This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Immediate treatment of fractures

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Immediate treatment of a fracture includes managing:

  • internal blood loss and shock: - i.v. Haemaccel infusion
  • immobilisation of the fracture: - spine: prevent further spinal cord damage with cervical splint, spinal board, sandbags and taping - shoulder: high sling such as 'figure-of-eight' - hip: place a pillow outside the leg to prevent external rotation - limb: strap to trunk or opposite limb with suitable padding and splinting. A stick or rolled newspaper can be used if purpose-built equipment is not available.
  • pain relief: - morphine 10mg with 12.5mg prochlorperazine i.m. is a typical dose for a fit adult - Entonox gas is carried by most ambulances - make sure that the any splinting is appropriate - bad splinting can greatly increase pain eg for fracture of upper humerus

ref: N Lawrence et al, HB Emergencies in Gen Pract, 2e 1997


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page