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Sharp object stuck in the body


Alice24

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Say someone got a serious injury from a sharp object. Like, a knife, or a sharp piece of wood, or whatever, and it stays in their body, and here I come to give first aid. My first instinct would be to leave the object there, call an ambulance, and there would be nothing else I could do. Is that right?

PS. I'm a medic. And it never happened to me, I'm just wondering.

It appears you answered your own question .

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NEVER remove an impaled object. Immobilize the object, and transport to the nearest Trauma Center.

FYI, you might want to look at some copyrighted photos by Steve Spak, of a boy got himself impaled on a fence. FDNY Rescue Company 4 cut the fence apart, and EMS transported. (I was NOT a part of that particular call)

http://stevespak.com/spak/ems/impaled.html

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Ok just a dumb question: Could they have cut a bigger piece of fence to transport ?

No hack saws or chain "snippers" in NYC ?

Why would someone use a gas axe is beyond me.

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To the OP (although I suspect you will not be returning), I hope you can see the reason you are getting the response you are. It is absolutely okay to forget things, it happens to everyone. But to say that you are a Paramedic and then say you don't know what to do about an impaled object is like saying you forget what the ABCs are or what normal vital signs are. There are just certain things that you should not forget. Claiming you have forgotten something so basic to medicine makes one question your true credentials. No, we do not want to see your cert. There have been plenty of people that have come on here stating they are so-and-so and ask questions/want information, but they are later found to be someone with some sort of secondary gain such as looking to file a lawsuit. If you truly are a Paramedic then you will understand why you are being questioned when something just doesn't make sense.

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Say someone got a serious injury from a sharp object. Like, a knife, or a sharp piece of wood, or whatever, and it stays in their body, and here I come to give first aid. My first instinct would be to leave the object there, call an ambulance, and there would be nothing else I could do. Is that right?

PS. I'm a medic. And it never happened to me, I'm just wondering.

"here I come to give first aid." - no self respecting member of the EMS community refers to their work as "giving first aid".

"call an ambulance" - if you're a medic, you'd be in an ambulance 99 times out of a 100. If you're not, you'd probably radio for one (not "call").

The fact that you're not a medic is apparent. Not only are you not a medic, I'd put money on it that you're not an EMT or even certified in any sort of first aid whatsoever. If you're a layperson just say so. Had you started the topic with, "Hey guys I'm a layperson and want to know something really basic" you would have gotten some good answers really quickly and nobody would have jumped on you.

And to answer your question you should leave it alone nine times out of ten. If you can immobilize it without causing further damage do that.

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No hack saws or chain "snippers" in NYC ?

Why would someone use a gas axe is beyond me.

The incident in the photos is at least 20 years ago, possibly 30, so they may not have been invented yet

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In alot of places Paramedic EMT and associated titles are legally protected. So I truly hope you are a "medic" because impersonating o e may be illegal. And sorry but even every EMT I know has a text book or two lying around that would tell you never to remove an impaled object. Where I am licensed we are required to recert in ITLS every two years, make it hard to forget something basic like that, for a medic at least.

EMT by day, Captain Canuck when duty calls

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Bushy.... I'M BATMAN ;):dribble: :dribble: :dribble: :dribble: :dribble:

Dude! you are so much cooler than me, ive only got a black bed sheet i tie around my neck as a cape ;)

Edited by BushyFromOz
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On the other side of the coin ... just for debates sake is this a hard-fast rule ?

No one here has ever removed a sliver, a fish hook or a the like as technically these are FO.

The principle behind this EMS cook book rule is that the foreign object is more or less to tamponade (ing) the hemmorage, removal of large bits and pieces of car, glass or a Klingon knife can and likely would result in more damage or immediate death .. So what if you can not control the bleeding ? then when transport "in of itself" can result in dislodging the FO.

In some circumstances patient risk of further injury MAY be best facilitated by <gasp> removal (this is a judgement deal with MD involvement) that said in our Alberta "medic" rules of engagement" we have the added scope of practice to suture, tie off bleeders and pack out a wound's and from personal experience I may have done this myself when in an King Air 200 and a 300 kms trip to a facility with actual surgical capabilities.

For every rule there are exception's, anecdotally I watched an RN in a trauma room one day (years ago) gently push a knife BACK into a wound, well I was gobsmacked and she looked at me and quoted the "Do Not Remove Rule" .. say what ? (it was pulsating as it was very close to patients heart) this pulsation eventually pushed the knife out .. so what's the rule when a F.O. migrates out on its own accord ... put it back in ?

Dear Richard .. sorry just hard to swallow that a hack saw was not available (back in the day) yes labour intensive but that is what FF are for.

cheers

<edit for proof reading and corrections> it just doest read the same in preview. :shiftyninja:

Edited by tniuqs
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