What are the consequences of electrical injury and how to treat them. Types and treatment of electrical injuries in children and adults. Measures to maintain vital functions during burns

Electrical injury is an injury resulting from a person being struck by electric current or lightning.

A current strength exceeding 0.15 Ampere, as well as an alternating and direct voltage greater than 36 Volts, are considered dangerous to humans and lead to electrical injury. The consequences of electrical trauma can be very different: an electric shock can cause cardiac arrest, circulatory arrest, respiratory arrest, and loss of consciousness. Electrical trauma is almost always accompanied by damage skin, mucous membranes and bones at the site of entry and exit of the electrical discharge, leads to disruption of the central and peripheral nervous system.

Types of electrical injuries

Electrical injuries are classified according to the location of their occurrence, the nature of the impact of electrical voltage, and the nature of the injury (local and general electrical injuries).

Depending on the place of occurrence, the following types of electrical injuries are distinguished: industrial, natural and household.

By the nature of the impact electric current Electrical injury can be immediate or chronic. Instantaneous electric shock is when a person receives an electrical discharge exceeding permissible level in a very short period of time. It is this type of electrical injury that is accompanied by serious damage requiring resuscitation and surgical intervention. And this type of electrical injury, such as chronic, occurs due to prolonged and imperceptible exposure to electrical voltage on a person. An example is working near high-power generators. People who are exposed to this type of electrical injury experience increased fatigue, sleep and memory disturbances, headaches, tremors, high blood pressure, pupil dilation.

In addition, it is customary to distinguish such types of electrical trauma as local and general. Local electrical trauma is a burn, electroophthalmia, metallization of the skin (small metal particles getting under the skin and melting under the influence of an electric arc), mechanical damage. And general electrical injuries occur when various muscle groups are affected by electric current, which manifests itself as convulsions, cardiac arrest, and respiratory arrest.

Causes of electrical injuries

The causes of electrical injuries in most cases (80-90 percent) are direct contact with live elements of electrical installations, working with them without first removing the voltage. The main causes of electrical injuries are negligence and inattention - incorrect voltage supply and disconnection of the current source, poor insulation condition.

In other words, the causes of electrical injuries can be systematized as follows: technical reasons (equipment malfunction, improper operation), organizational reasons (failure to comply with safety regulations), and psychophysiological reasons (fatigue, decreased attention).

It was noticed that in production a huge percentage of electrical injuries occur at the end and beginning of work shifts (shift changes), as well as during the morning (first) shift. In the first case, the fatigue factor plays a big role, and in the second, the peculiarity of planning the working day: maximum amount work on electrical installations occurs precisely in the morning hours.

Help with electrical injuries

Regardless of the type of electrical injury (only if it is not natural, as a result of a lightning strike), first of all, when providing assistance to the victim, you should: in an accessible way de-energize the source of damage: press the switch on the device, turn the switch, unscrew the plugs or break the electrical wires.

When providing assistance in case of electrical injury, we must not forget about precautions: you can remove wires from the victim only using insulated tools, or using any other but dry object, and be sure to wear rubber gloves. Also, without protecting your hands, you should not touch a person injured by electric shock unless the wires are disconnected.

A person who has received a general or local electrical injury should be placed on a flat surface and be sure to call ambulance and take action the following actions:

1. Check the pulse, and if it is absent (circulation stops), carry out indirect massage hearts;

2. Check breathing, and if not, perform artificial respiration;

3. If there is a pulse and breathing, the victim should be placed on his stomach and at the same time turn his head to the side. This way the person will be able to breathe freely and will not choke on vomit;

4. Burns resulting from electrical trauma should be covered with a bandage, which must be dry and clean. If your feet or hands are burned, you need to place rolled bandages or cotton swabs between your fingers;

5. Inspect the victim for other associated injuries and, if necessary, provide assistance;

When providing assistance in case of electrical injury, you should not leave the victim alone, and you should definitely organize his transportation to medical institution, where he will be examined and treated professional help. This must be done even if outwardly the lesions seem insignificant: the patient’s position can change at any moment.

Video from YouTube on the topic of the article:

Electrical trauma is a set of traumatic disorders that appear in the human body as a result of exposure to industrial, household or natural electric current. Electrical injury may have serious complications. In some cases it leads to death.

