Would a petrolatum gauze be good for an open chest wound?

[Handsome Robb]

I've never been able to get a patient with a open chest wound and pneumothorax to actually vent through their wound. That's why I poke them.

Also Defib pads work great, especially on through and throughs.

 

[STXmedic]

The petroleum gauze is worthless. I've had to use it twice, neither times could I get the tape to stick well enough to form a three-sided occlusive. I ended up just putting three long strips of tape over it to secure the entire thing down. Now I just use hyfins and dart if I have to. I've used the hyfins countless times with zero issues.

 

[Kevinf]

Did you remove the gauze completely from the packaging or use the foil wrapper as a backing?

 

[STXmedic]

Both. On one of the two I opened it, placed the gauze portion against the wound with the foil as backing; the other time I didn't even bother opening it.