Animal Bites What to Do Stop bleeding by applying direct pressure over the wound For a shallow wound Wash inside and around with soap and running water Flush the inside with clean running water ID: 738222
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Slide1
Chapter 5
Environmental EmergenciesSlide2
Animal Bites: What to Do
Stop bleeding by applying direct pressure over the wound.
For a shallow wound:
Wash inside and around with soap and running water.
Flush the inside with clean running water.
Cover the wound with a thin layer of an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment and a sterile dressing.
Severe bites should be cleaned at a medical facility.Slide3
Wild Animal Bites
DO NOT
try to capture the animal.
DO NOT
kill the animal. If you must kill it, DO NOT hit or shoot its head (brain).Preserve the head (brain) for a medical exam.Contact the local health department.
© E.M. Singletary, M.D. Used with permission.Slide4
Animal Bites: Scenario
A mail carrier is heard crying for help while being attacked by a large dog. The dog’s owner calls off the dog and takes it inside the house. You run up the street and help the mail carrier over to a nearby yard. You find several severe bite marks on his legs and arms. Slide5
Animal Bites: Agree or Disagree?
Apply an ice pack to a possible bruise from an animal or human bite that does not break the skin.
Severe animal or human bites should be cleaned at a medical facility.
Apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment over a severe animal or human bite.
Wash around the outside, but never the inside, of a shallow animal or human bite wound. You do not need to report a bite from someone’s pet to the police or animal control.Slide6
Snakebites: What to Do
For all native North American snakes:
Get the person and bystanders away from the snake.
Encourage the person to rest, stay calm, and be still.
DO NOT try to capture or kill the snake. Remove any rings, jewelry, or tight clothing from the bitten body part. Gently wash the bite with soap and running water. Apply a sterile dressing.
Call 9-1-1 or transport the person to a medical facility.Slide7
Pit Viper Bite: What to Do
Call 9-1-1. You do not need to capture or kill the snake.
When possible, carry the person. If alone and capable, walk slowly.
DO
NOT apply a pressure bandage.©AmeeCross/Shutterstock.
Courtesy of Ray Rauch/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
Courtesy of South Florida Water Management District.Slide8
Pit Viper Bite: Cautions
DO NOT
cut the person’s skin to drain venom.
DO NOT
use mouth suction or a suction device.DO NOT apply cold packs or ice packs.DO NOT give alcohol.DO NOT
apply electrical shock.DO NOT use a tourniquet.
© American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Slide9
Coral Snake Bites: What to Do
Apply a wide elastic bandage using overlapping turns.
Start wrapping at the end of the bitten arm or leg and wrap upward, covering the limb’s entire length.
© Rolf Nussbaumer/age fotostock.Slide10
Coral Snake Bites: What to Do
Use similar tightness as when wrapping a sprained ankle. You should be able to slip a finger under the wrapping.
Stabilize the bitten arm or leg as you would stabilize a broken bone and keep it below heart level.Slide11
Snakebites: Scenario
You are vacationing with your family at a cabin in the woods. One morning, your uncle walks out of the cabin and sees a rattlesnake. He picks up the snake and it bites him. Your uncle walks back into the cabin, washes his hand at the kitchen sink, and sits down on the couch. Slide12
Snakebites: Agree or Disagree?
Seeking medical care is the best thing you can do for a snake bite.
Apply an ice pack to a bite to inactivate the venom.
Use a suction pump to remove venom.
Apply a tourniquet to stop venom from spreading through the body.Wash a bite with soap and running water and cover it with a dressing.Slide13
Insect Stings: What to Do
Immediately scrape the stinger and venom sac off the skin with a fingernail or plastic card, or brush it off with your hand.
DO NOT
squeeze the venom sac.
Wash the area with soap and water.Apply an ice pack for up to 20 minutes, placing a paper towel or thin damp cloth between the skin and the ice.Give pain medication.Apply hydrocortisone cream and give an antihistamine to relieve itching and swelling.Slide14
Insect Stings: What to Do
If the person is allergic to insect stings or has signs of a severe allergic reaction within 30 minutes:
Call 9-1-1.
Help the person self-administer epinephrine.
Monitor breathing, and if it stops, give CPR.For a sting in the throat or mouth that causes swelling, have the person suck on ice or flush with cold water.
©Dwight Lyman/Shutterstock.Slide15
Insect Stings: Scenario
You are at a garden shop when you hear one of the shop’s employees complaining about her face swelling and a feeling of tightness in her throat. She says a bee stung her and she is having some breathing difficulty. She has a medical-alert bracelet indicating an allergy to insects and has medication for such an emergency. Slide16
Insect Stings: Agree or Disagree?