The main causes of electrical injuries in children and adults

Both children and adults can suffer electrical injury either as a result of exposure to electric current at home or at work, or from a lightning strike. Lightning damage should be considered as a natural, force majeure factor, from which a person cannot always protect himself. In other cases, electric shock injury occurs for the following main reasons:

Psychophysiological.
Technical.
Organizational.

Reasons related to the human psyche and physiology include weakening of attention, stressful situation, excessive fatigue, health status of an adult or child, a person being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and various other reasons.

Technical reasons mean:

Organizational causes of electrical injuries include:

Negligence when handling live electrical installations when they are left without proper supervision.
Neglect of basic safety rules as usual, Everyday life, and in the workplace.
Carrying out work on electrical equipment without first checking that there is no voltage on it.

People who deal with electricity professionally are the most likely to suffer electrical injuries!

These include electricians, assemblers of high-voltage structures, builders, and other specialist workers.

Electrical injuries usually occur when:

Presence of dangerous electrical voltage and current.
Features of the body and the specific health status of the victim.
Environmental conditions.

Severity of electrical injuries

Depending on the nature of the injury, injuries may include:

Are common , in which the current passes through the entire human body, so they suffer various groups muscles, convulsions, paralysis of the heart and breathing occur.
Local when, as a result of a short circuit, the integrity of the skin and tissues is damaged. The victim receives an electric shock.

According to the severity of injuries resulting from the action of electric current, they are divided into 4 degrees:

For first degree injury The victim is conscious and exhibits the following symptoms:

When the impact of the traumatic factor stops, a person often begins to experience pain!

Second degree characterized by loss of consciousness of the victim and severe tonic convulsions. In this case, the patient’s blood pressure is low, and slight respiratory distress is observed. Often at this stage, cardiac arrhythmia already appears and shock occurs. The consequence of trauma can be memory loss.

At the third stage The patient's condition can be described as severe with the following symptoms:

Severe respiratory distress and convulsions. Laryngospasm may occur.
Ruptures of blood vessels in the lungs.
Disruption of the heart and, as a consequence, the entire blood circulation. Blood pressure drops significantly, the rhythm of cardiac activity is disturbed.
Damage to internal parenchymal organs up to the appearance of necrotic foci in the liver, kidneys, lungs, spleen, as well as in the thyroid and pancreas.
Retinal detachment.
Edema of the brain and lungs.

At this stage, the patient may fall into a coma!

Fourth degree - complete cessation of breathing as a result of paralysis respiratory center and ventricular fibrillation of the heart, leading to clinical death patient.

Respiratory paralysis is most common for injuries in which an electric current passes through a person's head!

There is also a division of electrical injuries, depending on the nature of the impact of the current, into:

Instant when a person receives a very strong electrical discharge in a few seconds, exceeding the permissible level.
Chronic . Such injury is typical for people who are in constant and prolonged contact with sources of strong current. In a state of chronic electrical trauma, a person experiences memory and sleep disturbances, he often has a headache, he gets tired quickly, and experiences a feeling of persistent fatigue.

How is the disease diagnosed?

The characteristic signs that appear in him will help you understand that a person has suffered from an electric shock.

In case of a mild electrical injury, the victim experiences:

Dizziness.
Fainting.
Impaired vision, smell and hearing.
Frustration, lack of strength, or, conversely, an excited state.
Neurotic reactions.

Severe electrical injury can be recognized by the following signs:

When injured by a lightning strike, the following symptoms are observed:

Blindness.
Temporary muteness and deafness.
Feeling of fear.
Headache.
Photophobia.
Cardiac and respiratory paralysis.
"Imaginary" death.

The more serious the injury, the more pronounced the specific symptoms appear.

In some cases, electric shocks lead to instant death of the patient!

Providing emergency first aid for electrical injuries

In order to competently help a person exposed to electric current, you must first take personal safety measures. They consist of wearing thick rubber shoes and gloves, since there may be a wire nearby high voltage, fallen to the ground.

You should not come closer than ten meters to a live wire!

If there is no rubber uniform nearby, you can protect yourself in this way: start moving towards the victim in the so-called “duck step”. The steps should be very small, they should be taken in such a way that the feet do not leave the ground, and during each next step the toe of one foot and the heel of the other are in the same line.

Next, you should stop contacting the victim with the current source.

