Perform First Aid for an Open Abdominal Wound — Performance Steps

Perform First Aid for an Open Abdominal Wound Conditions: You see a casualty who has an open abdominal wound. The casualty is breathing. Necessary equipment and materials: casualty’s first aid packet and material for an improvised dressing (clothing or blankets). Standards: Applied a dressing to the wound following the correct sequence without causing further injury to the casualty. The dressing was secure and protected the wound without putting pressure on the bowel. Performance Steps 1. Position the casualty by placing the casualty on his back with the knees up (flexed). 2. Uncover the wound unless clothing is stuck to the wound or in a chemical environment. CAUTION Uncovering the wound in a chemical environment or removing stuck clothing could cause additional harm. 3. Pick up any organs that are on the ground. a. Use a clean, dry dressing or the cleanest material available and gently pick up the organs without touching them with your bare hands. b. Place the organs on top of the casualty’s abdomen. 4. Apply the casualty’s field dressing. Note. If the field dressing is not large enough to cover the entire wound, the inner surface of the plastic wrapper from the dressing may be used to cover the bowel before the dressing is applied. Other improvised dressings can be made from clothing, blankets, or the cleanest material available. a. Apply the dressing, white side down, directly over the wound. WARNING Do not apply pressure to the wound or other exposed internal parts. b. Wrap the tails around the casualty’s body completely covering the dressing if possible. c. Loosely tie the tails into a non slip knot at the casualty’s side. d. Check to make sure the tails are tied firmly enough to prevent slipping without applying pressure to the bowel. Note. Field dressings can be covered with improvised reinforcement materials (cravats, strips of torn cloth) for additional support and protection. The improvised bandages should be tied on the casualty’s side—the one opposite to where the dressing is tied. Note. Do not cause further injury. Observe the following: Do not touch exposed organs with bare hands. Do not push organs back inside the body. Do not probe, clean, or remove any foreign object from the wound. WARNING Do not give food or water to the casualty. (Moistening the casualty’s lips is allowed.) Note. Watch the casualty closely for life-threatening conditions, check for other injuries, and seek medical aid. Evaluation Preparation: Setup: Use the same field dressing repeatedly. Have another soldier act as the casualty. Use a moorage or otherwise simulate the abdominal wound. You can have a canteen of water available and have the casualty say that he is thirsty while testing step 4. Brief Soldier: Tell the soldier to do, in order, all necessary first aid steps to treat the casualty’s wound. When testing step 2, you can vary the test by telling the soldier that clothing is stuck to the wound or that a chemical environment exists. Performance Measures GO NO GO 1. Positioned the casualty. —— —— 2. Uncovered the wound. —— —— 3. Picked up organs. —— —— 4. Applied the casualty’s field dressing. —— —— 5. Performed steps 1 through 4 in the correct sequence. —— —— 6. Watched the casualty closely for life-threatening conditions and checked for other injuries, if necessary. (See the Task 081-831-1000.) ____ ____ Evaluation Guidance: Score the soldier GO if all performance measures are passed. Score the soldier NO GO if any performance measure is failed. If the soldier scores NO GO, show what was done wrong and how to do it correctly. References FM 4-25.11 PAGE PAGE 2