Attending to lightning strike victims
JOBURG – Unfortunately, many patients are found in cardiac arrest but some are successfully resuscitated.
Paramedics are careful not to cause further injury to lightning strike victims.
It is estimated that between 500 and 700 people will survive a lightning strike in South Africa annually. Many of these survivors need medical assistance to do so but paramedics themselves also need to practise a level of caution of safety when assisting with such. ER24’s Russel Meiring shared the realities faced by paramedics as and when they attend to incidents of people getting struck by lightning following the unfortunate death of a man in Sophiatown who was struck on 28 January.
As they do with every other scene they are called to, they approach the patient with care. He explained, “Before approaching the patient, safety will be established as the lightning strike may have caused structural damage to structures that the patient may be close to such as trees and buildings. If it is safe to approach, the patient’s responsiveness will be assessed and if unresponsive, the ABCs (airway breathing and circulation) will be checked and managed accordingly.”
The condition of a lightning strike victim can vary depending on if the lightning struck them directly or indirectly. “How the electricity conducted through the patient and whether they were flung against anything in the process, due to muscle contraction or the force of the strike, will have an impact on their condition.”
The strike itself can result in a fern-pattern burn on the victim’s skin, damage of the tissue (burn) along its path of conduction and can cause the heart to stop beating normally and often revert to a totally disorganised electrical activity without any pumping action (referred to as ventricular fibrillation). If flung against anything the person can sustain secondary injuries like fractures and lacerations. Meiring said that unfortunately, many patients are found in cardiac arrest but some are successfully resuscitated.
ER24 shared some crucial safety tips for the public to use when waiting for medical assistance if they believe someone has been struck by lightning:
n Assess for responsiveness and if not responding, not showing signs of life, start CPR immediately.
n If the person is awake, reassure them that all is well and keep them calm.
n Do not move them unless they are in a dangerous place such as unstable structures or heavy rain in case they have sustained fractures or other injuries, which could be worsened during movement.
n Cover them with a dry blanket or sheet and ensure that any visible burns are kept clean by covering them with a non-adherent dressing or even cling film if dressings are not available.
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