Gunshot wounds are among the most traumatic a person can sustain. It is rather difficult to establish with certainty the extent of the damage caused by a bullet and, usually, the necessary treatments go far beyond simple first aid. For this reason, the best thing to do is to get the victim to the emergency room as soon as possible. However, there are some first aid operations that you can put in place while you wait for professional rescuers to arrive.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Provide Basic First Aid
Step 1. Consider whether you can offer help without compromising your safety
If the victim has been accidentally shot (for example during a hunting trip), make sure that all the people participating in it do not have their guns pointed at other human beings, that they have removed the ammunition, put the safety on and positioned the rifle or the pistol so as not to cause damage. If the person survived a shooting, check that the thug is not around yet and that both you and the victim are safe from further danger. If possible, wear personal protective equipment.
Step 2. Call the emergency services
Call 112, which is the European emergency number, or 118 for the ambulance. If you call from a mobile phone, remember that you must provide your location to the operator who will answer; otherwise it may be difficult to locate where you are calling from.
Step 3. Don't move the victim
Do not move it unless absolutely necessary for safety reasons or to be able to help. Movement could aggravate spinal cord damage. Lifting the injured area is a technique for limiting bleeding, but you must not put it into practice if you do not have a thorough knowledge of the treatment of spinal injuries.
Step 4. Act promptly
Time is your enemy in these cases. Victims who have access to medical care within one hour of the traumatic event have a better chance of surviving. Try to move quickly without upsetting or panicking the victim.
Step 5. Apply direct pressure to control the bleeding
Take a cloth, gauze, or bandage and press directly on the wound with the palm of your hand. Maintain this position for at least ten minutes. If the blood does not stop, check the point where you are pressing and consider applying the pressure to another area. Put new bandages on top of the old ones, do not remove the fabric as it becomes soaked in blood.
Step 6. Apply a dressing
If bleeding slows or stops, cover the wound with tissue or gauze. Wrap the bandage to maintain some pressure. In any case, do not over tighten the bandage to the point that the victim loses sensitivity in the extremities or interrupts blood circulation.
Step 7. Be prepared to deal with the shock
Gunshot wounds are often accompanied by this syndrome caused by trauma or blood loss. Expect the victim to show shock symptoms and be prepared to treat them by keeping their body temperature constant, so you will need to cover them to prevent them from cooling down. Undo her tight clothes and wrap her body in a blanket or coat. Usually the legs of the individual in shock should be raised, but do not proceed with this maneuver if you suspect spinal damage or if the wound is at the level of the torso.
Step 8. Reassure the victim
Tell her that everything is under control and that you are there to help her. Feeling in good hands is as important as receiving treatment; ask her to talk to you and keep her warm.
Step 9. Stay with the victim
Continue to comfort her and make sure she doesn't get cold. Wait for the police to arrive. If blood clots around the gunshot wound, do not remove the clot as it works as a "plug" that stops any bleeding.
Part 2 of 4: Assessing the Victim's Status
Step 1. Remember the rescuer rules
During more professional gunshot wound treatment, the patient's status should be assessed. The acronym ABCDE helps you to remember the important factors that must be considered. Evaluate all of these five critical aspects to understand what the victim needs.
Step 2. Check the airways
If the person can speak, the airways are probably not blocked. If the victim is unconscious, then check that there are no obstacles in the throat. If breathing is present and there is no spinal damage, then the victim's head reclines. To do this, apply light pressure on her forehead with the palm of one hand, while with the other you lift her chin to recline her head.
Step 3. Check for breathing
Does the victim inhale and exhale regularly? Does his chest rise and fall rhythmically? If you see that he is not breathing, remove any obstructions from his mouth and immediately start giving artificial respiration.
Step 4. Check your blood circulation
Apply pressure where you notice the bleeding and check the victim's heartbeat, on the wrist or throat. Can you feel the pulse? If not, cardiopulmonary resuscitation begins. Check for any severe bleeding.
Step 5. Check for D _-_ Disability motor disabilities
At this stage you need to ascertain whether the victim has suffered neurological damage that compromises their motility, which would suggest a spinal or neck injury. Check that he is able to move his hands and feet; if not, there could be trauma to the spine. Deformities are attributable to open or displaced fractures, dislocations or in any case to dislocations of structures that manifest themselves with an unnatural or abnormal appearance of the body. If the victim shows signs of neurological damage, avoid moving them.
Step 6. Check E _-_ Exposure the exposure
Always check for an exit hole or other wounds you didn't initially notice. Be especially careful around the armpits, buttocks, and other hard-to-scan areas. In any case, avoid completely undressing the victim before the emergency services arrive at the scene: you could aggravate the state of shock.
