Tendon Injury
When Is Hand Discussion Reasonable for Tendon Injury?
A concise clinician-facing triage reference for hand laceration, tendon function, nerve/vascular exam, exposed structures, and repair-timing question.
Quick answer
Tendon Injury Triage
- Hand discussion is reasonable when tendon, nerve, vessel, joint, bone, nailbed, or exposed structure involvement is suspected, or function-critical follow-up is uncertain.
- A careful motor/tendon, sensation, perfusion, wound-depth, contamination, and imaging assessment usually comes first when stable.
- Include wound location/depth, active motion/tendon exam, sensation, perfusion, exposed structures, contamination, imaging/foreign body, and closure/wound pathway status.
Hand discussion is reasonable when
Higher-Yield Consult Context
Hand discussion is reasonable when tendon, nerve, vessel, joint, bone, nailbed, or exposed structure involvement is suspected, or function-critical follow-up is uncertain.
Workup or another service usually comes first when
Better First Step
A careful motor/tendon, sensation, perfusion, wound-depth, contamination, and imaging assessment usually comes first when stable.
Before You Consult
What to Include
Include wound location/depth, active motion/tendon exam, sensation, perfusion, exposed structures, contamination, imaging/foreign body, and closure/wound pathway status.
Better consult question
Ask the Decision, Not Just the Diagnosis
Can Hand help with ***? Current facts are ***. The local pathway or service already active is ***. The decision we need is ***.
Common pitfall
Low-Yield Framing
A low-yield message names the problem without the first-step data, local pathway status, or disposition-changing question.
FAQ
Clinician Questions
What is the fastest way to make this consult answerable?
State the clinical question, first steps already completed, relevant labs/imaging/exam findings, and the decision Hand can change.
When should another pathway move first?
When local emergency, airway, trauma, surgery, ICU, infection, source-control, or procedural pathway applies, activate that pathway while specialty discussion proceeds as needed.
References
Educational tool only. SIC provides clinician-facing educational consult-triage references. SIC does not diagnose, treat, prevent, cure, or mitigate disease and is not a substitute for clinical judgment, local guidelines, institutional referral pathways, or recommendations from your hand surgery department. See disclaimer and how SIC works.