Early Days
Bumps and bruises
Warm weather means playing outside. Emma Hammet of First Aid for Life takes us through caring for bumps and bruises
Family adventures and rough and tumble are great, but what should we be doing about the inevitable bumps and bruises?
First Aid courses often concentrate on life threatening topics; however it is also important to know the best way to treat everyday cuts and scrapes: The following guide should help you to treat common injuries quickly and efficiently.
Grazes
Grazes are superficial injuries caused by some of the skin being scraped off revealing a dirty wound. It is never a priority to clean the wound immediately, usually it can be patched up short term with a plaster and then later cleaned properly once you are somewhere where you can wash your hands, wear gloves and use gauze and water, or antiseptic wipes to clean it thoroughly.
-- Clean the wound from the inside out and throw away the wipe. Repeat this until the wound is completely clean and devoid of any grit or mud.
-- Apply a non-adherent dressing pad, shiny side down onto the wound and secure with medical tape or Micropore.
-- The dressing can be removed at night to allow the air to get to the wound. Avoid soaking in a bath, or going swimming until the wound has healed properly.
Something embedded in the wound
If something is embedded in a wound, generally it shouldn’t be removed, the exception to this is a splinter.
Splinter removal
To remove splinters you should first wash the wound with warm, soapy water and then use a clean pair of tweezers to firmly grip the splinted and remove it from the same direction as it went in. Squeeze the wound slightly to ensure the splinter is completely out and to encourage a small amount of bleeding to expel any dirt. Ensure their tetanus is up to date.
Dressing a wound with an embedded object in it
-- Do not remove anything embedded in a wound as it will have caused damage on the way in and will cause more damage again on the way out! It may also be stemming any bleeding.
-- Use a rolled cloth or triangular bandage to make a donut ring and then apply pressure over the wound without pushing the object further in.
-- Get medical help and they will remove it under sterile conditions. If there is glass in the wound they may need to X-ray to check to ensure that they remove it all.