It should be remembered that water is an excellent conductor of electricity, and dry wood is an excellent insulating material!

To stop the electric discharge, you need to unplug the electrical cord from the outlet or turn off the switch. If this is not possible, you should throw the wire to the side with a long wooden or any non-metallic stick. You can cut or cut the electrical wire with an insulated tool.

If a person who is under voltage is at a high altitude, before turning off the current, measures should be taken to ensure that the victim does not break if he falls!

Then you need to pull the person who received the electrical injury away from the current zone by about 10-15 meters, holding him by the edges of his clothing.

Do not touch the exposed parts of the victim’s body!

After this, you need to check whether the person is conscious and has breathing and a heartbeat. If they are absent, you must immediately begin giving the person indirect cardiac massage and artificial respiration.

Proceed to cardiopulmonary resuscitation You can only make sure that the effect of the current on the human body is stopped!

If the victim did not lose consciousness, you need to give him any sedative, for example, Corvalol in an amount of 50-100 drops.

Cold should be applied to the patient's head. In the cold season, it is enough to simply remove your hat.

If there are wounds or burns on the body, they need to be bandaged with a clean, preferably sterile, cloth. If fractures are suspected, secure the limbs with splints.

First aid to the victim in the video:

Measures to maintain vital functions during burns

After rendering necessary assistance a person who has received an electrical injury of the 2nd, 3rd or 4th degree of severity should be immediately taken to a traumatological or surgery department hospital. There the patient will receive qualified medical care. In case of electrical injury of the 1st degree of severity, hospitalization is not always necessary.

Every person who has received an electrical injury must be vaccinated against tetanus!

Therapeutic inpatient care for a victim of electrical injury includes:

Local treatment of burned areas of the body.
General treatment aimed at maintaining and restoring all disturbed systems and functions of the body.

As a local anti-burn measure, sterile bandages soaked in disinfectant solutions are applied to the entry and exit points of electrical discharges.

Subsequently, burns on the skin are exposed to ultraviolet irradiation to facilitate the process of death of tissues susceptible to necrosis and accelerate the restoration of healthy epithelium. Patients are also prescribed baths with a solution of potassium permanganate, and medicinal regenerating bandages are applied to the burned areas.

If the resulting skin defect requires correction, the patient undergoes plastic surgery!

In parallel with local treatment burns are treated intensively infusion therapy to normalize cardiac activity and restore both central and peripheral hemodynamics. Doctors also prescribe anti-shock and oxygen therapy, sedatives and antihypertensive drugs to patients.

Basically, all drugs are introduced into the patient’s body through intravenous or intramuscular injections, and also through IVs!

On the first day, the amount of drugs administered intravenously, taking into account the severity of the shock, is from 30 to 80 milliliters per kilogram of the patient’s body weight. In this case, urination is monitored hourly. Normally, the victim should produce about 1.5 -2.0 ml/kg of urine.

On the second and third days, the volume of drugs infused by infusion is reduced by approximately 30 percent. Among other drugs, the victim must be given heparin, vitamins, painkillers and heart medications, drugs to reduce arrhythmia, antispasmodics and adrenergic blockers. The most commonly used electric shocks are:

If the patient has wounds in the skull and has experienced prolonged loss of consciousness, he requires enhanced dehydration therapy!

In the presence of lesions of the extremities, use nicotinic acid and papaverine with novocaine solution.

Limb amputation is done in the very as a last resort– with irreversible tissue necrosis!

In case of electrical injury with deep lesions of the muscle fascia, it is often necessary to surgical intervention in the form of necrotomy, dissection and drainage of tissue.

Electrical trauma is an injury caused by exposure of organs and tissues to electrical current of great strength or voltage. Exist the following types electrical injuries:

Local: when damaged in a specific location;
Common electrical injuries or electrical shocks: damage occurs throughout the body due to damage and dysfunction of vital systems, which results in the impossibility of their normal functioning.

A fifth of all such cases are local injuries. A quarter of these are electrical shocks accompanied by electrical shock. More than half are mixed: at the same time, symptoms of both local and widespread injuries are present.

Local electrical injuries

Local electrical trauma is a pronounced damage that entails a violation of the integrity of the skin and various types tissues, including bone and connective tissues. This type of injury is caused by electric current or high voltage in an electrical arc. Typically, such injuries result in only minor damage, mainly to the person's skin, as well as other types of soft tissue, tendons and joints.

