base camp was 12 miles from the nearest forestry department road! The nearest hospital? It was nearly 50 miles away! SO while I had as much available medical supplies on hand as I could possibly pack into the backcountry. NOTHING BUT nothing is as good as the ER Department to save a life from a potential Sepsis infection from a knife or bullet wound! YOU have to USE whatever is immediately available before someone begins to bleed out and die in the backcountry! It’s not as bad IF you have to give emergency first aid to someone in a major auto accident,but still miles and minutes away from dying? BECAUSE hopefully a local hospital will be able too call for a medical aviation unit ( essentially a Medevac helicopter 🚁), OR Air Medical Flite helicopter to transport an individual too the nearest hospital trauma center! BUT?, Still I think using whatever works best in a situation like that? Is better than nothing at all. Ask ANY Army OR Navy combat medic ABOUT the critical importance of the “Golden Hour”?)!!
Infection CONTROL measures are important, but that can be done after the injured HAVE been treated for severe blood loss!😟
I ONCE did my time as a triage medic in a field hospital unit during the Vietnam Era! I’m still haunted by the memories of seeing one Medevac helicopter after another land at the nearest pads for our ambulances to go out and meet the choppers.
As a registered nurse who has done extensive wound care. I would use a tampon and or sanitary pad in a gsw if that’s all that was available. Even though they are not sterile dressings they are clean. A gsw is already a dirty wound and unless you are masked up and donning sterile gloves while using sterile technique you are still introducing bacteria into the wound. Sterile technique is not what you’re able to provide in a trauma situation at best you’re providing aseptic technique which is good enough. What’s most important is to stop or slow the bleeding.
I think the whole idea of tampons as a blood loss stop came from the bandage carried in the “first aid kit” in WWII. That “first aid kit” was a sulfa impregnated green pad about the size of a kotex pad with a gauze strip on either end to tie the pad in place. That was the extent of the IFAK for WWII and Korea. It was issued to every Marine as part of his 782 gear. It strongly resembled a green kotex and I would guess that they probably were made up in a factory that originally or mainly manufactured women’s sanitary napkins. The big difference was they were impregnated with sulfa powder to prevent or inhibit infection. In WWII, that was the battlefield antibiotic of choice. You might get penicillin back in the division hospital, but in the foxholes and ditches it was sulfa powder. The corpsmen spread it over burns and wounds equally. It was the big difference between getting wounded in WWI and getting wounded in WWII.
If you sustained one or several gunshot wounds from a small firearm (not a rifle) and was left to save your life by yourself (since in todays world no one would do that for you), would would you do? But, please be real.I personally carry the largest tampons I found here in Europe, and I would stick those inside my wounds – I’m sure that’d be the maximum I would be capable of …
You cover the tub tampons but NOT the Pads. I had a double shooting at my Grocery store While it would have taken about 2-3 min response time for help they could have bled out. If I had been there my first reaction to render aid would be grab gloves, duct tape, scissors & thick pads as well as peroxide. if I had time I would have grabbed off the shelf diagnostics like BP meters do to it being a shooting chances are the Ambo would be in a staging area till the cops could clear the scene. Providing first aid to victims till they could be treated by the Paramedics should take priority. Getting as much medical info to the paramedics would also hasten medical response. beyond taping a tampon pad on the victim I’m not qualified to do much else.
Yeah, the article/blog/whatever doesn’t cover pads at all.Only tampons. Wouldn’t pads be relatively decent for packing a wound on the fly? Until you can get to a medical facility at least.
Hello. You would think pads would be, but upon closer inspection, they are not. Think about how pads (and diapers) are designed. They are supposed to wick away fluid and keep the wearer dry. This wicking away property works against the goal of tightly packing gauze inside the wound, creating pressure, restricting the blood coming out, and hopefully allow the clotting factors in the blood to activate and form in the wound. The pad will suck out the blood and, in the process, not allow clotting to occur in the injury (the clot will happen in the pad).
Thanks
Deryck-Personal Defense Network
This info was helpful thanks.
