A 59-year-old male has superficial lacerations across wrists; self-harm; you should apply sterile dressings and:

• A. Transport him to the hospital.
• B. Have a family member transport him to an urgent care center.
• C. Advise him of the possible consequences and allow him to refuse.
• D. Allow him to go to his primary care physician's office.

Answer: (A)

When someone presents with self-inflicted wrist lacerations, the top priorities are controlling the bleed and ensuring safety, along with addressing the potential for ongoing self-harm. Begin with direct pressure and sterile dressings to stop bleeding and reduce infection risk. Beyond the wound care, there is a real concern for suicide risk or continued self-harm, so transporting to a hospital for medical evaluation and a mental health assessment is the appropriate next step. The hospital setting provides definitive wound care if needed and access to psychiatric evaluation to determine safety and next steps. Other options fail to address the urgent medical and psychological needs or rely on the patient refusing care, which can be unsafe in this context; sending him to urgent care or a primary care visit wouldn’t provide the immediate evaluation and monitoring required.