Category: EMR
- No Signs Of Circulation ()
Signs of circulation are any movement that would indicate the patient is alive Imagine a patient sitting in a chair awaiting the arrival of the ambulance crew. The patient see the medics come through the doorway. The patient can’t help but think help has arrived. The medics look at the same patient and say to […]
- How To Protect Yourself From Disease During the Primary Survey ()
When the patient is unconscious, they are not in a position to tell you they have a contagious disease. Let’s say the patient is found unconscious. If the ambulance crew doesn’t know why the patient is unresponsive, then how would they know that the patient doesn’t have some contagious disease? If the patient could talk, […]
- What To Do When The Patient Is Unconscious And There Is No MOI ()
When the patient is unconscious, they are not in a position to tell you what’s wrong If the patient had fallen off the roof of their house and was found unconscious, the medics should be thinking head injury or spinal cord injury. If the patient had been hit by a car and was unconscious, the […]
- Meet The Patient With The Primary Survey ()
The primary survey identifies and treats patients who are in immediate need of resuscitation The primary survey is how EMS meets every patient. The objective is to identify and treat patients needing resuscitation. Resuscitation is the action or process of reviving someone from unconsciousness or apparent death. There is nothing academic about the primary survey. […]
- Manage The Scene With The Scene Size Up ()
EMS is always looking for a mechanism of injury After the scene has been determined to be safe (or at least not obviously unsafe), the EMS crew needs to determine if there is a mechanism of injury (a force that could cause injury). When there is no mechanism of injury, the patient must be ill […]
- Playing It Safe With The Scene Size Up ()
If a house was on fire, would you still go inside the house? When a patient calls 911 and summons the ambulance crew to their home, a set of things are usually set in motion. The fire department and possibly the police are responding the the scene as well, who are sometimes needed to ensure […]
- Normal Ventilation vs Positive Pressure Ventilation ()
Air movement In normal ventilation, the lungs are stretched out by the ribs and diaphragm. This creates a vacuum resulting in air filling up the pharynx and filling the lungs with air. In positive pressure ventilation, air is pushed into the patient’s pharynx with great pressure. The air fills the dead space of the airway […]
- Management of Inadequate Ventilation ()
When the patient is unresponsive and demonstrates any deficiencies with rate, rhythm, or quality in breathing, the patient probably needs to be ventilated with a pocket face mask or bag valve mask. The easiest and smallest device that would give the provider the ability to ventilate without performing mouth to mouth resuscitation is a pocket […]
- Assessment of Adequate and Inadequate Ventilation ()
The primary survey is where we figure out if the patient is conscious or needs ventilation During the primary survey, the ambulance crew meets the patient face to face and makes some quick observations. Is the patient conscious and talking? If so the airway is clear. Is the patient not alert (not talking)? Then the […]
- Oxygen Delivery Devices ()
The nasal cannula (NC) is a device used to deliver supplemental oxygen or increased airflow to a patient or person in need of respiratory help. This device consists of a lightweight tube which on one end splits into two prongs which are placed in the nostrils and from which a mixture of air and oxygen […]