What would do - dh injured himself

[ForFuckSakeWhatNow]

So dh fell over and ‘skimmed his knee’ - his description.
I can see a bit of skin hanging through a hole of his trousers so I’m going to say it needs looking at.

There is no minor injury clinic where I live. I’ve just checked.

What would do? Dh will not go to A&E. won’t be able to see a doctor or nurse for a few days either.

Im at loss at what to advise him - esp as he is extremely reluctant ‘to make a fuss’
He is currently in the shower and told me he will just ‘cut the hanging skin off’

Use NHS 111 online to advise how to self care or bring up local services that are suitable for his needs.

Is he still farming? I'm surprised that he hasn't just used purple spray on his knee and gaffa tape to fix his jeans.

Take a photo & send to GP for an appointment. There are usually plenty of Nurse Practitioners who can deal with minor injuries.

Apart from what your husband claims should be done - or not of course 😜 this is what I was tought in my first-aid course : (rather serious course, twice a week during 4 months)
(Of course this is for a (serious) graze, if you can see bone ...go to the ER. )

1. Wash the graze with a lot of tepid soapy water. The water should really drip of the wound to make sure every particle of (street)dirt is rinced away. You can use a spray bottle if you have one.
2. Let the wound dry on the air.
3. Put on some antiseptic, preferably colourless. This is in case the wound has to be seen by a doctor - a coloured antiseptic might mask infectection or anyway may the doctor's job more complicated.
4. Cover lightly with a gauze bandage for protection. If possible choose a bandage that lets the air through.
5. Check the wound twice a day the first few days, rinse again if needed, put on new antiseptic and gauze. Once healing is good underway one check a day is enough. At any sign of infection go see your GP.

Why would you not expect a practice nurse to be able to help? What does s/he mean they don't get paid for checking a wound somebody is worried about? I don't understand

Is he extremely dim? I’d find it hard to be attracted to someone who couldn’t clean their own cut knee.

I’m confused.

Surely it’s normal to be concerned when someone you care about hurts themselves. If my husband/ adult child/ Mum/ friend cut their knee so badly that a flap of skin was hanging off, I’d be concerned about them. Not wringing my hands in floods of tears but probably a bit concerned. Doesn’t mean that I’m treating them like a child, just that I care.

Is there a pharmacy nearby, that you could take him too? they will look at it and tell you, what treatment he needs.
If not, go to a supermarket and grab, some TCP, to clean the area, then get some wound care and a bandage.

If you ring 111 they can direct you to local services- they can access details of the nearest walk in centres, A&E, minor injuries etc and also either make you an appointment or advise about opening hours etc

DD did this aged about 8, falling off a bike. She literally cut a chunky flap of flesh from her knee which was hanging off, and the rest was filled with gravel. She was staying at a friends and didn't want them to tell me, so they washed and disinfected it and I got her back a day later.

It was horrific but I bathed it again and soaked all the grit out, and arranged a complicated plaster on top of some sticky backed furniture pads to keep the plaster from sticking to the wound. It took ages to heal as knees are so bendy 😀but we got there in the end, and kept it clean so it didn't get infected. (She does have a scar though....😕).

It never bled much, so I wouldn't have thought of MIU to be honest. Infection is the only concern. Your DH is right.

Your DH seems to be the reasonable one . It’s a wound , not bleeding , clean , disinfected and move on 🤷🏻‍♀️

• I’m confused.

Surely it’s normal to be concerned when someone you care about hurts themselves.*

I can see why you are confused. You are talking about being concerned, when I was talking about personal responsibility and mental capacity to make unwise decisions. 2 different subjects.

The wound can be cleaned with warm water, no need to scrub it or add any soap/ cleaning products, just run it under a tap or shower. I’ve been to A&E before and just had a wound washed with water under the tap (usually they use saline but this was during covid so not sure if maybe medical supplies were low!).

