You may be directed to do the following:

1. Sterilize your hands with soap and water.
2. Put on gloves or other hand protection.
3. Remove any loose clothing or objects covering the wound.
4. Keep a hand over the wound while preparing a dressing.
5. Find a chest seal or sterile, medical-grade plastic, or tape to seal the wound.

The blade of a knife is seen extending through the right posterior chest wall, through the body of the scapula with the tip at the outer rib edge. A right intercostal catheter is in situ, with minimal residual pneumothorax.

The physiologic effects of penetrating wounds of the chest are impairment of ventilation and reduction of cardiac output. Ventilation may be affected by pneumothorax, hemothorax, injury of pulmonary parenchyma, diaphragm, chest wall or phrenic nerves and retention of tracheobronchial secretions.

Most skin wounds heal within 10 days. But even with proper treatment, a wound infection may occur.

Bleeding to death can happen very quickly. If the hemorrhaging isn’t stopped, a person can bleed to death in just five minutes. And if their injuries are severe, this timeline may be even shorter.

A punctured lung usually won’t cause any future health complications if it’s treated quickly. However, if the collapse was caused by trauma to your lung, it’s possible for the condition to occur again. You’re also more likely to experience another punctured lung if you smoke.

A new Johns Hopkins Medicine analysis of national trauma data shows that trauma patients were four times more likely to die from gunshot wounds and nearly nine times more likely to die from stab wounds before getting to a trauma center in 2014, compared with rates in 2007.

Totally occlusive dressings can result in development of a tension pneumothorax if there is an ongoing air leak from the lung. Vented chest seals are preferable for these injuries. Just be aware that vented seals with drainage channels perform much better than those that rely on a one-way valve.

Wounds of the chest, abdomen or pelvis shouldn’t be packed because bleeding from these wounds is generally from a very deep source that can’t be reached from the outside. These patients must be rapidly transported to a surgeon for operative bleeding control.

ERT for cardiac insufficiency following stab wounds of the chest was thought an effective procedure for surviving. Survival rate of the patients with cardiac stab wounds was 63.6 per cent.

Stabbing pain involves an influx of pain all at one instant, as if you were being stabbed. If you are experiencing knife-like, aching pain in your upper abdomen (between your ribcage) you may have an underlying heart issue.

What started out as a verbal argument eventually resulted in physical violence. The victim sustained a single stab wound to the left chest in the mid axillary line, just below the level of the nipple.

Because the diaphragm reaches the fourth intercostal space during expiration, the abdominal organs are at risk of injury even after what appears to be an “isolated chest” wound. Thus, wounds to the lower chest should also be managed as abdominal wounds to rule out intraabdominal injury.

Stab wounds to the lower chest are associated with abdominal visceral injury in 15% of cases, whereas gunshot wounds to the lower chest are associated with abdominal visceral injury in nearly 50% of cases.

Your assessment reveals a contusion above the left eye, swelling to the left knee and unequal pupils (left is dilated). Vital signs are: BP 116/72, P 88 and R 16. You should suspect: You have a patient with an isolated stab wound to the lateral chest.