How to Treat a Flail Chest

A flail chest occurs when a piece of the thoracic wall breaks from heavy force. It can also lead to pulmonary and other chest injuries. Treatment involves stabilizing the moving chest wall so that the injured person can fill the lungs with air.

Instructions

Assessment and Treatment

• 1

  Look for the signs of flail chest: immediate respiratory distress; one half of the chest moving in while the other moves out during breathing.

• 2

  Roll the person onto the injured side.

• 3

  Treat for shock by elevating the feet, insulating the injured person from the cold ground and covering the person with a blanket or jacket.

• 4

  Place a rolled piece of clothing underneath the fractured area to support it. This will help control the pain with breathing.

• 5

  Instruct someone to maintain pressure on the injured area with one hand to keep the chest wall from moving. This hand pressure can only be maintained temporarily until something else can be rigged to maintain pressure during evacuation.

• 6

  Fill a plastic bag with sand or dirt and hold this against the side of the flail.

• 7

  Tape a large pad of gauze across the weighted bag, bringing the tape from one side of the chest to the other. Do not tape across the back.

• 8

  Keep the person on his or her side and continually monitor for difficulties breathing. You may need to roll the person over and provide rescue breathing if the person ceases to breath.

Evacuation

• 9

  Evacuate immediately to a hospital. The injured person must be evacuated via helicopter or carried out on a liter.

• 10

  Continue to monitor and treat for shock.

• 11

  Continually monitor the injured person's breathing. You may need to make adjustments to the bandage if it begins to restrict breathing.