How to Use a Pillow as a Splint

How to Use a Pillow as a Splint
Hi, My name is Alv Rios and I'm a paramedic with Lansing Mercy Ambulance on behalf of Expert Village. In this clip we are going to go over splinting ankles and wrists. This is my partner Jacob Barbor. He is also a paramedic at Lansing Mercy Ambulance and he will be doing this on behalf of Expert Village. What you want to do is come up and access the wrist. Again you want a partner to stabilize the wrist and keep it immobilized. Come up and check for your pulse, movement and sensation. What you want to do is then you want to look around. You could put a commercial wrist splint on which just has a hole for the thumb to go through or you can actually use the resources around you. What we are going to do is actually use a pillow in this case because this will actually work to adequately mobilize a limb. Slide it in place. And what you want to do now is just bend the pillow around the person's wrist. Now sometimes this causes a little bit of pain. But the tighter you have it; it will actually feel better for the patient over all. While you are holding this in place you want a partner to come in. I will have you for the sake of this just hold on. You want another partner to come in and actually tie this in place. So what you will do and you want to make sure that you get it in a nice tight position. Cause the less movement is going to feel better for the patient. Get that tied in place. Once you have it tied in place just slide your hand in and again check for the pulse, movement and sensation. And ask if the patient feels relief from the splint you have. They can then hold that arm in a position of comfort and if you want even sling it and tie it closer to their body just so it doesn't move around. This same splint that we used here on the wrist works perfect for the ankle also. The pillow can only be used for those type of fractures cause it's not large enough to cover any other type.