Question

You are taking care of a bicyclist who crashed after hitting a curb. She landed on her arm, which appears to be bleeding. After exposing her forearm, you find an open wound with exposed bone and very minor bleeding. What should you?

A. Push the bone back under the skin to protect it from further damage.

B. Straighten the limb to return it to a natural angle.

C. Cover the wound with gauze to protect it. Immobilize the limb as best as you can.

Answer 1

The answer is option C. Cover the wound with gauze to protect it. Immobilize the limb as best as you can.

This will make sure that there is no further contamination from outside microbes and dirt. Immobilisation will ensure that there is no further damage to the bones or the other structures Bruce the vibes line blood vessels

The wound needs to be washed, x-rays need to be taken to assess the fracture and then plans for reduction should be made.

Let us explore the other options.

A. Push the bone back under the skin to protect it from further damage

The patient has an open wound, which means that it the structures beneath are not protected by overlying skin. So contamination with microbes and dirt would have already occured. Hence before further manipulation, this wound should be washed thoroughly with sterile saline to make sure that the infective agents are not pushed further in.

B. Straighten the limb to return it to a natural angle.

This is an open wound and hence this won't be an appropriate solution. Also the jagged end of vibes may dislodge clots formed on blogs vessels and can cause further bleeding.