GSW and tampons

[MNnaloxone]

ER guys, please help me settle an argument.

Is there any use for a tampon (yes, feminine hygeine) in treating a gunshot wound with 'ditch medicine'? Thanks in advance.

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[DropkickMurphy]

I've heard of it being done, but I don't think I would ever do it. The problem isn't normally the external hole you would plug with a tampon, but rather the underlying damage to internal organs and you could likely worsen that by shoving something blindly into the wound

 

[st0rmin]

I've heard of it being done, but I don't think I would ever do it. The problem isn't normally the external hole you would plug with a tampon, but rather the underlying damage to internal organs and you could likely worsen that by shoving something blindly into the wound

That being said, I have seen OB non-applicator tampons used in serious nose bleeds with good success...

 

[margaritaboy]

ER guys, please help me settle an argument.

Is there any use for a tampon (yes, feminine hygeine) in treating a gunshot wound with 'ditch medicine'? Thanks in advance.

Never heard of it, and wouldn't recomend it for exactly the reason listed abvoe.

It sounds kinda cool though. Are you sure you didn't see that on an episode of McGyver?

 

[DropkickMurphy]

That being said, I have seen OB non-applicator tampons used in serious nose bleeds with good success...

But it just lacks the "cool" factor of tamponading a posterior epistaxis using Foley catheters.....

 

[docB]

I've heard of it being done, but I don't think I would ever do it. The problem isn't normally the external hole you would plug with a tampon, but rather the underlying damage to internal organs and you could likely worsen that by shoving something blindly into the wound

I would make for a humerous moment when the surgeon finds the tampon during the ex lap. I love to see that facial expression, "What the ..."

I agree with Dropkick. The bleeding from the skin wound is by far the least of the patient's worries. It's kind of like all those movies and TV shows where they are in such a hurry to get the bullet out. The hero dramatically carves the bullet out with a steak knife and the victim hops up and says "Thanks!" They never show the part when he then keels over from his perfed bowel and spleen.

 

[pmtdenna]

ER guys, please help me settle an argument.

Is there any use for a tampon (yes, feminine hygeine) in treating a gunshot wound with 'ditch medicine'? Thanks in advance.

I saw some of our medics in my unit carry them in their field gear. They wouldn't use them for GSW unless it was a limb, and only if they were having a lot of difficulty stopping the bleeding.

 

[Lebesgue]

I saw some of our medics in my unit carry them in their field gear. They wouldn't use them for GSW unless it was a limb, and only if they were having a lot of difficulty stopping the bleeding.

Reminds me when I was in the military... one of the guys in training was treating a lower extremity injury in a medex, was sufficiently stressed and yelled, "I've got a sucking leg wound here"...



Laughter and harassment followed.

 

[pmtdenna]

Reminds me when I was in the military... one of the guys in training was treating a lower extremity injury in a medex, was sufficiently stressed and yelled, "I've got a sucking leg wound here"...



Laughter and harassment followed.

 

[OSUdoc08]

ER guys, please help me settle an argument.

Is there any use for a tampon (yes, feminine hygeine) in treating a gunshot wound with 'ditch medicine'? Thanks in advance.

Um.

You can't just plug the hole and everything will be alright.

 

[MirrorTodd]

Did a search on gunshot wounds +tampon and came up with some stuff. The military are ingenious when it comes to this stuff. Believe me, I've seen worse.

OK, I know what you're all thinking: How in the hell can these help an infantryman? Let me illustrate some things for you. When you're in the field in a place like Iraq , sometimes you do things that the "normal" person back home wouldn't even dream of. While with my unit deployed throughout Iraq, our salty Navy corpsmen taught us grunts many an interesting thing from what they call "ghetto first aid" (or more politically sensitive) "field-expedient field medicine".

Say you or one of your comrades has a puncture wound or gunshot wound. With your handy "ghetto" first aid kit in your MIL-SPEC+® Medic Pouch, you insert a tampon in the puncture or bullet wound; on contact with the blood, the tampon expands and semi-closes the wound. Then you put the Maxi-Pad over the wound to absorb more blood. You then use the Duct Tape as a weatherproof bandage. Over that, for added protection (God willing, if the wound is on an extremity), you can use the bandana to cover the wound until professional medical attention is available. For small cuts and lacerations, you can apply the hand sanitizer to disinfect and the Super-Glue as a sealant to protect the wound. (That's how "ghetto first aid" works.)

http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Defensewatch_071905_Quigley,00.html

 

[DropkickMurphy]

"field-expedient field medicine".

Ah....I miss the military and it's love for redundancy.

 

[vtucci]

I heard of medics and EMTs using them like 4x4s for GSWs.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I heard of medics and EMTs using them like 4x4s for GSWs.

