The medical person who will be treating the injured person will base his or her plan of care on several facts. If the injured person can talk, ask them where they hurt and what they can remember about the accident. When the injury involves the hands, you can examine the injured person to see if they can move their fingers by clenching them into a fist and by straightening them out. You can also check the area around a cut for normal sense of touch or a numbness. If a cut is located over an area that looks like a bone may be broken, you can cover the area with the cleanest cloth or cover that you can find to protect it from infection and rest the area by placing it on a pillow, if one is available.
Pillows make great splints.
Magazines or newspapers folded in half and tied with a string also make good splints for hands, wrists and forearms. Any information that you can tell the paramedics or health care professional about what you saw and how the accident happened is very helpful. This is very important when an injured person cannot speak for himself. You should always try to remember to protect yourself from contact with an injured person's blood. Use a cloth if possible to separate your skin from contact with the injury.