Diagnosis And Management Of Hand Injuries In The ED

Harrison, Benjamin MD, FACEP
Holland, Patrick MD
Perron, Andrew MD, FACEP, FACSM
Jagoda, Andy MD, FACEP

¹Authors
² Program Director, Madigan Army Medical Center— University of Washington Emergency Medicine Residency—Tacoma, WA.
³ Clinical Instructor and Medical Student Coordinator, Madigan Army Medical Center—University of Washington Emergency Medicine Residency— Tacoma, WA.
⁴Peer Reviewers
⁵ Residency Program Director, Deptartment of Emergency Medicine, Maine Medical Center— Portland, ME.
⁶ Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs, Department of Emergency Medicine; Residency Program Director, Mount Sinai School of Medicine—New York, NY.

Date of original release: February 15, 2005.

Date of most recent review: February 9, 2005.

See “Physician CME Information” on back page.

Emergency Medicine Practice 7(2):p 1-26, February 2005.

It's a busy Friday night in your ED, and you evaluate a 21-year-old male who has lacerated his flexor tendon on a glass bottle during a bar fight. The on-call orthopedist suggests placing Steri-Strips^TM and sending the patient to his clinic early next week. After hanging up the phone, you immediately have misgivings. The other orthopedists usually take the patient to the operating room directly from the ED. You ask yourself, “Should I start antibiotics? Did he really understand me in his post-REM sleep fog? Shouldn't the patient get his tendon repaired tonight, or at least this weekend? How do I splint the finger?” You wonder if you shouldn't call him back, just to be sure….