Use a physician-prescribed epinephrine kit on a person with a severe allergic reaction to an insect sting.
Place an ice pack over an insect sting site.
Remove an embedded stinger by scraping or brushing it off.
Encourage a person who has been stung to move around to stay alert and awake. For a sting on an arm or leg, apply a wide band between the sting site and the heart. Slide17
Spider Bites: What to Do
Clean with soap and water.
Apply an ice pack to the area.
Seek medical care.
Tarantula spiders can flick their hairs. Remove the hairs with sticky tape, wash with soap and water, and apply a hydrocortisone cream. Courtesy of Kenneth Kramer, Monmouth College.
Courtesy of the Department of Entomology, University of Nebrask—Lincoln.Slide18
Spider Bites: Scenario
While resting on your outside patio, you feel a sharp pinprick on your arm and look down. You see a glossy black spider move across the patio. About 15 minutes later, a dull, numbing pain develops in your back. You look at your arm and see two tiny red spots. Abdominal cramping starts about an hour later and steadily gets worse.
Slide19
Spider Bites: Agree or Disagree?
Do not worry about venomous spider bites and scorpion stings; they usually do not require medical care.
Most spiders that bite humans are never seen.
Scorpions sting and do not bite.
Clean the affected area with soap and water.Apply heat to the area to draw the venom out of the skin.Slide20
Tick Bites: What to Do
To remove the tick:
Use tweezers or one of the specialized tick-removal tools to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible.
Pull upward with steady, even pressure.
DO NOT twist or jerk the tick.Lift the tick to tent the skin surface. Hold in this position until the tick lets go (about 1 minute).Pull tick away from the skin. Try not to pull hard enough to break the tick apart.Slide21
Tick Bites: What to Do
DO NOT
use any of the following ineffective methods to remove the tick:
Petroleum jelly
Fingernail polishRubbing alcohol or gasolineTouching with a blown-out hot match, hot needle, or hot paper clipDO NOT
grab a tick at the rear of its body.
© American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
© American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Slide22
Tick Bites: What to Do
Once the tick is removed:
Wash your hands and the area with soap and water. Apply rubbing alcohol to further disinfect the area.
Apply an ice pack to reduce pain.
Apply calamine lotion to relieve itching.Submerge the tick in alcohol, place in a sealed bag with its contents labeled and dated, and keep it in a refrigerator for one month to show a physician should a rash, fever, or flulike symptoms develop.If a rash, fever, or flulike symptoms occur in 3 to 30 days after the tick’s removal, seek medical care. Slide23
Tick Bites: What to Do
If mouth parts broke off and remain in the skin:
Remove the parts with tweezers.
If unable to remove the parts easily, leave them alone and let the skin heal. Slide24
Tick Bites: Scenario
You live in tick country and have made it a practice to do a daily tick check of your children; however, you’ve been busy the past week and failed to do the inspections. At the end of the week, your 8-year-old comes to you and shows a dark spot that didn’t come off during a shower. You look closely and see that it is a tick attached to the skin. Slide25
Tick Bites: Agree or Disagree?
Cover an embedded tick with petroleum jelly.
Remove an attached tick by touching it with a blown-out but hot match, needle, or paper clip.
Use tweezers or a specialized tick-removal tool to remove a tick.
Pull an embedded tick upward with steady, even pressure until the skin surface tents; hold it in that position until the tick lets go.Seek medical care for a rash or fever that occurs 3 to 30 days after the removal of a tick. Slide26
Heat Cramps: What to Do
Have the person rest in a cool area.
Give lightly salted cool water (dissolve 1/4 teaspoon [1.25 mL] salt in 1 quart [about 1 L] of water) or a commercial sports drink.
DO NOT
give salt tablets.Gently stretch the muscle. Slide27
Heat Exhaustion: What to Do
Move the person to a cool place.
Remove excess clothing.
Spray or douse cold water on the person’s skin and vigorously fan.
If the person is able to swallow, give a commercial sports drink, fruit juice, or lightly salted water; if none of these options are available, give cold water. Call 9-1-1 if improvement does not occur within 30 minutes. Slide28
Heat Stroke: What to Do
Move the person to a cool, shaded area.
Remove clothing, down to the person’s underwear.
