What should you do if you identify an open fracture?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
B. Immobilize two adjacent joints.
Explanation
In the drawing you can see a diagram of a lower leg with broken, displaced bone fragments; the question is about an open fracture, that is, one in which the bone fragments break through the skin and the wound connects with the bone. In this case you immobilise two neighbouring joints, that is, the joint above and the joint below the fracture - answer B. A cotton wool dressing (A) sticks to the wound, and pulling the limb (C) risks damaging blood vessels and nerves and causes enormous pain.
The State Emergency Medical Services Act requires you to notify the services about a person in a sudden health emergency, and the Criminal Code punishes failure to give help. With an open fracture you first call for help, put on gloves, cover the wound with a sterile dressing without pushing in the bones that stick out, and if there is bleeding you press gently around the wound. You leave the limb in the position in which you found it and immobilise it in this position so that the joint above and below the fracture cannot move - you can use a rolled-up blanket, a jacket or a splint. You cover the casualty and make sure that they do not lose consciousness.
Legal basis: Art. 4 para. 1 of the State Emergency Medical Services Act; Art. 162 § 1 of the Criminal Code