Seen first hand of a tampon being used in a gunshot wound. It was Nov 2004,in Fallujah Iraq. The bullet entered the inner elbow and exit the back. The entry was packed with…. A tampon. The exit a gaze. Granted the artery was not hit. There was no need for additional care other than a bandage wrap. What people on this comment section fail to understand is that the author is talking about bleeding involving the artery. There’s three types of bleeding and a tampon can help with 2 of those. Bleeding stops by pressure in most cases, a tampon expands when blood hits it. Causing it to expand placing force on the damaged soft tissue, thus controlling the bleeding.
Some mention Quick Clot, QC is great but isn’t perfect. You need a fully staffed OR to clean QC out or else your buddy will die of infection, that’s if the QC doesn’t break apart. QC doesn’t always stop arterial bleeding, which is why you was a back up plan in that event. In a SHTF situation like some mention, QC would be a slow painful death. Because you won’t have a fully staffed OR….
[…] material is very absorbent, that’s not what you need if you want the blood to coagulate. See this article. I also wouldn’t use one to filter debris out of water. There’s no guarantee the tampon […]
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tampons-to-the-rescue/
Apparently military have been using them for some time……and caleb……..THEY ARE STERILE!
Exactly. As if I would stuff anything not sterile into my vag for absorption during my menses. Men seem to think that if they can stick a dick in it, it doesn’t need anything to be sterile during the time when women are most vulnerable to infection.
Lost me when you said they weren’t sterile. Just as sterile i not more so than those gauze pads and other “medical” stuff. You might have some smarts but you lost it here. Won’t even finish the rest….not worth MY time.
Tampons and pads are not sterile. They are sanitary but not sterile.
[…] tampoanelor pentru plăgi, mai ales pentru plăgile produse de glonț, un material bun este aici. Este interesant. Și mai interesante sunt comentariile cu privire la acest subiect. Deși […]
You say “You can buy two Olaes bandages for under $15, and two Israeli bandages for under $10”
Got any links for these?
forgot to add that tampons were invented in the days of “The Three Musketeers” (Louis 14th) as a plug for the holes caused by musket balls. The dynamics of wound generation are very different from the slow musket ball to modern high power rifles. Women picked up on the idea for their needs.
People who are relying on the anecdote of a military guy carrying a tampon in his helmet are forgetting to consider why he made that choice. The x large roll of gauze would be a “MUCH” more effective wound packing material but he chose the tampon because the gauze would never fit in his helmet and would take up a lot of space anywhere else in his kit. The surgeon at the hospital does not stock tampons because he has almost unlimited space.
Thanks for the input. was looking up info on quik-clot and the subject of maxi pads and tampons came up. started digging and here is a good answer. will pass the info on.
I was hoping to get a reasonable answer to what should be a simple question. Say I am at a concert. I’ll say maybe in Las Vegas. I am a regular person with only the shirt on my back. I have limited knowledge of wound management but, I know that is important to stop bleeding. If an active shooter breaks out the windows of a hotel and starts shooting into the crowd and you are laying on the ground bleeding, would you want me to yell out “Does anyone have a tampon”, or, would you prefer I yell out “Does anyone have any QuikClot, Kurlex, or Olaes Bandages”. Or, would you want me to just let you bleed. If you say you do not want me to try and stop your bleeding with a tampon, what would you want someone trying to help you do? What is the best less than ideal solution for a less than ideal situation?
In the panic of a shooting you think a woman is going to holler back, “I do! I’ll bring it right over.”? You would be better off just taking off your shirt or Tshirt and using it. Professional responders will be there fast and just direct pressure would be better/faster.
Why would these bandages expire?
Hi Sherri. The expiration date on the package is the date in which the company can no longer guarantee a sterile product. However, as long as the package is still shrink wrapped and airtight it should still be sterile. Now, a bandage that has a quick clotting agent could experience some degradation in effectiveness the further past the expiration date it goes. This isn’t guaranteed but a possibility.
Thanks
Deryck-PDN
Where can these items be purchased in the New Orleans area?
Reasd every word, I went with the Israeli bandage
Why would the bandages you discussed have an expiration date? Makes no sense to me.
Hi Barry. The expiration date on the package is the date in which the company can no longer guarantee a sterile product. However, as long as the package is still shrink wrapped and airtight it should still be sterile. Now, a bandage that has a quick clotting agent could experience some degradation in effectiveness the further past the expiration date it goes. This isn’t guaranteed but a possibility.