The consequences of local electrical injuries and the difficulty of dealing with them depend on the location, level of penetration and characteristics of tissue rupture, as well as on how the body reacts to the traumatic impact.

Most often, local electrical injuries are treated with simple treatment, and the patient’s ability to work is restored completely, sometimes partially. The causes of electrical injuries can be very diverse. Lethal outcome as a result of local electrical injuries occurs extremely rarely and only if the damage is accompanied by a large area of the body. Death in such a situation is caused not by current, but by local damage to body tissues, which was the result of damage from high voltage.

Typical local electrical injuries:

electrical burns - in four cases out of ten;
electrical marks - seven cases out of a hundred;
metallization of the skin: only three out of a hundred people get this complication;
mechanical disorders occur in five cases out of a thousand;
Fifteen people out of a thousand receive this injury, and this injury is the most dangerous;
mixed electrical injuries, including burns, twenty-three out of a hundred people.

Electrical burn is the most common electrical injury. It appears in two thirds of people injured as a result of exposure to high voltage. Moreover, a quarter of cases are accompanied by other traumatic injuries.

More than three-quarters of all electrical burns occur among linemen who maintain high-voltage transmission lines.

Types of electrical burns

There are two types of electrical burns based on the condition of occurrence:

Electrical burn. Appears when electric current flows directly through the human body. Usually develops after contact with a conductive object.
Arc burn. Its cause is the effect of a high voltage arc on the human body.

Electrical burns occur at low voltages of no more than two kilowatts. It occurs in about a third of people who suffer electrical injuries, and in such cases they are considered stage 1 and 2 burns, and at voltages exceeding 380 volts they are assigned stages 3 and 4.

For different stages Burns are characterized by the following symptoms:

Stage 1: pinking of the skin;
Stage 2: the appearance of bubbles;
Stage 3: necrosis of all layers of skin;
4th degree: soft fabrics turn into embers.

An arc burn appears at a voltage of 6 kilowatts or more. Most often this is due to the profession of the victim: electricians who often experience spontaneous short circuits when repairing electrical appliances are at risk.

The arc appears in three cases:

without direct contact between a person and conductive parts - when being close to them at the moment of penetration;
if the integrity of the protective insulation with which the electrician touches the conductive elements is violated;
due to errors during operations with switches, when an arc spontaneously attacks a person who has neglected safety precautions.

The severity of the injury increases with increasing strain. Quarter total number are arc burns that often accompany these types of electrical injuries.

Less common effects

Electrical marks are distinct dark patterns of gray or yellow color on the surface of the skin in a place that has been exposed to electric current. They usually have the shape of irregular circles and are no more than 5 millimeters in size with a dent in the central part. There are marks in the form of abrasions, bruises, and even small-point tattoos, sometimes in the shape of a wire that the patient touched, and when struck by a discharge during a thunderstorm, this mark is made in the form of lightning.

The affected area hardens and becomes like a callus, as necrosis of the upper layer of skin begins. The surface of the mark never contains moisture and does not hurt. But only a tenth of all those affected by electric shock receive such traces. This injury still has no exact explanation.

Metallization of the skin is the penetration of metal elements into the skin, which melt during an arc discharge.

This usually happens due to short circuits in switches. Due to the resulting electrical dynamics, splashes of hot metal scatter at enormous speeds in different directions.

Lesions usually occur on uncovered parts of the body: the head and upper limbs, since these drops cannot burn through clothes. The patient feels pain and the presence of foreign components in the skin.

Gradually, the damaged skin slides off and this area restores its appearance and functionality. Metallization occurs in only ten out of a hundred people.

Mechanical disturbances are usually the result of spontaneous muscle spasms when exposed to current. The result of this is a violation of the integrity of the ligaments, skin, capillaries and nerve nodes, sometimes even joint sprains, dislocations and fractures occur.

Mechanical failures mainly occur when working with voltages not exceeding a thousand volts. The effect of current must be long-lasting. This happens infrequently, in about one person out of a hundred.

A corneal burn is the most dangerous consequence of this type of injury. It occurs due to directed thermal radiation after the formation of an electric spark. It occurs in three people out of a hundred who have received an arc burn.

