How to Clean and Dress a Wound

How to Clean and Dress a Wound

This is an excellent site for tips on Preparedness and Survival Techniques for those that are interested in learning more about this aspect.

My blog can only really touch on these things in a very moderate way, as it is such a huge area that entire blogs are dedicated to this topic alone.

They also tend to go far more into depth of the Survival aspects than what I can do on this blog as I am in no way a survival expert. So I tend to like to leave that side of things to those with far more knowledge and experience of the subject that I am.

I would however, really like to encourage people that are interested in the full on survival side of things, and want to learn far more about the survival aspects, to go and have a look around their site and check it out. There is so much to learn from it.

This article that I came across this morning there, however does fit this blog and is extremely important not just from a survival point of view but for the fact that we should all know basic first aid.

It is because of this fact that I am sharing this article  here along with the link to get to the original site.

Therefore all credit for this article does go to the folks at The Prepper Project, http://theprepperproject.com/clean-dress-wound/.

First aid is something that every single person should know at least the basics of. Whether its knowing how to tend to a wound before going to a doctor or the hospital or learning how to do CPR.

Having at least some basic knowledge of First Aid saves lives.

I would definitely encourage everyone to do a basic First Aid Course through their local St. John’s Ambulance Service, or for my American Reader’s, contact your local Paramedic Services, hospitals, doctors office etc. and find out who does First Aid courses and where.

Sometimes these courses are run free in smaller rural communities but usually there is a charge for the courses and the amount will greatly depend on the course level you choose to take. A basic course here is around the $50 mark.

It might sound a lot of money to some and to some it will be a lot of money to spend, but in reality it is a very small price to pay if your training saves the life of your child, another family member, a neighbour or even a total stranger.

Ask about group discounts because it might be far better to get a group of you together and all do the course together and reduce the individual costs.

We can even use our first aid knowledge to help save the life of our pets so it is definitely worth doing a first aid course for sure.

Now that I have prattled on long enough - I will let you get to the article that sparked this blog post in the first place. Please don’t just read this – but do make an effort to seek out and do at least the  basic First Aid Course.

The life you save could be that of your child, grandchild or spouse.

How to Clean and Dress a Wound

July 9, 2014

http://theprepperproject.com/clean-dress-wound/

You and your buddy are out in the forest foraging for wild greens and stumble across an interesting weed that you know sucks venom from insect bites. The weed is located near a hill side where you inform your buddy that you see some edible wild plants. Problem is that is just rained and the slope is slippery. Your buddy gets a little too close to the hill side and takes a tumble. You’re concerned because where he fell there were many rocks. Immediately, you safely make it to the bottom of the hill and conduct a quick head-to-toe assessment of your fallen buddy.

How to Do a Head-to-Toe Assessment

Check to see if the person is conscious. Do not attempt to move the person until after your have conduct your head-to-toe assessment. Ask the person if they are in pain, bleeding, if there are any injuries or any other symptoms the person may be experiencing. These types of assessments need to be done systematically to allow it to be done quickly and accurately. Remember to: listen, look and feel for anything that might be unusual, pay attention to everything, and suspect that there might be spinal injury (especially if the person is unconscious). Always check their body from the top to the bottom (head to toe) for any soft tissue injuries; to be sure there is Pulse, Movement, and Sensation (PMS) in all of their extremities and continuity of their bones. Your assessment will be as follows:

1. Head
2. Neck
3. Shoulders
4. Chest
5. Arms
6. Abdomen
7. Pelvis
8. Legs

Your buddy lucked out because you found no broken bones and he appears to be in one piece. However, you did find a bleeding gash on his arm. There are three steps to approaching a wound.

1. Control bleeding
2. Clean wounds
3. Apply dressing and bandage to the wound

Blood splatter

Types of Bleeding

Out of control bleeding causes weakness that can lead to unconsciousness. If the bleeding is not controlled the person could die. Adults have roughly 5 litres of blood in their body. The loss of just 1 litre of blood can lead to death.

There are three types of bleeding. How fast the blood is flowing usually identifies what type of bleeder you are dealing with. The three types of bleeding are: Arterial, Venous, and Capillary.

• Arterial comes from the arteries and causes the blood to SPURT because they transfer blood under high pressure.
• Venous comes from the veins and causes the blood to FLOW because they transfer blood under low pressure.
• Capillary comes from the capillaries and causes the blood to OOZE because they transfer blood under low pressure.

Know how to clean and dress a wound

Controlling Bleeding

The first step in taking care of a wound is to control any bleeding. There are three methods for controlling bleeding and they are: Direct Pressure, Elevation and Pressure Points. Most of the time, direct pressure and elevation are all that you need to control a bleeder. Each of these types can be controlled with the proper equipment from your med kit.

• Direct Pressure
• Put a clean dressing on top of the bleeding wound and press firmly.
• Maintain direct pressure by wrapping the wound area with a pressure bandage tying it in a bow.
• Elevation
• Elevate the area that contains the wound above heart level.
• Pressure Points
• Find an area near the wound and place pressure there to assist in slowing the blood flow.

Clean The Wound

Second step in taking care of a wound is to clean it. Wounds should be cleaned with clean water whenever possible. Although many people use hydrogen peroxide to clean wounds this is not a good idea because some research has shown that it could be toxic to cell tissues. However, in a pinch, use whatever sterile liquid or saline you might have. Do not scrub the wound!

Bandages to hold the dressing

Apply Dressing and Bandage

Third and final step in taking care of a wound is to dress and bandage it. To minimize infection you want to keep the wound clean and control any bleeding. What is the difference between a dressing and a bandage? Dressing should be sterile and are placed on top of the wound. Bandages are the tape that holds the dressing on top of the wound. Rules of dressings are as follows:

1. If there is blood on the dressing that you had already placed there leave the bloody dressing and put fresh sterile dressing over it. You do not want to pull the dressing off while it is still bleeding. Be sure to keep pressure on it and maintain elevation above the level of the heart.
2. If there is no blood then any dressing you had put on it can be removed. Irrigate the wound again and check for signs of infection before applying fresh sterile dressing on it.

Signs of Infection

Whether out in the field or safe at home the wound needs to be monitored every 4 to 6 hours for signs of infection. Potential signs of infection include the following:

• Wound area is swelling.
• There is discoloration.
• The wound is leaking or discharging.
• Red striations are found near the area of the wound.

Medical survival skills are a must for everyone. Regardless of when the SHTF, we need to be able to take care of ourselves and our fellowmen and women. Simple skills including but not limited to: treating a burn, cooking, hygiene, and fighting a fire are vital to acquire. If you have a group you can piece out who is going to be responsible for what. However, skills such as cleaning and dressing a wound everybody should know because you never know when you are going to have to use it on your buddy in the woods or even yourself.

Source: http://theprepperproject.com/clean-dress-wound/