Dislocated elbow

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by CalifSunshineRN
May 17, '03   Views: 5,651   Comments: 2

  1. Hello Nurses! I'm an occupational health nurse and need help. My friends child had a dislocated elbow. It was reset. A week later she had to have emergency surgery. During the surgery, the bone was split. ( I'm not sure which bone) Can someone explain to me how this could have happend.

    Thanks

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    About CalifSunshineRN

    Joined: May '03; Posts: 1
    Occupational Health Nurse

    2 Comments

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  3. by P_RN
    May 17, '03
    Occupation: RN-i (RETIRED) Specialty: ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89 ; From: US ; Joined: May '00; Posts: 14,479; Likes: 2,298
    Are you certain the elbow was "only dislocated?"

    It would help to know the child's age, what bone, what surgery and if there was any hardware required. Too many unknowns.
  4. by got2luvnights
    May 5, '04
    Occupation: SICU Joined: May '04; Posts: 34; Likes: 3
    Quote from CalifSunshineRN
    Hello Nurses! I'm an occupational health nurse and need help. My friends child had a dislocated elbow. It was reset. A week later she had to have emergency surgery. During the surgery, the bone was split. ( I'm not sure which bone) Can someone explain to me how this could have happend.

    Thanks

    Was the childs elbow set by cast alone or by closed reduction and cast? It sounds like a there might of been a additional fracture that was not stable and during pin placement or screw placement causing the bone to fracture more. I would tell your friend to look into what type of x-rays were taken and was the child treated by a peds orth doc. Range of motion can be lost and growth disturbance can occur depending on the location of the fracture. Good Luck

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