Managing ankle fracture-dislocation injury in the emergency department: a case study
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Managing ankle fracture-dislocation injury in the emergency department: a case study

Barry McBrien Assistant professor in general nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Aoife Feeney Assistant professor in general nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Martin Duignan Advanced nurse practitioner, Our Lady’s Hospital Navan, Navan, Ireland

Why you should read this article:
  • To refresh your knowledge of the clinical presentation of ankle fracture-dislocation injuries

  • To recognise the risks associated with ankle fracture-dislocation injuries

  • To understand the management of patients who present with a suspected ankle fracture-dislocation injury

Ankle fracture-dislocation is a serious injury that requires prompt and appropriate management. The proximity of various neurovascular structures around the ankle joint means there is a risk of nerve or blood vessel damage. Initial management in the emergency department (ED), therefore, includes the realignment and repositioning of the dislocated joint to its normal anatomical position, referred to as reduction. This article details a case study of a 42-year-old woman who presented to an ED in Ireland with a suspected ankle fracture-dislocation following a fall while playing sport. Following triage and initial pain management, the patient’s care was managed by an advanced nurse practitioner, in collaboration with medical colleagues, which involved history taking and physical assessment, reduction of the dislocation and splinting of the ankle under procedural sedation, monitoring during and after procedural sedation, and radiological imaging.

Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2216

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

bmcbrien@tcd.ie

Conflict of interest

None declared

McBrien B, Feeney A, Duignan M (2024) Managing ankle fracture-dislocation in the emergency department: a case study. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2216

Acknowledgement

The patient described in the case study provided consent to the authors regarding the use of the material detailed in this article, including the images, for educational and publication purposes. A pseudonym has been used

Published online: 26 November 2024

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