An electric shock is the irritation of a person's soft tissues by current passing through them. It manifests itself in spontaneous spasms of various muscles of the body. Electric shock is a consequence of the passage of current through the human body: in this case, the danger of dysfunction internal organs covers the entire body. This occurs due to disruption of almost all vital systems, including the heart, kidneys, liver, stomach and even the brain.

Depending on the degree of violation, there are five types of electric shock:

the cramp is almost imperceptible;
muscle spasm accompanied by sharp painful sensations which can lead to loss of consciousness;
the spasm is accompanied by fainting, but breathing is not interrupted and the heart rate remains unchanged;
after fainting, the disturbed heart rhythm is interrupted, and breathing may be absent;
clinical death: not only breathing is interrupted, but also blood circulation.

The result depends on many conditions, such as:

voltage and current;
frequency of electric current and electromagnetic field;
individual characteristics of the body;
skin resistance and electrical potential difference;
compliance with safety precautions and timely treatment.

The level of impact of the current can vary: from barely noticeable muscle contractions near the area of damage to complete stoppage of the functioning of the lungs and heart. It must be remembered that visually after an electrical injury, the skin may not contain traces of electric shock, so in all cases a doctor’s consultation is necessary.

Electrical injury is an injury resulting from a person being struck by electric current or lightning. A potential threat to humans is represented by a current strength of more than 0.15 Amperes, as well as constant and AC voltage more than 36 Volts. The consequences of electrical injuries can take the most different shapes- from minor burns to cessation of blood circulation, breathing and loss of consciousness, which, accordingly, often becomes the cause of death. In almost all cases, exposure to current greater than normal is accompanied by damage to the skin, mucous membranes and bones at the points of entry and exit of the electrical discharge. The central and peripheral nervous systems are also affected.

Types of electrical injuries

Electrical injuries vary according to the location of their occurrence, the nature of the injury (local and general electrical injuries) and the nature of the impact of electricity.

Depending on the place of occurrence, the following types of electrical injuries are distinguished:

Production;
Household;
Natural.

According to the nature of the electric shock to a person, they are distinguished:

Local electrical injuries - electroophthalmia, burns, metallization of the skin (penetration under the skin and melting of small metal particles under the influence of an electric arc), mechanical integrity violations;
General electrical injuries are electric shock to various muscle groups, accompanied by respiratory and cardiac arrest, as well as convulsions.

Local electrical injuries occur due to the impact of a short circuit on a specific part of the body. General electrical injury is the result direct action current from the moment it passed through the entire human body. When struck by lightning, along with the symptoms inherent in general trauma, hearing and speech impairment occurs, dark blue spots appear on the skin.

Depending on the nature of the impact of electric current, there are the following types of electrical injuries:

Instant – receiving an electrical discharge that exceeds the permissible level in a matter of seconds. Such an injury is accompanied by injuries that are dangerous to health and life, so the victim needs urgent resuscitation and surgical care;
Chronic – the effect of electrical voltage on a person is long-term and imperceptible. For example, people who work near high-power generators suffer from chronic electrical injuries. IN in this case the lesion is characterized by sleep and memory disturbances, increased fatigue, tremors, headaches, dilated pupils and increased blood pressure.

Causes of electrical injuries

In most cases, the causes of electrical injuries are direct contact with live elements of electrical installations and work with them without removing the voltage in advance. In this case, the injury rate is 80-90%. Negligence and inattention are the main causes of electrical injuries: unsatisfactory insulation condition, untimely shutdown of current, interruption of voltage supply.

In other words, the causes of electrical injuries can be classified as follows:

Technical – equipment malfunction, improper operation;
Organizational – non-compliance with safety rules at home and at work;
Psychophysiological – fatigue, inattention caused by various reasons.

The impact of lightning is distinguished in separate group as an objective reason.

As a rule, in production, incidents occur most often at the time when workers finish or begin a work shift, that is, during shift changes, as well as during morning time. In the first option, the key factor is elementary fatigue, and in the second - the peculiarities of planning the coming working day, since it is in the morning hours that the greatest number work with electrical equipment.

A victim of an electrical discharge needs emergency assistance, which involves, first of all, turning off the source of damage - de-energizing the device. To do this, you need to press the switch or turn the switch, turn off the plugs.

