I think the point is that expedient means expedient, it doesn't necessarily mean better. I've never seen anything solid to suggest that maxipads and tampons work as good or better than the usual, and laymans logic would suggest they aren't as appropriate since they're designed to absorb lots of fluid, which means spread it out through the fibers.....which is not what helps coagulation. Keep in mind that a tampon or maxipad is not purposed to stop blood flow.....it's purposed to absorb it.
I can't find any credible articles about clotting matrices of gauze vs those-icky-things-that-females-use-for-icky-female-stuff though, so I don't want to make an absolute statement and eat my words. Suffice to say, a nose bleed is way different than an arterial bleed, so I'd like to hear from anyone here who has actually used maxipads or tampons on arterial bleeds.
Yeah man, that's the awesome thing about military field care and the sucky thing about stateside medicine. In the military, if you're joe-schmoe and the platoon medic takes the time to teach you how to perform a chest decompression.....then you can do a chest decompression! Stateside, if you're a nurse in some sort of advanced specialty and are riding as an EMT on a volunteer ambulance for your small town....it doesn't matter. You're still only allowed to do what any other EMT is allowed to, because you're riding as an EMT and your nurse credentials are not supported.