Category: EMR
- Supplemental Oxygen Therapy ()
Portable Oxygen Cylinders Ambulances typically carry D and E cylinders. These cylinder are portable and allow the ambulance crew to bring oxygen to the patient prior to transport. D cylinders carry 350 liters of oxygen and E cylinders carry 625 liters of oxygen. Anything that flows can be measured with a unit of volume (just […]
- How To Assess Breathing Status in Unconscious Patients ()
The patient in this picture is unconscious. Normally, we could ask the conscious patient about the status of their airway and breathing, but this is different. As explained before, the airway must be assessed in an unconscious patient. This involved opening the airway with a manual maneuver, then looking, listening, and feeling for breathing to […]
- How To Assess Breathing In Conscious Patients ()
Conscious patients are easier to determine airway and breathing status When a patient is conscious and experiencing respiratory distress, they usually just tell anyone that will listen that they can’t breath. Nonetheless, clues abound for the respiratory distress patient: Rapid respiratory rate The patient lungs make sounds as they breathe The patient is unable to […]
- Airway Risk Management In Responsive Patients Or Patients With A Clear Airway ()
Most EMS patients are conscious and speaking with EMS. Sometimes, the patient will not be alert or even unconscious, necessitating the ambulance crew to open the airway and determine if the airway is clear. In either case the airway is clear, but does that mean that the airway will remain clear during transport? Unconscious patients […]
- How People Die: Suffocation ()
The most common reason people call 911 is for respiratory distress. In most jurisdictions, 40% of all calls are because the patient is experiencing shortness of breath. Shortness of breath can be caused by many conditions, however varied, the conditions always come down to three root causes: Problems with pulmonary ventilation Problems with oxygenation Problems […]
- Physiology of Respiration ()
Pulmonary ventilation refers to the movement of air in and out of the lungs Ventilation is defined as the movement of air in and out of the lungs. Patient with adequate ventilation are moving normal or near normal volumes of air into and out of the lungs. The pulmonary capillary beds are where oxygen is […]
- More Anatomy of Respiratory System ()
When the intercostal muscles contract, the ribs are displaced outwardly (inhalation). The lungs are attached to the ribs and are stretched in all directions. The stretching of the lungs creates a vacuum (the air pressure inside the lungs becomes less than atmospheric air) and the air from outside the body is drawn into the lungs. […]
- Relief of Foreign Body Airway Obstructions In Conscious Patients ()
Conscious FBAO aka ‘Choking’ When a person is choking, every muscle in their body is working to remove the obstruction. More times than not, the person will be successful and EMS is not needed. If EMS arrives to the patient while choking is still a problem, EMS can help the patient remove the obstruction. Assisting […]
- Mechanical Airway Devices – NPA ()
Nasopharyngeal Airway Indications These devices are used by emergency care professionals in situations where an artificial form of airway maintenance is necessary, but tracheal intubation is impossible, inadvisable, or outside the practitioner’s scope of practice. An NPA is often used in conscious patients where an oropharyngeal airway would trigger the gag reflex. Contraindications They are […]
- Mechanical Airway Devices – OPA ()
Oropharyngeal Airway Indications An oropharyngeal airway (oral airway, OPA) is an airway adjunct used to maintain or open the airway by stopping the tongue from covering the epiglottis. In this position, the tongue may prevent an individual from breathing. This sometimes happens when a person becomes unconscious because the muscles in the jaw relax causing […]