You are dispatched to a college fraternity house were a patient fell off a balcony during their Mardi Gras celebration. You find the patient lying on his side on the lawn below the balcony. The balcony is about 20 feet above the ground. He responds to verbal stimuli and is complaining of severe leg pain. Your assessment reveals bone ends protruding through a large open wound to his right leg. Your sequence of treatment for this patient should be to:
A) Manually stabilize the cervical spine; apply high-flow/high-concentration oxygen by nonrebreather; perform a focused history and assessment; apply cervical collar; apply a padded board splint, splint the extremity injury; and transport.
B) Manually stabilize the cervical spine; assess breathing, pulse, and the presence of significant hemorrhage; apply high-flow/high-concentration oxygen; perform a rapid trauma exam; immobilize on a long backboard; transport to an appropriate facility; splint the extremity enroute if time and resources permit.
C) Manually stabilize the cervical spine; assess breathing, pulse, and the presence of significant hemorrhage; apply high-flow/high-concentration oxygen; perform a rapid trauma exam; immobilize on a long backboard; check with medical direction about the need to splint the extremity injury prior to transport.
D) Open the airway; assess breathing and check the carotid pulse; splint the extremity injury; immobilize the patient to a long backboard; apply high-flow/high-concentration oxygen; and transport.
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