Thanks
Deryck-PDN
Something is better then nothing. In the article they claim a few things;
1st they are hard to open and know how to use, really? Have you ever had to open an Israeli bandage in a crisis situation that is in 2 separate packages?
2nd they are not sterile, which maybe true however infections are easier cured then the outcome of uncontrolled bleeding.
3rd they cause damage when being removed, this is true to any packing material.
4th they come in various sizes and are often to small for the wound. True they come in all sizes but so do bandages even Isrealies come in various sizes so this shouldn’t be a point that eliminates their potential effectiveness.
Having had to use tampons, israeli bandages, QuikClot (which has its own litany of negative issues), Kurlex and other improvised wound management material one fact is clear, if it helps control the bleed then its affective. Gunshots do create large wound tracks so it might not be the best answer but put a few together and that might work fine, all dependent on the wound.
Just using a tampon alone may not work and may require pressure and additional gauze, however this can be said about almost any piece of medical kit. Is it a end all be all solution, no, are there better products YES however this doesn’t make them something that should not be considered.
As an example in a Active Shooter situation and without having a cool guy med kit, would you recommend NOT to use a tampon to help control bleeding?
This is like anything people have their own opinions but to say this is not a viable solution and or completely ignore its benefits is a bit ignorant and negalegent . Having been through TCCC, and responded to 5 real world mass casualty situations, from my experience they work and should be considered as an option. Of course having a cool guy A-Bag full of Gucci medical gear is preferred but might not always be available.
We carried tampons (by the way – the word tampon is a shortened form of tamponade…what we do to blood vessels to stop them from bleeding) once upon a time because we did not have another convenient and quick form of wound packing. Sometimes a wound cavity would take more than one tampon, and it was always used in addition to serious pressure at and above a wound site. Not a good as a hemostatic, for sure, but the gauze provides a lattice at the edge of the leaky artery to allow the clot to begin to form, same as stuffing a wound cavity with Kerlex, just packed smaller and with a tube to facilitate getting the gauze in the cavity and close to the bleeder.
There are better options today, but if you run out of them, a tampon is still a convenient way to get gauze inside a wound.
Much ado about not much.
These kinds of articles are all too common on the internet, due to the need to generate clickbait.
It’s not like people say “hmm, should I carry compression bandages or women’s sanitary devices?”
They use kotex and tampons because they don’t have better on hand.
Next.
If only that were true. I have seen posts by at least a hundred people that include them in their kits instead of real bandages because they heard online that it works.
I was in an armor/tank unit and in the 68th Medical combat support hospital. We had soldiers that carried tampons in their helmet or in their personal medical packs for gun shot wounds. The reason for this was because if a person is hit in the chest or back during fire fights, you don’t want to strip their flake vest or body armor off them to bandage the wound. You simply insert the tampon tube into the vest or body armor and push the tampon gauze ad into the wound. This would slow down the bleeding until the patient was out of the fir fight and you could apply the proper wound care bandages.
Thank you for this article.After getting our CERT certification they encouraged us to flesh out our packs with more medical items. This article gives us CERT’s great information. Thank you again.
MANY times we used a sanitary napkin and duct or electrical tape for an improvised Israeli bandage – we worked with the military but did not get cool stuff like Quick-Clot
You guys don’t really understand why using a tampon for bullet treatments actually works. I’m not sure if you are aware the military actually has invested in an a tactical approach using the same technology as the tampon (slight variance as the Military’s applicator uses beads of the same material instead of a large swab).
Deep packing with Gauze accompanied with pressure is a standard method for controlling bleeding in gun shot victims. Using a tampon accompanied with pressure is the same method with a different medium to absorb. In any situation involving an arterial bleed you need a different treatment to ensure that the artery is repaired as quickly as possible (hemostat, etc.).
Using a tampon and stuffing gauze in the wound, to me, is exactly the same less the more sterilized gauze (preferable, but tampons are lightweight, take up less space, and the application for insertion to the wound is much easier).
I assume you are referring to XSTAT?
The biggest issue with that is the limited sites that it can be used in.
xstat, a bunch of objects that absorb blood. how much blood do you want be adsorb rather than stopped. you only got so much blood, before you go hypotensive.
