Fractures, immobilization, moving an unresponsive patient
What will we learn in this unit?
- the principles of first aid for fractures
- the principles of moving an unresponsive patient
Take home message:
- Move an unresponsive person only when it is absolutely necessary.
- Checking vital signs (opening the airway by tilting the head back, checking for the breathing, eventually providing CPR) is always a task of high priority in an unresponsive patient.
- Certain types of fractures can cause massive internal bleeding and thus threaten the patient’s life (fractures of the pelvis, long bone fractures).