When providing assistance in case of electrical injury, it is necessary to take precautions: remove wires from the injured person only with insulated tools. Any other items are also suitable for this purpose, but they must be dry. If possible, operations should be performed with rubber gloves. If the wires have not yet been disconnected, it is strictly forbidden to touch the person affected by the current with unprotected hands.

The victim must be placed on a flat surface, doctors must be called as soon as possible and the following steps must be taken to help with an electrical injury:

Check the person’s pulse, and if it is absent, perform an indirect cardiac massage, since the injury has caused circulatory arrest;
Check breathing - if not, perform artificial respiration;
If there is a pulse and breathing, place the victim on his stomach, turning his head to the side. In this position, a person is able to breathe safely, otherwise there is a high probability that he may choke on vomit;
It is very important to free a person from tight clothing, as well as to prevent hypothermia. To do this, you need to cover it with heating pads or cover it with warm, dry clothes (blankets);
If burns occur as a result of an electrical injury, they should be covered with a dry and clean bandage. If the hands and feet are affected, rolled cotton swabs or bandages should be placed between the fingers;
Examine the victim to identify other injuries and provide assistance if any;
If the victim is conscious, give him to drink as much liquid as possible, preferably plain clean water.

Even if a person’s condition after an electrical injury does not show serious symptoms at first, in any case he needs urgent hospitalization, since irreversible disruptions in the body can occur at any time. Timely assistance with a high probability can bring a person back to life even with a strong general electric shock.

Injury to body tissue most often results external influence various types of energy. Damage can be mechanical, chemical, or thermal in nature. The cause of all types of electrical injuries is electric shock, which can be encountered anywhere: at home, at work, in a cafe or just on the street. Most often, the culprit is inept handling of electrical appliances and their faulty condition.

Causes of electrical injuries

Compared to other types of damage, electrical injuries are considered the most dangerous due to the high probability of death. The consequences of electric shock primarily depend on the strength and duration of its impact. In addition, age and health status determine the chances of saving a person who has received any type of electrical injury.

The rules for providing first aid to victims of electric shock have a number of distinctive features, which will have a direct connection with the causes of the incident. Thus, electrical injuries are caused by the following factors:

contact with a conductive part that does not have an insulating coating;
interaction with metal that is under tension due to damage to the protective layer;
touching wet objects that have received a charge.

Water as a risk factor for electrical injury

The severity of the resulting electrical injury is determined by the strength of the applied energy. Additional terms, which can influence the intensity of the blow are the thickness of the epidermis and its moisture content. Regardless of the type of electrical injury, damage occurs by passing current through the human body, and therefore when providing first aid great importance focuses on exactly how the discharge occurred and how long it affected the tissue.

Water is an ideal conductor for ions, the movement of which serves as the basis for the transfer of electrical charge. If we take into account statistical data, the number of victims of electric shock increases during the period of warming and increasing humidity levels in environment. High temperatures air causes an increase in sweating in a person. Natural phenomena summer also increases the chances of contact with electric current natural origin. Yes, when increased concentration An electrical charge in the air causes a thunderstorm. Those who remain outside in bad weather and find shelter under a wet tree are especially at risk of being struck by lightning. There is also a danger of encountering electric current in a room with a humidity level that exceeds the norm.

Main types of electrical injuries

The choice of direction in providing first aid depends on what type of electrical injury occurred to the victim. However, it is worth noting that even with a slight electric shock, damage can affect the functions of the entire body in the future, so you cannot hesitate. All types of electrical injuries are conventionally divided into two categories:

local (local) tissue damage;
complex electric shocks.

Local tissue damage by electric current

The first group of damages is superficial lesions skin at the site of passage of the electrical charge. All types of local electrical injuries are manifested by oval, semicircular, gray or yellow tint, metallization of the epidermis as a result of tiny iron particles entering its upper layers.

The occurrence of electrical burns is explained by the passage of current through soft tissue, the strength of which exceeds several amperes. The skin heats up instantly, and therefore the severity and depth of the lesions will depend on the nature and duration of exposure to the charge. Thus, a distinction is made between superficial and internal injuries. Depending on the type of exposure, electric shock can be contact or arc. In addition, mechanical damage that occurs due to convulsive contraction of muscle tissue during the passage of a charge is also a type of electrical injury. Electric current can destroy the integrity of the skin, rupture blood vessels, and lead to dislocations and fractures of bones.

