“Research on gunshot wound care”
I am an author and I'm at a point in my book where my main character gets shot in the upper chest. It occurs to me; I have no idea how to treat a gunshot wound. It would not be treated in a hospital; it would be in a living room of someone's house. Do you stitch a gunshot wound? Do you clean it, bandage it and leave it to heal on its own?
Male | 40 years old
2 Answers
Most gunshot wounds (GSW) to the chest can be treated with chest tube drainage alone. A chest tube is also called a pleural tube or pleural catheter. It is a tube inserted between the ribs into the pleural space (between the lungs and the chest wall) to drain blood and air that accumulates from the lung injury. The wound on the skin can be treated with washing and a clean dressing to prevent infection. If the wound is bleeding, a bulky pressure dressing can be applied. GSW to the center of the chest can damage the heart or great vessels. Those victims usually die very quickly, even with immediate surgery.
No you do not stitch a gun shot wound
Control Bleeding
Bullets are generally very mobile and not retrieved in the acute setting unless they are directly in the path of repair.
GSWs are generally left open to a degree due to the significant contamination they present.
Melissa Amundson DDS MPH FACS
Maxillofacial Trauma - Tallahassee Memorial Hospital
Diplomat American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Clinical Assistant Professor, Florida State University, College of Medicine
Control Bleeding
Bullets are generally very mobile and not retrieved in the acute setting unless they are directly in the path of repair.
GSWs are generally left open to a degree due to the significant contamination they present.
Melissa Amundson DDS MPH FACS
Maxillofacial Trauma - Tallahassee Memorial Hospital
Diplomat American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Clinical Assistant Professor, Florida State University, College of Medicine