Forgot to say:
Many thanks for the article. I have been fighting this nonsense ever since the GWOT started.
Tampons can work under some situations for GSWs; however, they are not ideal. This is the theme of this article.
IF the wound is linear and tampon sized, then a tampon will work. Bullet wounds tend not to be linear, nor are they tampon sized. A simple through and through that nicks an artery will find it nearly impossible to have a tampon inserted into it and if it is inserted it will cause more damage because the permanent wound channel is a fraction of the size of the tampon.
Bullet wounds tend to be non linear and larger than a tampon.
In either case, the preferred method (aside from ligation or resection) is deep packing with gauze. This allows there to be pressure against what is bleeding.
Thanks for the article. A few things, though. You state over and over that tampons are a bad idea for a trauma kit, but when it comes to the core of why people choose to carry them, you don’t actually address *why* they don’t work. You wrote, “I’m not going to get into the anatomy of a wound cavity.” Why not?! Is this not the central reason why people think tampons would work, because most people would assume that a bullet wound cavity (at least that of a smaller caliber round) would lend itself to be filled by the expansion of a tampon? And if you were to quickly spray the tampon with a broad spectrum antibiotic before packing it into a bullet wound, would this not help mitigate at least some of the potential infection that might accompany the use of a non-sterile wound dressing?
Not trying to be critical here, just trying to really understand all of the downsides of this method of wound management. It seems to me like it’s a hell of a lot more common for someone to encounter or be the victim of a gunshot wound these days than we would like to admit.
Anyway, again, thanks for the article, and the great discussion fodder!
If your not a woman you have no say in tampon use. It DOES stop the bleeding. Ask any woman. When shtf your gonna use what you have. You’re not going to have choices. But unless you have a raging period each month then you really have no say on tampons & pads. So sick of men articles on this subject. You guys have no clue what it will be like.
He is comparing a menstrual bleed to and arterial bleed. Ever see Blackhawk Down where the blood shoots across the room at high pressure?
Yeah that is real life and periods don’t compare.
Tampons do not stop bleeding.
They absorb blood.
Just a question in regard to female injury vaginal the blood is usually in this example will say do to impact or tearing higher ratio of actual blood Still victims are encouraged to use pads to absorb the blood is it because it’s an internal injury and would there be a better comparison possible with use of tampons and pads in tactical injury
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Tampons do not stop your menstrual blood from leaving your body, and you wouldn’t want them to. Tampons just make menstrual bleeding less messy. Very different kind of bleeding, too. When you’re on your period you are just expelling the blood and junk that has built up in your uterus all month–not bleeding from your bloodstream. Tampons make the non-life threatening loss of built-up blood a little easier to deal with, and that’s all.
Have you ever stuck a tampon in a gun shot wound. NOPE you have not.
Sometimes it better to say nothing than let everyone that works trauma thi nk your speaking out of turn.
Take a Xanax Jax. From a medical standpoint, I can talk about tampons and the many uses of said tampons much better than you ever could. You’re sick and tired of men articles on this topic? Did you get triggered? Need a safe place to go? Do you know why men can write articles about tampons? Because they have many more uses than just shoving them up your cooch. Deal with it!
As a woman, I’m here to tell you that tampons don’t stop your vagina from bleeding, they just absorb the blood. Big difference. If it did stop bleeding women wouldn’t bleed for a week.
You’re missing the entire point of the article. Hes not saying a tampon cant be used for a period, that’s exactly what it was made for. He is saying that using a tampon on an open gunshot wlund is a horrible idea because of the extreme difference between a gunshot wound and a period.
I too am a Sam Huston trained medic, 5th Grp SF. Pushing a tampon into a gunshot would does damage going in , maybe tearing up a damage artery of vein. Pulling it back out after the tampon swells up, you risk doing the same damage as well as removing the clot you had hoped would have formed. Hope that answers you question, RangerRick
RangerRick nailed it. I think the poster questions was fair. As a field paramedic in an urban area I see a lot of gunshot wounds. As we have in the field started packing wounds in recent years (this is a carry over from combat medics, yes I know its been standard for years in the military, but not so for most US based field medicine). A solid bunch of material in a tampon simply does not pack well. In order to stop arterial bleeding and copious capillary bleeding along the woundTrack, you have to pack agressively. A tampon simply does not allow that effectively. Pushing it in farther will only push out the material not filling the wound well.
