Immobilization of a feet and shin with a foldable splint

Authors: Rednenko VV, Poplavets E.V.

Editor: Rednenko V.V.

Equipment for the practical skill:

• foldable splint for a leg
• soft pads
• dummy with the possibility of immobilization of the leg (or a standardized patient)

Clinical situation:      

• A casualty has a forearm injury. You need to immobilize of his arm with a triangular bandage

Order of the skill performance:

Preparatory stage:

• Introduce yourself
• Identify patient
• Obtain informed consent to the procedure
  • Give all the information to the person about what the procedure involves, including the benefits and risks, whether there are reasonable alternative, and what will happen without this procedure
  • Explain what you are going to do.
  • Ask the patient to consent to procedure.

Main stage:

• Place the casualty on his or her back
• Take a foldable leg splint from a set

• Prepare the splint for work 
  • model it in the form of the letter "L"

• • unfasten all the fasten elements
• Take a comfortable position for this manipulation, If it's possible, use the help of an assistant.
• The first participant supports and lifts the injured leg. 
• The second participant places the splint under the elevated limb so the long part of the splint is located along the shin and thigh, and the short part is along the foot. Shoes are not removed.
• The first participant carefully, but as tightly as possible, presses the flaps of the splint to the limb, while the second one fixes the velcro fasteners.

Final stage:

• Check the quality of immobilization.
• Ask the patient about the comfort of the leg position, the presence of discomfort in the immobilized area (pressure on the protruding parts of joints and bones).
• If necessary, put soft pads under these protruding parts