Anaphylaxis Flashcards
What is A in the ABCDE approach?
Checking to see if airway is open
What do you look for in airway?
noises
e.g., stridor, wheeze, gurling, snoring
= partial blockage
no noise at all
= complete blockage
What is B of the ABCDE approach?
breathing
What is a normal respiratory rate?
12-20
>25 is serious illness
What should SP02 content be?
96% and above
Other than resp rate and SP02 what else should you check for under breathing?
is the chest expanding on both sides during respiration
What is C in the ABCDE approach?
circulation
What do you check for circulation?
pulse rate
blood pressure
CRT
What is an acceptable pulse rate?
60-100bpm
what is an acceptable blood pressure?
120/70
What is an acceptable CRT?
2 seconds
Why is CRT not an ideal indicator?
some people have poor peripheral circulation
what is D in the ABCDE approach?
disability
what score is recorded for disability?
ACVPU and blood glucose
what is ACVPU?
Alert
confusion
verbal
pain
unconscious
What blood glucose level indicates hypoglycaemia?
< 4mmols
what is E in ABCDE?
exposure/ everything else
what do you check for with exposure?
swelling, rash, blood loss or any abnormality
take temperature
what can temperature be an indicator of?
pyrexial could indicate sepsis
what is anaphylaxis?
a severe and potentially life threatening reaction to a trigger
what is adrenaline and its mechanism?
a vasoconstrictor - forces blood flow back to the heart, increasing blood pressure and reducing angioedema
what are the signs of an anaphylactic shock?
- sudden onset and rapid progression
- airway and/or breathing and/or circulation problems
- skin and/or mucosal changes
When managing an anaphylactic shock, what is the first thing you’d do?
call 999
after phoning 999 what would you do?
remove source if known
after removing source what would you do?
try to lay patient in supine position to restore blood pressure
why would you lay patient down in a supine position?
to restore BP
how much adrenaline would you administer?
1:1000
0.5mg (1mg/1ml)
where do you inject adrenaline?
Intramuscularly into the thigh
after injecting adrenaline what would you do?
oxygen via non re-breather mask
how much oxygen do you supply through the non re-breather mask?
15litres per min
how often do you repeat adrenaline?
after 5 minutes