I highly disagree. Not just disagree, but highly disagree. Yes, medics use them on the battlefield, and yes, they are used in the street. You have nothing in your bus that can tamponade a gunshot as quickly as a tampon unless you are using quikclot or similar product. If you’re dealing with a gunshot, what exactly and how are you packing it in the field?
Couple of things Rick. Even packing gauze when removed will tear out clotting, or even irritate the wound area. The purpose of packing a wound is that while the medium used absorbs, it swells. The swelling of said gauze applies additional direct pressure to the various capillaries, veins, artery, etc. while you do want to stop the bleeding, the bleeding itself does help “irrigate” the wound channel of smaller debris and contaminates.
While the use of tampons is not the ideal solution and there are some better alternatives out there, given the necessity of the nature of puncture wounds, gsws, even large gashes, anything is better than nothing. Most will not serve on a battlefield, but even there, expedience of removing the wounded to a proper MTF is paramount. I have served in combat, have used tampons to temporarily treat various wounds, but that said, any packing material is not the cure all. Other techniques must be used, I.e. Compression, elevation, pressure points, and even tourniquets if necessary. On torso wounds, things get even more complicated. But the bottom line is, one can only do so much in the field environment, be it urban or austierre. The challenge is trying to stabilize until evac is available.
The whole idea of the article is really more aimed at the fact that they are NOT ideal, and you should plan AHEAD and have legit pressure dressings available on purpose for emergencies, rather than assuming a tampon will be just fine and not preparing in advance.
Exactly. If you have nothing else then use a tampon. But if you are making a kit then use real bandages. This is like people that found out crayons can be improvised as candles, then went out and bought crayons. WHY didn’t they buy candles. Instead they planned to improvise.
The simple “why not” [from 2 of my doctor friends (one of whom is an avid shooter)]. A tampon is designed to absorb blood [and all those other fluids mentioned in the article]. The tampon will keep absorbing until saturated and then merely keep dripping out. The idea of wound management is to STOP the bleeding, not induce it. Despite “Jax” comment below [who, as a woman, is evidently an authority on this subject], it is NOT the tampon which “stops” the bleeding; it is the passage of time. If a tampon truly “stopped the bleeding”, I would assume there would be no need to reapply any during the course of several days; however, I’ve never seen a commercial with the tag line “set and forget”. Thus, while the article may have left a few holes in the “whys” and “why nots”, it is spot-on in it’s advice to use the proper product and/or technique to STOP the bleeding.
You guys overthinking this. If a tampon is the only thing you have use it but do not prepare your EDC trauma pack with them. Carry the correct stuff purchased from a medical supply store.
Yes! This was the whole point of the article. Don’t “plan to improvise” but instead plan ahead by packing the most suitable material available.
He lost me when you said they weren’t sterile. Just as sterile if not more so than those gauze pads and other “medical” stuff. He might have some smarts but you lost it here. Won’t even finish the rest….not worth MY time.
But there are times that a tampon might be helpful……not with an arterial bleed but maybe the entrance wound or not a hollow-point or assault style weapon wound in the core of the body. Direct pressure and other methonds might be necessary….But I can see where tampons might help in the first critical minutes while waiting to do more extreme measure. Not all BY THEMSELVES!
Kim…”assault style weapon wound”…Really?
Kim: Your expertise to state that tampons are sterile is? We are interested in fact, not supposition. Tampons are clean. That is significantly different from sterile. Personally, if I am going to be carrying around something in my truck to stop bleeding, it is going to be items specifically designed for the task at hand. I don’t as a matter of habit carry a bunch of tampons in my truck for whatever. Worst case, a woman who happens to be riding in my truck, suddenly out of the blue starts her menses but failed to put suitable material in her handbag. I do carry toilet paper in my truck on a regular basis and a wad of toilet paper will suffice in lieu of a kotex pad. And t.p., like tampons is clean, not sterile. In an emergency, even t.p. can be used as a clean dressing for a wound.