HPR 010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Flail Chest, Shallow Breathing, Recovery Position
12 Jun 2018
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Chapter 13 – Chest, Abdominal, and Pelvic Injuries
Chest Injuries
- Open or Closed
- All people with chest injuries should have airway, breathing, and circulation checked and
rechecked
- A responsive person should sit up or be placed with injured side down
Closed Chest Injuries
- The skin is not broken
- Ex: rib fractures and flail chest
- Rib Fractures
o The upper four ribs are protected by muscles, collarbones, and shoulder blades
o The loer to ris, floatig ris, hae freedo to oe ad are therefore diffiult to
break
o Broken ribs usually occur along the side of the chest.
o Rib Fractures: What to Look For
▪ Sharp pain when person takes deep breaths, coughs, or moves
▪ Guarding, tenderness
▪ Shallow breathing
▪ Bruising of skin over injury
o Rib Fractures: What to Do
▪ Help person find a comfortable position
▪ Stabilize chest
▪ Give pain meds, have person take slow deep breaths, call 911
- Flail Chest
o Serious injury involving several ribs in the same area broken in in more than one place
o The area over the injury may move in a direction opposite to that of the rest of the chest
wall during breathing
▪ Paradoxical chest motion
o Very painful and difficult breathing
o Bruising of skin over the injury
o Same signs as for rib fractures.
o What to Do:
▪ Do not apply constrictive bandages around chest
▪ Call 911
Open Chest Injuries
- An open chest injury is when the skin has been broken and the chest wall is penetrated by an
object like a knife or bullet
- Sucking Chest Wound
o Chest wound allows air to pass into and out of the chest with each breath
o What to look for
▪ Blood bubbling out of chest wound
▪ Sucking sound during inhalation
o What to do
▪ Leave the wound exposed to air
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Document Summary
Chapter 13 chest, abdominal, and pelvic injuries. All people with chest injuries should have airway, breathing, and circulation checked and rechecked. A responsive person should sit up or be placed with injured side down. An open chest injury is when the skin has been broken and the chest wall is penetrated by an object like a knife or bullet. Sucking chest wound: chest wound allows air to pass into and out of the chest with each breath, what to look for, blood bubbling out of chest wound, sucking sound during inhalation, what to do. Leave the wound exposed to air: do not cover unless using direct pressure and a dry gauze dressing to control bleeding, call 911. If an object penetrates the chest wall, air and blood escape into the space between the lungs and the chest wall. The air and blood cause the lung to collapse.