Local damage includes the development inflammatory process V eyeball, activated as a result of powerful light exposure. This type Electrical injury is called electroophthalmia.

Effect of electricity on vital centers: degree of damage

Complex electric shocks as opposed to localized soft tissue injuries and bone structures are systemic lesions that affect the functioning of the body as a whole. Passage of electric charge through human body leads to serious and sometimes irreversible changes in the functioning of internal organs. In accordance with the intensity of exposure to electric current, the following degrees of damage are distinguished:

The first is characterized by the appearance of seizures in the limbs or a separate part of the body. The victim is in creation.
The second degree of electric shock is diagnosed with general convulsive activity and short-term fainting. Heart rate and breathing remain unchanged. If the source of the influencing current is timely eliminated, the victim’s condition will stabilize.
To be classified as third degree, the victim must exhibit symptoms such as loss of consciousness, impairment of function of cardio-vascular system, respiratory organs.
With the fourth degree of electrical injury, cardiac and respiratory arrest occurs. The rapid development of shock leads to death.

What happens to the body when a charge of energy passes through it?

Pathogenesis and mechanism of damage human body electric charge has been partially studied, since it is almost impossible to study the processes occurring in the body during direct receipt of any type of electrical injury. First aid to the victim must be provided urgently, since the movement of ions and electrons causes cardinal disturbances as a result of changes in the polarity of cell membranes.

Electric current primarily affects the central nervous system due to its high water saturation. Abnormal phenomena lead to disruption heart rate, activity of the nervous system.

With an extremely severe degree of damage, depolarization can provoke the onset of clinical death. Hypoxia as a consequence of respiratory arrest leads to spasms of cerebral vessels, ischemic damage other organs and systems. Pathological disorders that occur in the first few hours after the incident is called early symptoms, and those changes that occurred after this period are late.

Electrical shock to the head

The most dangerous electrical injury can be considered damage that occurs as a result of the passage of an electrical charge through the head. Closing the brain-limb loop inevitably leads to instant death caused by damage to all vital systems and centers simultaneously. Cases of so-called imaginary death can also be called frequent: the victim loses consciousness while long time, while his breathing becomes rare and barely noticeable, the pulse cannot be felt, and heartbeats cannot be heard.

How to help the victim?

When providing first aid to a victim in case of electrical injury, it is important to follow the sequence of actions and not give in to panic. Every second counts, so when you detect a person under the influence of electric current, you must:

Quickly eliminate the consequences of an electric charge - unplug the electrical appliance from the socket, turn off the supply of electricity to the room, move the wire, etc.
It is extremely important that all actions are performed using dry, non-conductive objects (wooden stick, fabric rope, etc.). Ideally, the person providing assistance to the victim should be wearing rubber gloves and boots.
If the victim has been exposed to an electrical current with a power of more than 1000 V, it is important to immediately begin resuscitation measures to restore respiratory functions and heartbeat. Cardiac muscle massage and artificial respiration are performed mouth-to-nose or mouth-to-mouth.
In case of a sudden decrease in blood pressure, drugs should be administered parenterally to help stabilize it.
If fractures, ligament ruptures, or damage to osteochondral areas are suspected, a splint should be applied or the affected limb should be immobilized with available means until doctors arrive.

Professional medical assistance to the victim

Upon arrival of the ambulance team, a complex resuscitation actions, drugs are connected artificial ventilation lungs. In case of ineffectiveness closed massage heart, a solution of calcium chloride and adrenaline is administered intracardially to the patient, or an electrodefibrillation procedure is performed. Transportation of victims is carried out strictly in a supine position with continuous monitoring of heart function. No later than 30 minutes after the victim has regained consciousness, emergency doctors must provide the necessary anti-shock treatment. Further therapy is carried out within the walls of a hospital medical facility under the supervision of specialists. After restoration of cardiac function and respiratory systems a number of diagnostic procedures are carried out.

How to prevent electrical injury?

Prevention of electric shocks is based on strict adherence to established safety and labor protection rules. Types of electrical injuries resulting from prolonged exposure to electric field, can be prevented through the use of shielding generators, protective rubber suits, and also by periodically undergoing comprehensive medical examinations.

Electric shock in childhood is fraught with severe and irreversible consequences, and therefore it is important to limit the child’s access to electrical appliances, wires, and sockets as much as possible.