The treatment of hand injuries

A major hand injury can completely change a person's life. The consequences of the injury can be reduced by proper assessment, appropriate treatment and careful follow-up. Whenever experienced help is available then it should always be sought. This article describes the management of hand injuries. In Papua New Guinea the worst disasters occur when injuries are missed on initial assessment and the patient is not referred to a surgeon. Another common cause of poor outcome is failure to splint the hand in the correct position.