Basic First Aid: Applying a Sling

Video Transcript

"Hi, I’m Amy, and today we are going to be talking about applying a sling. It is not necessary to have any type of fancy sling. Generally just a nice square piece of cotton will do, and first thing you are going to want to do is you are going to want to turn it into a triangle. This is where people often get confused. What I always like to remember is the pointed part of the triangle is where the elbow is going to be. If I am slinging this particular arm here, I am going to make sure that the other side goes over this shoulder, at which point it is nice to secure it behind the neck. “Can you hold your arm for me please?” If you are worried that there is going to be friction against their neck, you can always put another pad under here. If you are going to be transporting the individual and you want to keep that secure, you can take another piece of cotton and turn it into a binder, take it under the still free arm because you don’t want to trap that one, bring it around and secure it again. Now they are nice and snug for transport. So once your muslin is in a triangle, this is how you apply it. Go ahead and place the pointed part at the elbow. You bring one end up over one shoulder and the other end up over the opposite shoulder. There will probably have to be some adjustments. You then make a nice knot, being careful not to bind it too tight at the back of the neck. You can also make another knot at the elbow here to secure it further if you would like."