Cool the person quickly by any means possible. The following methods are given in the order of effectiveness:
Whole-body cold-water immersionEvaporative coolingPlacing ice packs against the armpits, groin, and neck
Monitor the person frequently.Call 9-1-1 as soon as possible.Slide29
Heat-Related Emergencies:
Scenario
During a football team’s 2-hour practice in late August, the coach has the defense running sprints without rest breaks for the last 20 minutes of practice. One of the players suddenly falls to the ground. He has extremely hot skin, is sweating, and appears disorientated. Slide30
Heat-Related Emergencies:
Agree or Disagree?
For muscle cramps:
Give the person a soda.
Gently stretch the painful area.Call 9-1-1.For heat stroke:
Give several salt tablets, if available.Call 9-1-1.
The best cooling method is whole-body cold-water immersion.
Do nothing besides moving the person to a cool place and waiting for EMS to arrive. Slide31
Mild Hypothermia: What to Do
Remove wet clothing only when in a warm shelter.
Prevent heat loss. Add insulation (eg, blankets) and cover with a vapor barrier (eg, tarp, trash bags).
Apply heat to chest, armpits, and back (in that order). Use large electric pads, electric blankets, or warm water bottles. Place insulation between the skin and heat source to prevent burning the skin.
Give warm, sugary drinks to support shivering.Slide32
Severe Hypothermia: What to Do
Handle the person very gently.
Keep in flat (horizontal) position.
Prevent heat loss.
Monitor breathing and if it stops, give CPR. Call 9-1-1.Provide rewarming if possible. Slide33
Hypothermia: Scenario
You are out for a walk when you notice some commotion by a local pond. You make your way over and learn that a young woman fell through the ice of the pond while attempting to rescue her dog. Several bystanders formed a human chain and pulled her to safety. She is awake; has cold, pale skin; and has intense, uncontrollable shivering. Slide34
Hypothermia: Agree or Disagree?
Use a vapor barrier (eg, tarp) to trap body heat.
Do not give fluids containing sugar.
Check for breathing in an unresponsive person with hypothermia.
Keep the person with severe hypothermia in a flat (horizontal) position.Rewarm by applying heat to the chest, armpits, and back using large electric pads or blankets with insulation.Slide35
Frostbite: What to Do
Get the person to a warm place.
DO NOT
let the person use a frozen extremity.
DO NOT thaw the part if:Medical care is less than 2 hours away.The affected area has thawed.Shelter, warm water, and a container are not available.
A risk of refreezing exists.
©American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
©American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Slide36
Frostbite: What to Do
If travel time is more than 2 hours, use the wet, rapid, rewarming method:
Place frostbitten part in warm water. Put your hand into the water for 30 seconds to test that it is warm but not hot enough to burn. For facial or ear injuries, apply warm, moist cloths.
Give the person ibuprofen to help control the severe pain during rewarming.
Rewarming usually takes about 20 to 40 minutes or until the part becomes soft and pliable to touch. Air dry the area; DO NOT rub.Slide37
Frostbite: What to Do
Once part is thawed:
Place bulky, dry, clean gauze on the affected part and between the toes and the fingers.
Slightly elevate the affected part above heart level.
Apply aloe vera gel to promote skin healing.Give ibuprofen to limit pain and inflammation.Give fluids if the person is alert and can swallow.
Seek medical care as soon as possible.Slide38
Frostbite: Scenario
You are on a vacation with some friends. One of your friends has been in the woods in below freezing temperatures all day. After coming back to the cabin, she complains that her toes are numb. They look gray and feel hard and cold. A medical facility is 15 minutes away. Slide39
Frostbite: Agree or Disagree?
If a person has hypothermia and frostbite, first treat the hypothermia.
Try to rewarm frostbite regardless of the person’s location.
Rewarm frostbite in a warm water bath for about 30 minutes.
Stop rewarming when the frostbitten part feels soft and pliable. Break any blisters that have appeared.Slide40
Swallowed Poisoning: What to Do
Try to determine:
Person’s age and weight
Person’s condition
What poison was swallowed When the poison was takenHow much was takenSlide41
Swallowed Poisoning: What to Do
Call the National Poison Control Center hotline. Follow their directions.
Place the person on his or her left side to delay the poison from moving into the intestines and to prevent inhalation of vomit, if vomiting occurs.
Monitor breathing, and if it stops, give CPR.Slide42
Swallowed Poisoning: Scenario
You find your two-year-old son vomiting. You notice that the top of a nearby medicine bottle is off. The label on the bottle reveals that the medicine belongs to your visiting mother. You realize that your son must have swallowed some of her medicine.Slide43
Swallowed Poisoning:
Agree or Disagree?
For most swallowed poisons, induce vomiting by giving syrup of ipecac.
For most swallowed poisons, have the person drink as much water as possible.
