Category: AEMT
- The Mechanics of Maintaining Adequate Blood Pressure Even In Times of Peril ()
When the patient experiences a drop in blood pressure due decreased cardiac output the body unleashes a host of compensatory mechanisms. Human beings are constantly moving and changing positions. Increased workload of the body requires a circulatory system that is dynamic enough to maintain blood pressure in all situations. Usually, these countermeasures ensure consistent and […]
- Introduction to Pathophysiology ()
Pathophysiology is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is the medical discipline that describes conditions typically observed during a disease state, whereas physiology is the biological discipline that describes processes or mechanisms operating within an organism. Pathology describes the abnormal […]
- Effects of Inadequate Perfusion in Cells ()
When perfusion is inadequate, cells in the body’s various tissues are in jeopardy. Kill enough cells, tissue dies. Enough tissue dies, an organ dies. Enough organs die, the patient dies. Hypotension creates an environment where the cells are starved of glucose and oxygen which denies them the ability to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Without the […]
- Glucose Metabolism ()
The body is dependent upon two processes to create energy at rest and during exercise, aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. Simplified, the aerobic metabolic system uses oxygen, while the anaerobic system does not; however, oxygen plays a vital role in allowing the body to function under both systems. Both the aerobic and anaerobic systems occur simultaneously; […]
- Blood Pressure ()
Blood pressure is a standard vital sign that the EMS crew will collect for nearly all patients. Generally speaking, EMS concerns about blood pressure tend to end with the systolic blood pressure. As a whole, the EMS community is not terribly concerned with hypertension (high blood pressure), but extremely concerned with hypotension (low blood pressure). […]
- Respiratory Compromise ()
A patient who is experiencing respiratory distress can develop respiratory compromise. It is the goal of the EMS crew to delay or reverse respiratory compromise. Failure reverse respiratory compromise will result in respiratory failure. Exactly when the patient transitions to respiratory compromise from respiratory distress is not entirely defined, however some changes in the function […]
- Microcirculation ()
Capillaries do not function independently. The capillary bed is an interwoven network of capillaries that supplies an organ. The more metabolically active the cells, the more capillaries required to supply nutrients and carry away waste products. A capillary bed can consist of two types of vessels: true capillaries, which branch mainly from arterioles and provide […]
- Influence of the Nervous System On Cardiac Output ()
Maintaining blood pressure is a complicated challenge that is handled very effectively by regulatory processes orchestrated primarily by the autonomic nervous system. These regulatory processes must operate over time scales ranging from very quick responses to changes in posture (e.g., a decrease in blood pressure when standing up) to responses to slower changes in blood […]
- How People Die: Cardiogenic Shock ()
Cardiogenic shock is a medical emergency resulting from inadequate blood flow due to the dysfunction of the ventricles of the heart. Signs of inadequate blood flow include low urine production (<30 mL/hour), cool arms and legs, and altered level of consciousness. People may also have a severely low blood pressure and heart rate. Causes of […]
- Cardiac Output ()
Cardiac output, expressed in liters/minute, is the amount of blood the heart pumps in 1 minute. Cardiac output is logically equal to the product of the stroke volume and the number of beats per minute (heart rate). Easy enough, one may think, but the term cardiac in cardiac output is potentially misleading – with clinician’s […]