What is a compound fracture?

• A. broken bone with no open wound
• B. fracture in which one bone fragment is pushed into another
• C. fracture in which the bone is splintered or crushed
• D. break in the bone where the bone comes through the skin; open fracture

Answer: (D)

A compound fracture is an open fracture: the bone has broken and a wound communicates with the fracture, so the bone may protrude through the skin or there is an open wound over the fracture site. This exposes the bone and surrounding tissues to the outside environment, increasing infection risk and often indicating soft-tissue injury. The other descriptions refer to different fracture types: a closed fracture has no skin break; an impacted fracture has bone ends driven into each other; a comminuted fracture involves the bone breaking into multiple pieces. In first aid, treat it as an open injury: avoid pushing the bone back, cover with a sterile dressing, control bleeding, immobilize the limb, and seek urgent medical care.