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Industrial hand and finger trauma response tips

I just spent four days with a group of industrial first responders. Every student had a personal or patient care experience that involved a finger amputation, hand degloving, or full arm crush injury. From our conversations, I learned some new tips and was reminded of some important tips for hand and finger trauma emergencies.

1. Ensure that all machinery is turned off and locked from being turned on before patient assessment.

2. Only return power to machines if required for extrication and with the expert guidance of a machinery operator.

3. If sending someone to search for an amputated finger, hand, or arm, make sure they know what they are seeking and how to package the body part.

4. Assess and treat the patient away from the incident area, which may be cramped, elevated, noisy, dirty, and dangerous for you, your partner, and the patient.

5. Control bleeding with well-aimed direct pressure. Don’t hesistate to apply a tourniquet for severe, uncontrolled bleeding.

6. Splint the injured area to minimize movement and help with pain control.

Remember that amputated body parts should be wrapped in gauze, put in a plastic bag and placed on ice, but not in ice.

Greg Friese, MS, NRP, is the Lexipol Editorial Director, leading the efforts of the editorial team on Police1, FireRescue1, Corrections1 and EMS1. Greg served as the EMS1 editor-in-chief for five years. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree from the University of Idaho. He is an educator, author, national registry paramedic since 2005, and a long-distance runner. Greg was a 2010 recipient of the EMS 10 Award for innovation. He is also a three-time Jesse H. Neal award winner, the most prestigious award in specialized journalism, and the 2018 and 2020 Eddie Award winner for best Column/Blog. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn.
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