To answer your question if there’s no minor injuries unit and it’s a wound that can’t be cleaned and dressed at home and needs treatment, eg: because it needs closing with sutures, has something like gravel embedded in it or it won’t stop bleeding I would go to A&E. I wouldn’t go just because there is a bit of flappy skin though unless it’s very deep or won’t stop bleeding, I’d have thought if washed and dressed properly the skin flap would either heal back onto the knee or die, shrivel and fall off by itself.

Was your first aid course in the UK? I’ve never had antiseptic applied to a wound in a UK hospital and have been for wound treatment and stitches in various A&Es in the UK 50+ times. Whenever I’ve looked up wound care online all the US sites always recommend antiseptic or even anriobiotic creams but the NHS and other UK sites always say to use water or saline only. Not saying either way is right/ wrong (I assume there’s evidence for both practices!) but just interested in whether your course was in the UK, suggesting guidelines may have changed in the last few years, or whether it was elsewhere?

I second this, my father was a farmer and is extremely careful with any wounds he gets.

Edit: just noticed that this thread is older. How's your DH's wound now?

@MolkosTeenageAngst what on earth are you doing that has required you needing wound care/stitches over 50 times in A&E?!? I'm just so intrigued..!

@MolkosTeenageAngst my course was indeed not in the UK but in Belgium 😊 An antiseptic in a watery sollution is recommended here, áfter washing the wound of course. And if possible colourless so you keep a clear vue of the wound. Creams are not recommended in Belgium. An antibiotic cream would only be available at the pharmacist, not in an of-the-counter drugstore

Self-harm unfortunately, although doing better and as of tomorrow will have gone a year without any hospital visits.

Thanks for confirming it wasn’t in UK. It’s so interesting how even basic medical advice/ first aid can be different in different countries! I’d assume it’s based on research/ evidence so it’s curious as to how different health boards cobe to different conclusions. I guess it could be a cost thing though? I don’t know what Belgium’s healthcare system is like but imagine the NHS would be happy not to recommend using an antiseptic wash if it’s cheaper just to use saline/ clean water

@MolkosTeenageAngst oh gosh, I'm sorry that didn't cross my mind. Glad you're doing better now xx

@MolkosTeenageAngst we have a decent health system but you would of course pay out of your own pocket for home-treatment of a graze or simple cut etc. If you have the same lesion taken care of in ER or at a GP practice you will pay for your visit, (largely covered by insurance), no extras for the meds&materials used. I know a basic desinfactant is recommended because of the possibility "street-dirt" contamining a wound. Read "street (-dirt)" as whatever suspicious place you went down in your knee (or your face) - could be in the woods, a playground, the supermarket etc. I think that for whatever country/health system prevention has a lot of advantages, also financially. If you can prevent that wound to get infected the patient will not need extra medical care, no antibiotics, no sic-days.

My dad used to use superglue whenever he cut himself. Bog standard stuff, nothing sterile.
He rarely went to the doctor. Even when he was really ill (with cancer, found out from post mortem), he went everywhere but the doctor.

This is not an emergency (as you have described it) or at present life threatening. So A & E is not your first pint of call.

Your options are:

1. self care - as other PPs have said clean and dress the wound and monitor for signs of infection
2. ask your local pharmacist for advice - they are trained to help with minor illness/injuries. This includes advising if you need to seek further medical assistance
3. contact your GP surgery during opening hours

Our A and E gets people who are transported nationally there as they specialise in certain injuries.

To compensate they now triage everyone at one reception and you get sorted into nurse-led care, minor injuries and A&E. They also have a GP Out if Hours service. I imagine if you don't have Urgent Care or Minor Injuries near you, the hospital do something similar.

Men are a law unto themselves. 1 extreme to another. They’re dying when they’ve got a cold but like my DP recently, wasnt even gonna go to A&E for his hand which was actually broke and he’s since had surgery on 🤦🏽‍♀️. A really good clean and a bit of savlon plus a dressing/plaster depending on the size/shape should do the trick, steri strips may be useful if two sides of a gash need holding together. But unless it’s super deep/large unlikely to need a&e