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What we are going to do now is look at treating a burn with plastic film. Now what this is, this film is what we put onto burns. There is special burns film. You can buy that from first aid supply companies, or you can just use the type of plastic wrap that you would put over your food when you are storing it in the fridge or wrapping up your sandwiches. And this is what I've got here. Now, the scenario we are working with here is Matt has burnt his lower arm in the warehouse. He's been running it under a hose in the kitchen for 20 minutes to actually cool the burn down as much as possible. So we have been literally running the water on, it's been rolling over his arm, trying to avoid getting to the rest of his body. Because we don't want him to get cold. We don't him to get wet. So that's where we started. So the film itself, in order to prepare it, the first part of the film may be dirty. So obviously we're wearing gloves, but the outside of this has been in the box. It's not sterile. So the first thing you really want to do is just pull a piece off and then just cut that away so that we are dealing then with a cleaner piece of burn film. So just cut that off and just throw it out on the floor. So this is the film itself. Worth having scissors with you, we are using the blunt ending type shears because you are going to need to cut this later on. So take the shears and just pop them somewhere safe. And then Matt, if you can just lift your arm up. Now, just for demonstration purposes here, we are lifting his arm quite high. And all we are doing now is just inspecting the burn. If there was any jewellery on watches or rings, we get that removed because if we don't remove them, there is going to be some swelling. So it may well be that those rings or watch have to be cut off at a later date. So remove any jewellery, just check the site itself. Have a good look at the burn, because you may well need to describe this later on, but the film, they will be able to see through it. So what we are doing next is taking the film and laying it on. And what you must not do with this film is you must not wrap it around because if you just wrap the film around, as the arm swells, then this is going to constrict it, which is going to cause more pain and do more damage. So just put it on in layers. Now you can either just put a layer on and then bandage it in place. Or what we can do with this is just pull it on lower down and then just hold it at the bottom so it grips. Now you can use your patient if he is sat there, so just hold the bottom. Just pinch that just there. So once he has pinched that there, what we can then do is come back up. Okay. I have got it. And just lift that back up here. So we are just keeping it nice and loose. So we are just laying it over the burn again, gripping it again, bringing it around and we just want to have enough to cover it over. So the advantages of plastic film it is not going to cling to the body, therefore it is not going to cling to the burn. So we are just going to run that over. We are going to grab the scissors and just cut that off. I am just going to pop that down. So what you can do now is just pull it down and just squeeze it so it's just stuck to itself. Now that will stay as it is, because if it did swell, it is not stuck at the bottom. But an easy way of making it SO it holds on firmer is to take the shears and just gently and be very careful not to actually cut the skin, cut out a little notch out at the bottom. So we literally just cut a small piece out and then what you can do then is carefully just take the ends. Now we are not tightening it up over where the burn is. Just twist it around a little bit and twist it around at this end as well. So that is now held in place reasonably well. There is a gap at the bottom, which allows for swelling. So it is not tight. If we did need to, we can easily just disconnect both ends. The burn is in the middle. We can see the burn through. If we need to continually cool the burn a bit more, then we can do, we can just literally irrigate over the top of this. Now, once you put the plastic film over the burn, you are also expelling as much of the oxygen as possible and the air as possible, which will help reduce the pain. Now, if we need to transport them to a hospital, which we will do in this case, we then need to secure that a little bit more. For that, we are just going to get a bandage. In order to secure it in place, we don't want to put a bandage around it that's going to be tight. So you can use a standard-conforming bandage, which is just a bandage, but being realistic there is not often those bandages in first aid kit. You are more likely to have something like this, which is the standard medium dressing. So what you do with this is just open it up and you will see it's got a pad on it. Then you can... You do not need that pad. You are not using that pad at this instance. So you could cut it off if you wanted to. But all we are doing is using this bandage just to gently secure this cling film in place. So we can literally just pop it around and we can keep the padding down this end away from the burn. Now we are just putting it on loosely, just in case there is swelling it just to hold in, hold the film where it is. And now all I'm doing now is just running the bandage underneath. So I do not want to go over the top and then I can just hold that in place, bring it around. And if you just tuck it underneath the loop there, then it will hold it in place. And then I can just bandage around until I got it secure. And we don't want to pin or tape this because we may need to get it off in hurry. Just lift that bandage up, tuck that in. And then we have got a bandage at either end securing the film in place. We can still see the film transport the arm carefully just by holding it and supporting it underneath. We can see what's going on. If it did start swelling up a lot, it is not fixed underneath. We can just remove that quite easily and cut it away. If we need to remove the bandage, this will all just fall away. It is not tight. And that is a simple, easy way of applying film over a burn. Now we did that on an arm, it will work just as easily on the leg or on the body. If it's on the body, you would not really want to wrap it around and do what we have just done here. Because you... It's a much bigger area. The same with the legs. With that, you can just cut sections off, apply those on, and then you can just hold... Support those in place. Now, if it is a burn here and you are putting a section of cling film over the whole area, you could just put a bit of Micropore tape on each corner just to hold it in place because if there was swelling or anything that would just come away. So that does protect it. So this film is the easiest way of putting a dressing on. Now, this is obviously a burn that is going to have to go to hospital and you are going to have to get that seen by someone, a medical professional as soon as possible.
Treating Burns with Plastic Film
Introduction
Learn how to treat burns using plastic film as a protective covering.
Materials Needed
- Burn film: Specialized burns film or regular plastic wrap for food storage.
- Scissors: Blunt-ended shears for cutting the film.
- Gloves: To maintain cleanliness during the procedure.
Procedure
Follow these steps when dealing with a burn using plastic film:
- Prepare the Film: Begin by removing any dirty or non-sterile sections of the film, ensuring a clean piece for use.
- Inspect the Burn: Check the burn site and remove any jewelry to prevent constriction due to swelling.
- Application: Layer the film gently over the burn, avoiding wrapping it tightly to accommodate potential swelling.
- Secure the Film: To prevent it from slipping, use a bandage to lightly secure the film in place, allowing easy removal if necessary.
Additional Tips
- Reducing Pain: The film helps expel air and oxygen, reducing pain in the affected area.
- Transport: If transporting the patient to the hospital, ensure the film is securely in place but not too tight to account for swelling.
- Caution: Be cautious when applying the film to larger areas of the body to avoid unnecessary constriction.
Remember, burns requiring plastic film treatment should be assessed by a medical professional as soon as possible.