compound/femur

[CAOX3]

Is the Hare Traction splint in use anymore, I didn't see it mentioned.

It is.

 

[reaper]

Is the Hare Traction splint in use anymore, I didn't see it mentioned.

It is mainly all I use. I only use a Sager if there is space issues.

 

[Too Old To Work]

No, however the environment surrounding someone getting shot or stabbed and someone having an open fracture is more than slightly different. Punctures (be it stabs or bullet holes) don't stick into the ground when someone falls. Similarly, while bullets might not be sterile, I'd argue that they're generally pretty clean. Dirty bullets jam guns, which is a lesson the French learned the hard way with the Chauchat during WW1.

Bacteria are pretty small. When I say dirty, I mean in the bacterial sense, not dirt clinging to the rounds themselves. If it's an open Fx, it's likely to get surgical debridement before being fixed. From my observation, every patient that goes to the OR gets a broad spectrum antibiotic before hand.

Slight tangent regarding infectious control, but I thought bullets heat-up significantly that infenction isn't a problem because of the bullet itself being sterile or not before being shot, but rather it being an open wound. Just what I thought.

Bullets tend to drive debris, such as clothing, into the wound, hence the wound is contaminated. Knives don't do that, but they are pretty dirty as a rule. Either way, all patients with open wounds will get antibiotics before the trip to the OR.

 

[JPINFV]

Bacteria are pretty small. When I say dirty, I mean in the bacterial sense, not dirt clinging to the rounds themselves.

I'm willing to bet that if you cultured a bullet before being fired and culture the ground that the ground is going to have more bacteria than the head of a bullet before being fired. It's not that the bullet has been sterilized, it's just that it neither has the elements really needed for bacterial life nor is it really exposed to bacteria in the first place.

 

[Too Old To Work]

I'm willing to bet that if you cultured a bullet before being fired and culture the ground that the ground is going to have more bacteria than the head of a bullet before being fired. It's not that the bullet has been sterilized, it's just that it neither has the elements really needed for bacterial life nor is it really exposed to bacteria in the first place.

It's exposed to bacteria, if from nothing else, the hand that loaded it. The wound becomes contaminated not from the bullet itself (usually), but from the clothes and other debris that are pushed into the wound.

My point was that worrying about sterility from open injuries isn't really a concern. Open wounds are by definition going to have some degree of contamination no matter what the cause.