As a medic, I rarely did much to gunshot wounds, because external bleeding from the wound was merely an inconvenience, and not what makes the patient unstable. We would only use 4 X 4's. I don't know of any other use for tampons than menses & epistaxis.

 

[a_ditchdoc]

As a medic, I rarely did much to gunshot wounds, because external bleeding from the wound was merely an inconvenience, and not what makes the patient unstable. We would only use 4 X 4's. I don't know of any other use for tampons than menses & epistaxis.

Since the issue of gunshot wounds came up. Is it just me or is the ol' petrolatum impregnated guaze dressing the most useless thing ever taught. Why do they still teach this? If the patient is bleeding a lot, it just washes right off. If it is hot outside, then it just melts and slides off. Useless I tell you...useless I started using the sterile side of the package it comes in. It seems to work better for sucking chest wounds.

And while I have never had a moment where I thought to myself "I sure wish I had a tampon", I have plugged some major uncontrolled arterial bleeds, and penetrating airway injuries, with a finger. It's crude, but it works...

 

[DropkickMurphy]

and penetrating airway injuries, with a finger

I've only inserted an ET tube down a penetrating airway injury before.....which would be twice- one was a hunting accident shotgun blast to the throat (I'm still amazed that guy lived as long as he did, #00 buckshot to the side of the neck....*shudders*) and a "practical decapitation" attempted suicide.

 

[JaySin]

GSW's are usally embarassing for the person getting shot. Im pretty sure the majority of them are on young males. I dont know if i would want to amplify that indignity by shoving tampons in them.

 

[Anuwolf]

That being said, I have seen OB non-applicator tampons used in serious nose bleeds with good success...

Wow tampons is a real protector, eh???

I can imagine somebody with a tampon stuck up their noses and contuine having to explain to people why they see a rope dangling down under their noses.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Wow tampons is a real protector, eh???

I can imagine somebody with a tampon stuck up their noses and contuine having to explain to people why they see a rope dangling down under their noses.

You've obviously never spent time around hockey players then.....

 

[SoCuteMD]

GSW's are usally embarassing for the person getting shot. Im pretty sure the majority of them are on young males. I dont know if i would want to amplify that indignity by shoving tampons in them.

Now, I know that tampons aren't medically indicated for GSWs so it's not really debatable, but if an intervention is going to help someone LIVE when the choices are a) live or b) die, then who gives a crap what the embarassment factor is?

 

[OSUdoc08]

Since the issue of gunshot wounds came up. Is it just me or is the ol' petrolatum impregnated guaze dressing the most useless thing ever taught. Why do they still teach this? If the patient is bleeding a lot, it just washes right off. If it is hot outside, then it just melts and slides off. Useless I tell you...useless I started using the sterile side of the package it comes in. It seems to work better for sucking chest wounds.

And while I have never had a moment where I thought to myself "I sure wish I had a tampon", I have plugged some major uncontrolled arterial bleeds, and penetrating airway injuries, with a finger. It's crude, but it works...

That's the only reason we use it.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Speaking of embarassing things to have to do in the course of medical treatment, I've ridden to the hospital holding pressure on the stump of a man's amputated penis to control the bleeding (that case is why I never skinny dip where there are snapping turtles). As SoCute put it, the choice is temporary indignation or death; in that situation anyone who chooses death is a *****.

 

[MirrorTodd]

Speaking of embarassing things to have to do in the course of medical treatment, I've ridden to the hospital holding pressure on the stump of a man's amputated penis to control the bleeding (that case is why I never skinny dip where there are snapping turtles). As SoCute put it, the choice is temporary indignation or death; in that situation anyone who chooses death is a *****.

Jeez that's prime for "things I learned from my patients."

 

[DropkickMurphy]

It actually became the topic of a proposed children's book called "Chomper's Day at the Pond" courtesy of my friend Beth....

 

[Anuwolf]

You've obviously never spent time around hockey players then.....

Nah I've never been around hockey players.... to be quite honest with you I don't normally watch Sport shows.

I prefer educational programs such as the discovery health/ animal planet,etc.

 

[MirrorTodd]

It actually became the topic of a proposed children's book called "Chomper's Day at the Pond" courtesy of my friend Beth....

 

[JaySin]

Now, I know that tampons aren't medically indicated for GSWs so it's not really debatable, but if an intervention is going to help someone LIVE when the choices are a) live or b) die, then who gives a crap what the embarassment factor is?

I was thinking more along the lines of someone who got shot in the leg.

Of course if its a life threating situation no one cares how they were saved only that they were saved.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I have yet to see a leg wound from a GSW that was not controllable via external pressure, that would have yielded itself to control by means that didn't involve clamping or ligating an artery, especially not by cramming a tampon into the wound.