I agree, but then again not many people are going to have the right tools, and quick thinking like you did may well have bought the guy enough time to live.
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I agree, but then again not many people are going to have the right tools, and quick thinking like you did may well have bought the guy enough time to live.
herrwalther
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She didn't. But that is a story I will not go into. I can arm chair quarterback it for the rest of my life on whether or not a real TQ would have made a difference.
Direct pressure is fine until it's not enough or until you need to be busy doing something else, like taking care of another person (or shooting at another person, as the case may be). Direct pressure can also be incredibly difficult or impossible to use on yourself.
That's my point though. Certainly many people aren't going to have the right tools or skills, but that doesn't mean we should do the same. The qualities, skills, knowledge and tools of the average person isn't a good goal to shoot for IMO. We should be better than that. If all it takes is wearing a pair of pants with an extra pocket or two that seems like a worthwhile trade off.
i am a retired registered nurse with over 30 years of work at that trade. my wife is a medical provider. i will give you a tip the army guys use and you can use also. carry a box of tampons with you at all times. if shot or you come across a gun shot wound shove a tampon in the hole. it will stop the bleeding. also carry something you can put around a arm or a leg to stop a bleed out. these two thing can save lives and are very important. benadryl should be carried also at all times as it will stop a insect sting from going in to shock and cutting off a airway. those 3 things can save a lot of lives, hoped i helped you all as ive seen it all.i think i spelled benadryl wrong but you get the point.
Trunk Monkey
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I'll take things that are myths for $200.
Inserting a tampon in a bullet hole will not stop the blood from pooling inside the body cavity ot will just stop it from coming out. Kind of like how tampons work in their natural habitat
Trunk Monkey
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But you'll still be bleeding to death.
OMG I wouldn't let you be the nurse for my hamster
bad call on my part to even comment on this one. the arm and leg with a bullet hole in it is way different than the body cavity. i guess all you guys have seen real combat. tell me ive done bad when ive been in it up to my elbows, im still here. at about close to 80 years old. wonder how you would do if you would have been with me. again sorry i said anything, you all know way more about it than i do.
herrwalther
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Yes I have. And I can tell you exactly how many people in professional military medical fields advocate plugging a tampon in a hole. Exactly zero. Besides, I would rather carry around a CAT than a box of tampons to deal with bleeds. I have heard the tampon myth from other, less experienced soldiers. And it gets squashed with them as well.
Trunk Monkey
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I'm sorry guy but you're wrong. I don't know how else to say that. I've never been in combat but it's not a requirement to know when something is a bad Idea.
Trunk Monkey
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This isn't the airport dude. There's no need to announce your departure
If the wound involves a body cavity, the patient will continue to bleed internally even if you stick a tampon in the bullet hole. If it is an extremity wound, you run the risk of converting a partial arterial or venous injury into a complete transection, which can be more difficult to repair. External pressure, either by direct pressure or tourniquet if you have one, is the way to go. There really isn't anything you can do to stop bleeding in the chest or abdominal cavities unless you are in an OR.
Packing is sometimes used in an OR to stop otherwise uncontrollable bleeding, usually either in the pelvis or liver. But that is done with the abdomen open, and after other measures to control bleeding have failed. It is part of the "damage control" approach sometimes used in critically ill patients, where what you are trying to do is stop immediate bleeding, resuscitate/transfuse the patient, correct the inevitable coagulopathy that occurs with massive blood loss, and then plan to return to the OR usually within 24 hrs for definitive repair. That is totally acceptable in that situation but doesn't apply to what we are talking here, ie, dealing with injuries in the field.
On a historical note, I did hear people talk of using tampons back in the late 80s still, but it had already gone by the wayside at that point.
Packing is sometimes used in an OR to stop otherwise uncontrollable bleeding, usually either in the pelvis or liver. But that is done with the abdomen open, and after other measures to control bleeding have failed. It is part of the "damage control" approach sometimes used in critically ill patients, where what you are trying to do is stop immediate bleeding, resuscitate/transfuse the patient, correct the inevitable coagulopathy that occurs with massive blood loss, and then plan to return to the OR usually within 24 hrs for definitive repair. That is totally acceptable in that situation but doesn't apply to what we are talking here, ie, dealing with injuries in the field.
On a historical note, I did hear people talk of using tampons back in the late 80s still, but it had already gone by the wayside at that point.
Jenrick
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It was still a very common thing passed around in the Army all the way until OIF or so. I heard it a decent number of times in the late 90's and early 2000's, before TCC etc really pushed into the big green Army. I remember one guy on an FTX had a bag of tampons in his ruck, "just in case."
Honestly back when our IFAK was a triangle bandage and gauze, pretty much anything that might worked seemed like a good idea.
Honestly back when our IFAK was a triangle bandage and gauze, pretty much anything that might worked seemed like a good idea.
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