Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook: Part IV: Regional Wounds and Injuries: Chapter XXXII: Wounds and Injuries of the Hand

Introduction

United States Department of Defense

The hand is constantly subject to serious trauma. Even though minor injuries may be incapacitating, the hand has remarkable recuperative powers. It can be trained to compensate for much of its lost function. Hand injuries should never be taken lightly, even those that appear to be relatively minor. Appropriate early management will yield the maximum possible return of function.

Injuries of the hand, in themselves, seldom result in shock or fatality. The casualty with a hand wound who presents in shock should therefore be evaluated for other more significant wounds. Those lifethreatening wounds should be given treatment priority prior to attending to the hand wound. When other priorities dictate delay in treatment of the hand injury, hemostasis and further injury to the hand are prevented by dressing and immobilizing the hand.

Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited.

The listing of any non-Federal product in this CD is not an endorsement of the product itself, but simply an acknowledgement of the source. 

Operational Medicine 2001

Health Care in Military Settings

This web version is provided by The Brookside Associates Medical Education Division.  It contains original contents from the official US Navy NAVMED P-5139, but has been reformatted for web access and includes advertising and links that were not present in the original version. This web version has not been approved by the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense. The presence of any advertising on these pages does not constitute an endorsement of that product or service by either the US Department of Defense or the Brookside Associates. The Brookside Associates is a private organization, not affiliated with the United States Department of Defense.

Contact Us  ·  ·  Other Brookside Products