Part 3 of 4: Treating a Wound in the Arms or Legs
Step 1. Lift the limb and apply direct pressure to the wound
Evaluate the situation very carefully to make sure there are no signs of disability or other injuries that could indicate spinal cord damage. If you do not find any of this, raise the injured limb above the level of the heart to reduce the blood supply. Apply direct pressure to the wound to stop bleeding, as described above.
Step 2. Apply indirect pressure
Do not just press on the wound but, if possible, try to limit the blood flow to the wound by exercising some indirect compression. To do this, you have to squeeze the arteries into so-called pressure_points. These appear to the touch as particularly large and hard blood vessels. If you act on these points, you limit internal bleeding, but you will have to squeeze them to be sure that it is the artery that supplies the wound.
- To slow the flow of blood to the arm, press the brachial artery on the inside of the elbow.
- For thigh or groin injuries, you need to act on the femoral artery at a point between the groin and the upper part of the thigh. This is a particularly large blood vessel and you will have to press it with the whole base of your hand to be able to reduce the lumen and thus stop the circulation.
- If the wound is located in the lower leg area, apply pressure to the popliteal artery located behind the knee.
Step 3. Make a tourniquet
The decision to apply this tool should not be taken lightly, because it could lead to necrosis and loss of the limb. However, if the bleeding is extremely severe and you have a bandage or tissue available, you can consider making a tourniquet. Wrap the tissue tightly around the injured limb, as close as possible to the lesion and upstream of the same. Bandage the area several times and secure the bandage with a knot. Make sure there is enough fabric to tie another knot around a stick. At this point, rotate the stick to twist the bandage and limit the blood supply.
Part 4 of 4: Treating a Pneumothorax Wound
Step 1. Recognize a Traumatic Pneumothorax Traumatic Pneumothorax
If the bullet entered the chest, the victim is likely to have suffered this type of damage. Air enters through the wound, but is unable to escape, causing the lung to collapse. Signs of traumatic pneumothorax are a "sucking" sound from the chest, coughing blood, foamy blood leaking from the wound, and difficulty breathing. If in doubt, treat any chest wounds like traumatic pneumothorax.
Step 2. Locate and expose the wound
Look for it all over your body and take off the clothes that cover it; if there is some fabric stuck in the entry hole, do not remove it, but cut it all around. Find out if there is an exit hole so you can treat both injuries.
Step 3. Close the hole on three sides
Take an insulating material, preferably a sheet of plastic, and tape it over the lesion, closing all sides except the bottom corner. By doing so, oxygen can escape from this opening.
As you seal the wound, ask the victim to fully exhale and then hold their breath. In this way the air is forced outwards before closing the hole
Step 4. Apply pressure to both sides of the chest, the entry and exit holes
To do this, use two swabs on each lesion and secure them with a very tight bandage.
Step 5. Monitor your breathing very carefully
To do this, talk to the victim, if he is conscious, or observe the movement of the chest.
- If there are signs of respiratory failure (stopping breathing), then reduce the pressure on the wound and allow the chest to move.
- Prepare for artificial respiration.
Step 6. When the ambulance arrives, do not release the pressure and do not remove the seal you created
Rescuers could use it or replace it with a professional solution.
Advice
- When medical help arrives, be prepared to describe to them everything you have done in the meantime.
- The shots cause three types of trauma: from penetration (destruction of the flesh by the bullet), from cavitation (damage to tissues caused by the shock wave of the bullet in the body) and from fragmentation (caused by pieces of bullet or shot.).
- It is very difficult to accurately determine the severity of the ballistic trauma based only on the superficial observation of the injury; internal damage can be very serious, even when the bullet entry and exit holes are small.
- Don't worry about having sterile gauze or dirty hands; any infection can be treated later. In any case, try to take all possible precautions to protect yourself from contact with the victim's fluids and blood. If possible, do your health a favor and wear gloves.
- Gunshot wounds are the most common cause of spinal cord damage. If you have the impression that the victim has been hit in the spine, do not move it, unless absolutely necessary. If you have to move the injured person, make sure that their head, neck and spine are always aligned.
- Pressure is the most important element, as it stops the flow of bleeding and contains blood to promote clot formation.
Warnings
- Protect yourself from blood-borne diseases. Make sure that any wounds and skin lesions on your body do not come into contact with the victim's blood.
- Despite the best first aid care, gunshot wounds can be fatal.
- Don't put your life in danger when rescuing a victim of a shot.