For a responsive person who swallowed a poison, call the National Poison Control hotline.For an unresponsive person who swallowed a poison, call 9-1-1.Place a poisoned person on their left side.Slide44
Inhaled Poisoning: What to Do
Try to determine:
What substance was inhaled
When the exposure occurred
How long the substance was inhaledThe person’s conditionCall 9-1-1 as soon as possible.
Place the person in a sitting or reclining position, or in whatever position best facilitates breathing. Monitor breathing, and if it stops, give CPR.Slide45
Inhaled Poisoning: Scenario
A man and his son were found unresponsive inside their zipped-up tent at the group camping site you are staying at. They were discovered by other campers. A charcoal grill was found inside the tent; the grill apparently had been brought inside to provide warmth after it had been used outside for cooking. Slide46
Inhaled Poisoning:
Agree or Disagree?
Immediately move a person exposed to an inhaled poison; you can assess the danger to yourself later.
Check an unresponsive person’s breathing because he or she may need CPR.
Even if a person with inhaled poisoning appears to have recovered, he or she needs medical care.Place a person sitting up because it allows for better breathing than when lying down. Only enter a dangerous scene involving toxic fumes or gas if you are properly equipped and trained. Slide47
Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac:
What to Do
If within five minutes of an exposure:
Gently wipe skin with rubbing alcohol.
DO NOT rub it in. DO NOT use packaged alcohol wipes.Next, or if rubbing alcohol is not available, wash the skin with lots of cold running water. DO NOT scrub skin.
DO NOT use gasoline.
© Thomas Photography LLC/Alamy
Courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service
© Thomas J. Peterson/AlamySlide48
Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac:
What to Do
For mild itching:
Apply any of the following:
Colloidal oatmeal bathBaking soda paste (1 teaspoon [5 mL] water mixed with 3 teaspoons [15 mL] baking soda)Calamine lotion
Aluminum acetate solution (Burow’s solution)Physician-prescribed medication
DO NOT
apply an over-the-counter hydrocortisone, as it is too weak.Slide49
Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac: Scenario
While weeding a vacant lot, you pull up a batch of weeds with shiny leaves in clusters of three. You finish the job about an hour later. The next morning, your arms are itching, and you notice a rash beginning to appear. Slide50
Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac:
Agree or Disagree?
Calamine lotion can help relieve itching.
Allergic reactions to poison ivy, oak, or sumac are irritating but never require medical care.
Apply petroleum jelly to the affected area.Soaking in an oatmeal bath can help reduce itching.If you have contacted a poison ivy plant just a few minutes ago, immediately wash and rinse the area with lots of cold running water. Slide51
Marine Animal Injuries:
What to Do
For a bleeding wound from a bite, rip, or puncture:
Monitor breathing.
Control bleeding.Wash wound with soap and water.Flush the area with water under pressure.
Treat for shock.
© AblestockSlide52
Marine Animal Injuries:
What to Do
For stings:
Wash tentacles off with ocean water.
For only Hawaiian box jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-wars, soak the area in vinegar for 30 seconds.Remove clinging tentacles with tweezers or by scraping with a credit card or razor blade.For jellyfish stings in North America and Hawaii, soak the area in non-scalding hot water for 20 minutes.
Courtesy of NOAA.
© Nir Levy/Shutterstock.Slide53
Marine Animal Injuries:
What to Do
For a venomous bite:
Monitor breathing.
Control bleeding.Apply pressure bandage on entire arm or leg.Slide54
Marine Animal Injuries:
What to Do
For a puncture (by spine):
Soak the area in hot water for 30 to 90 minutes or until pain subsides.
Remove pieces of debris with tweezers.Wash the wound with soap and water.Flush the area with water under pressure.
Treat the wound.
© AblestockSlide55
Marine Animal Injuries: Scenario
You and a friend are swimming in a bay in New England and decide to go farther out where the water is cooler. While heading back to shore, your friend feels something latch around his arm. He quickly pushes it off and continues to swim to shore. When you get to the beach, your friend tells you his arm is burning and stinging and you see a rash on his arm. A lifeguard who is stationed nearby says it looks like your friend has received a jellyfish sting. Slide56
Marine Animal Injuries:
Agree or Disagree?
Care for a marine animal sting by pouring hydrogen peroxide on the affected area.
Some marine animal bites and stings can cause an allergic reaction.
Using vinegar to care for a jellyfish sting is controversial partly because what works for one species may worsen the sting of another species. Treat a shark bite the same as you would a dog bite. For a sea snake bite to an arm or leg, apply a pressure bandage over the entire extremity.