If you have never heard of this type of injury, it might come as a shock at first to hear what it is. When a person receives puncture wounds to this region of their body, it can create a new path for air, rather than just the mouth and nose. That is why a sucking chest wound is so dangerous.
Generally, this is the type of thing that can result from being shot with a gun. It can also be from stabbing or essentially any other types of puncture wounds if it is large and deep enough in the chest area. By and large, these are the cases in which you really have to be on guard for a sucking wound.
When you have this kind of an injury, it is not that difficult to get a collapsed lung from it. Once this has occurred, the situation becomes even more dangerous and the risk of death rises significantly, so you'll want to take care of the issue long before this has occurred if possible. The fact is the longer the injury is open and the air is traveling in this unnatural way, the more strain is put on the lungs and the greater the risk is for the individual.
There are a few difficult things about treating this kind of an injury in the interim before the read medical professionals can come and do their work. One of the things is that you have to find a way to let air come out without letting it go back into the injury. As you can imagine, this is much easier said than done, but there are a few techniques that have been known to work.
There are a lot of people who seem to think that if the injury is not making any noise, there is nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, this is just not always the case. Plenty of times, you won't even be able to hear anything, so if the person has been wounded anywhere near this region and it looks pretty serious, you'll want to just go ahead and assume the worst.
Calling 911 should always be your first priority. This is how you get in touch with the people who really know the best thing to do. The sooner you call them, the sooner they can get there and help you. The operator will probably have some instructions to give you that will help keep everything under control and minimize the damage before the EMTs can actually get there.
When sealing off this kind of an injury, plastic is a good thing to use. It works well because it can make a fairly airtight seal with the right kind of tape in a dire situation. It is always best if the material used is as clean as possible since you want to avoid causing an infection.
So many people tend to freeze up when these stressful or scary situations occur. If this is the way that you are, it would be a good idea to take a few deep breaths. That way, you will be able to handle the decisions you have to make and think with a clear head.
Generally, this is the type of thing that can result from being shot with a gun. It can also be from stabbing or essentially any other types of puncture wounds if it is large and deep enough in the chest area. By and large, these are the cases in which you really have to be on guard for a sucking wound.
When you have this kind of an injury, it is not that difficult to get a collapsed lung from it. Once this has occurred, the situation becomes even more dangerous and the risk of death rises significantly, so you'll want to take care of the issue long before this has occurred if possible. The fact is the longer the injury is open and the air is traveling in this unnatural way, the more strain is put on the lungs and the greater the risk is for the individual.
There are a few difficult things about treating this kind of an injury in the interim before the read medical professionals can come and do their work. One of the things is that you have to find a way to let air come out without letting it go back into the injury. As you can imagine, this is much easier said than done, but there are a few techniques that have been known to work.
There are a lot of people who seem to think that if the injury is not making any noise, there is nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, this is just not always the case. Plenty of times, you won't even be able to hear anything, so if the person has been wounded anywhere near this region and it looks pretty serious, you'll want to just go ahead and assume the worst.
Calling 911 should always be your first priority. This is how you get in touch with the people who really know the best thing to do. The sooner you call them, the sooner they can get there and help you. The operator will probably have some instructions to give you that will help keep everything under control and minimize the damage before the EMTs can actually get there.
When sealing off this kind of an injury, plastic is a good thing to use. It works well because it can make a fairly airtight seal with the right kind of tape in a dire situation. It is always best if the material used is as clean as possible since you want to avoid causing an infection.
So many people tend to freeze up when these stressful or scary situations occur. If this is the way that you are, it would be a good idea to take a few deep breaths. That way, you will be able to handle the decisions you have to make and think with a clear head.
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