heya sorry im sending this a twice cos my messages hardly ever get through but I'm just wondering, what position would a character be put in in a hospital if they had injuries that made it painful/worse to just lay flat on their back? what happens if they have a possible spinal injury, but also an actual wound on their back that needs to be treated? and what happens if they're hurt badly everywhere, front, back and sides? thanks!!
Short answer- whatever position makes them the most comfortable.Caregivers can assist in moving bed components and pillows around to facilitatethis if a patient cannot do this themself. I had a patient once who reallyliked laying diagonally across the bed with her legs dangling off one side andher head in the gap between the top and bottom rails. She had peripheral arterydisease, and dangling her legs made them hurt less. Not sure about the headplacement, but to each their own.
Patients with suspected spinal cord injuries may come in to the hospitalon a backboard, however, recent studies have urged EMS providers tosignificantly limit backboard use. This is due to evidence suggesting thatspinal injuries requiring spinal immobilization are actually pretty rare,backboards are actually pretty ineffective at keeping backs immobilized, andthe boards may cause additional back pain and pressure sores.
In hospitalsettings, patients with spinal injuries are usually placed on regular hospitalbeds (for “stable” spinal injuries- ones that really require noimmobilization), or the injury is repaired surgically (for unstable spinalinjuries), and then the patient still placed on a regular bed. Mobile patientsare told not to bend, lift or twist, and non-moving patients (sedated,paralyzed or elderly), are carefully log-rolled as needed to clean and care forthem.
NOTE: movement is really important to the human body. Humans move all thetime- even in our sleep! If we can’t move (as in those with paralysis or severemotor impairment) or at least simulate movement (through therapies likerange-of-motion exercises and 2-hourly turns) regularly, things like pressuresores, contractures (muscles that tighten up so badly they need surgery tofix), and rhabdomyolysis (toxic muscle breakdown) can develop.
Your character could easily be log-rolled onto their side to treat awound on their back with little danger. Priority wise, if caregivers arevery concerned that the character’s spinal injury is unstable (such as ifthey’re showing numbness, paralysis or severe back pain), repair of the spinalinjury takes priority. If the wound poses a life threat (such as if it isbleeding severely), the wound takes priority. If both are true, the wound stilltakes priority because it could kill the character faster- the trade off beingpotentially additional spinal damage.
As for injuries everywhere- again, whatever position is most comfortable forthe character. In the case that no comfortable position could be found, thereare other methods of pain control besides positioning, and a combination of thebest position and methods such as medication and distraction may result in atolerable position for your character.
