Ring removal

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Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

HA!!!

Junior high kid comes in with a ring jammed on a finger with a swollen PIP knuckle. I try the dental floss trick. No go- too swollen and not enough compression. I try the ring cutter. Ring is apparently made out of titanium because I barley made a scratch in it. (Or my ring cutter sucks.) Snag some ribbon from an art teacher. After multiple tries (probably 7-8 times) the ring finally slides off. Woo!! I have never used the ribbon/floss trick before so I had to You Tube it, but it worked!!

I. am. a. ROCK STAR!!!!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, school nursing.

Congratulations! I've never been able to use the dental floss trick, but have never tried ribbon, either. I've been successful with the ring cutter, because the rings are always cheap ones that are not solid metal.

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Specializes in Peds, Oncology.

Awesome! We don't have ring cutters. The two I've had, I've had to call the Fire Dept. to come cut off. Both of them the fingers were turning purple and I had tried everything!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

You can take the nurse out of the ER but you can't take the ER out of the nurse!! For sure!!

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Far's mom, the old school badass ER nurse, swore by this.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I have used the dental floss trick a few times here. I even once responded with my fire department to a report of a toddler with her finger stuck in the booster seat (it had a plug that came out and the toddler did what toddlers do). When all the cooking oil, ice and finessing the finger out didn't work out for the other guys, I calmly asked ems for the elastic strap from the o2 mask and used that. Worked like a charm :D

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Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

I would have used 1/4" packing gauze or possibly tried a tourniquet (the kind for IVs/blood draws- not a trauma tourniquet obviously) in the ER. I have neither of those here at school, so craft ribbon it is!!! (It was pink ribbon too, because WEDNESDAY!!)

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.
It was pink ribbon too, because WEDNESDAY!!

This quote made my morning! :inlove:

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I tried dental floss once with no luck. Kid eventually got the ring off without help.

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Specializes in CVICU, SchoolRN, MICU, PCU/IMU, ED.

Wow, thanks for the tip. Just learned something new today. Well two things:

1. Dental Floss to remove stuck rings

2. Bedbug sniffing dogs.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Dental floss? I'd think that would be too thin. This OR nurse swears by umbilical tapes. Then again, you don't have those in a school setting. And having anesthesia on board tends to make the patient not care about how much you're compressing their finger tissue either.

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Specializes in NCSN.

I just spent much to much time watching youtube videos on floss/ribbon ring removal.

This is a life skill I've definitely been missing!

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