Published in AEMT. Tags: shock and resuscitation.
Hypovolemic Shock In hypovolemic shock, caused by bleeding, it is necessary to immediately control the bleeding (or fluid loss) and restore the patient’s circulating blood volume by giving infusions of isotonic crystalloid solutions (such as Normal Saline or Lactated Ringers). Blood transfusions are necessary for loss of large amounts of blood (e.g. greater than 20% […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: shock and resuscitation.
Fick Principle+ Adolf Eugen Fick was a German physiologist. He earned his doctorate in medicine at Marburg. In 1855 he introduced Fick’s law of diffusion, which governs the diffusion of a gas across a fluid membrane. In 1870 he was the first to devise a technique for measuring cardiac output, called the Fick principle. The […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: shock and resuscitation.
Starling’s law states that the more the ventricle is filled with blood during diastole (preload), the greater the volume of ejected blood will be during the resulting systolic contraction. This law give us great insight into the dynamics of blood pressure. Anything that will decrease preload will decrease stroke volume (amount of blood ejected during […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: shock and resuscitation.
Call after call, we search the patient for the obvious or unexpected in an attempt to save the lives of those we treat. Sometimes our observations set the stage for a patient’s remarkable recovery. Other times, the rest of the medical community ridicules our observations. The patient lies on your stretcher awaiting your care. But […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: obstetrics.
Meconium is the earliest stool of a newborn. Occasionally, newborns pass meconium during labor or delivery, resulting in a meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF). Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) is the neonatal respiratory distress that occurs in a newborn in the context of MSAF when respiratory symptoms cannot be attributed to another etiology. The spectrum of manifestations associated with meconium […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: obstetrics.
Vaginal bleeding is a common complaint with a broad differential diagnosis. This article deals primarily with the general approach to vaginal bleeding, the appropriate workup, and treatment strategies. Etiology The etiology of vaginal bleeding can vary widely, from infectious to endocrine to malignant to anatomical to physiological causes. Vaginal bleeding can be grouped broadly into bleeding secondary […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: obstetrics.
Personnel For a normally anticipated vaginal delivery, a physician or a midwife with the aide of a nurse can appropriately and safely perform the procedure. Additional personnel are optional, however additional support and coaching from a formally trained doula, family member, and/or partner can enhance the experience for the mother and results in a decreased […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: neurology.
Altered mental status is one of the most common presenting symptoms in elderly patients often related to 3 Ds- delirium, dementia, and depression. Out of the 3 Ds, Delirium and dementia are more commonly encountered in clinical practice. Most of the time, the two terms are used interchangeably and therefore unrecognized on the initial assessment. It […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: neurology.
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. It encompasses various aspects of high-level intellectual functions and processes such as attention, memory, knowledge, decision-making, planning, reasoning, judgment, perception comprehension, language, and visuospatial function. Cognitive processes use existing knowledge and generate new knowledge. “Cognitive deficit” is an […]
Published in AEMT. Tags: cardiovascular.
When addressing heart failure, most commonly, the left ventricle (LV) is the topic of discussion, and the right heart overlooked. However, the right ventricle (RV) is unique in structure and function and is affected by a set of disease processes that rival that of the LV. This article will review the normal structure and function of the RV, […]