Five minute medic: Fall
Post categories: five minute medic,Ìýhealth
| 19:32 UK time, Monday, 5 October 2009
55% of accidental injuries around the home involve a fall. If you were faced with someone who is unconscious following a fall would you know how to act?
In our film Terry Roberts needed to change a light bulb. His ladder wasn't secured properly and he overstretched in order to reach the bulb. He fell off his ladder and ended up unconscious on his hall floor.
Watch the video clip from the show
We took the actor playing Terry out onto the streets of Merthyr to find out if people would know how to best help him.
As usual the results were mixed and included 'checking his breathing', 'starting CPR if you couldn't rouse him' and 'not moving him'.
One answer seemed more popular than others and that was 'putting the casualty into the recovery position'.
We asked people to demonstrate how to put someone in the recovery position and while a couple of them did know how to do it the majority weren't really sure.
It was time to call in an expert! Michael Obiako is an A&E consultant at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr and he talked us through how to react when faced with someone who is unconscious following a fall.
For a start, it's best not to move person as they may have damaged their spine or neck as moving them could acerbate the problem.
However, if the person is deeply unconscious or has a significant head injury they may be at risk from vomiting which could cause them even greater problems. Under these circumstances it would be appropriate to move them into the recovery position.
Michael demonstrated on our actor. He gently rolled the casualty so that they were lying on their left side with their right-hand palm under their cheek and their right leg bent at the knee and hip which stops them from rolling fully over onto their front.
Diagram showing the steps to put somebody in the recovery position (clockwise from top left).
It would be safe to leave someone in this position whilst you then called for assistance.
Michael gave us his top tips for dealing with a situation like this:
- Firstly check whether the patient is conscious by calling their name and nudging them gently.
- Try not to move the patient unless absolutely necessary as you risk further injury if they've already damaged their spine through falling.
- If the patient is lying on their back and they start to choke or vomit roll them into the recovery position.
- Seek medical help even if the patient comes round and appears to feel ok. Head injuries can be serious and need to be professionally checked as soon as possible.
