The Definition of an Evisceration
An evisceration is a very gruesome and disturbing abnominal injury in which an intestine or some other internal organ protrudes through an open wound. The wound is large and deep enough to allow such a protrusion. A stabbing, gunshot wounds, work with power tools such as those used in home fix-up, and farm accidents are among the things that can cause a sudden evisceration.
How to Care for an Evisceration: What You Should Not Do
When learning how to care for an evisceration, it’s probably just as important to understand what you should not do as understanding what you should do for a victim. Perhaps the people who would faint at the site of an evisceration would do best to simply summon emergency medical help as soon as possible. Others, however, who will stay and help need to understand the importance of resisting any urge to attempt to replace an organ or part of an organ that is protruding. This can be extremely harmful and cause major complication for the surgeon who will be operating on the patient in attempt to “patch” him or her up.
An evisceration doesn’t just sit and heal on its own, surgery has to be performed, which almost always involves the partial removal of an organ such as part of the intestines. Attempting to fix an evisceration by replacing what is protruding will not only greatly increase the risk of serious infection, it will also undoubtedly cause further injury to the organ itself and to surrounding soft tissue such as blood vessels.
How to Care for an Evisceration: What You Should Do
If you are the kind who can remain calm and controlled, attempt to calm the victim if he or she is conscious and aware of what has happened. You’ll want to cut away the clothing around and over the evisceration; but, unless you are aiding a close friend or relative, you should be sure to wear clean gloves to protect yourself from contact with blood. Trauma shears are the best tool for cutting the clothing away.
You’ll also need a clean, preferably sterile, but at least clean, dressing or cloth. It should be soaked with sterile saline, but it’s highly unlikely you’ll have sterile saline around so just use the clean dressing, which is to be placed over the evisceration. An occlusive dressing should then be placed over the wound; an occlusive dressing is a dressing that forms an airtight seal. A clean, heavy plastic will do. Of course, emergency medical services (EMS) should be called as soon as possible or transport to a medical facility should be as speedy as possible if EMS, for whatever reason, cannot be called to the scene.
It might help to know that many people who have suffered an evisceration have survived. Of course, a good number of them have some permanent damage and require specialized medical equipment of various sorts, but they are alive and enjoying life as fully as possible. The sooner the person with an evisceration gets to surgery, the better his chances of survival are.
Source:
NREMT certified, state licensed EMT with local fire department
