ATLS Flashcards
How do you asses airway adequacy ?
By talking to the patient, if the patient answers appropriately and with a clear voice. The airway is in the moment patent. ventilation is sufficent and brain perfusion is good.
Definie the term “definitive airway”
A tube placed in the trachea with the cuff inflated below the vocal cords , the tube connected to a form of oxygen-enriched assited ventilation and the airway secured in place with an appropriate stabilizing method.
How do i know the airway is patent?
- Patient is alert and oriented
- Patient is talking normally
- No evidence of head or neck injury
- You have assesed and reassesed for detoriation
Signs of airway compromise? (Look, hear and feel)
Look: Head or neck injury, sore throat, dyspnea, tachypnea, agitation, abnormal breathing pattern, low oxygen saturation and Deviated trachea
Listen: Change in voice, Noisy breathing, Lung fields with absent sounds
Feel: Subcutaneous emfysm in head neck or chest. Head or neck injury
Which patients are at risk for compromised ventilation?
- Unconscious patient with head injuries
- Obtunded patients (Alcohol, drugs)
- Patients with thoracic injuries
- Patients with facial burns
- Patients with potential inhalation injuries.
What is a huge pitfall during ventilation?
Aspiration due to vomiting
1. Ensure functional suction equipment close to hands
2. Rotate the patient laterally while protecting the cervical spine
Maxillofacial trauma, signs of potential airway obstruction?
- Fractures compromising naso or oropharynx
- Oropharyngeal hemorrhage
- Swelling
- Increased secretions
- Dislodged teeth
- Loss of airway structural support
- Altered level of conscioussnes
Neck trauma, penetrating and blunt trauma can result in ?
- Vascular injury with significant hematoma
- Displacement or obstruction of the airway
- Massive hemorrhage into the tracheobrachial tree
- Airway obstruction from disruption of larynx or trachea
Signs and symptoms of laryngeal fracture
1- Hoarsness (Heshet)
2. Subcutaneous emphysema
3. Palpable fracture
If laryngeal fracture is suspected?
A CT can confirm, only after patient stabilization.
Signs of airway obstruction? LOOK, LISTEN, HEAR
LOOK: Agitation? = Hypoxia?, Obtundation=hypercarbia?, Cyanosis, retractions and use of accessory muscles of ventilation, Labored respiration, Altered level of consiussness
Listen: Decreased or lack of breath sounds? = Pneumothorax or hemothorax
Noisy breathing = Obstructed breathing?
Snoring, gurgling or stridor = Partial occluusion of pharynx or larynx
heshet?
For a paitent who is gurgling, initialt assessment for ventialtion should include?
Looking for symmetrical chestrise and listening to breath sounds.
Decreased or absent breath sounds over one or two hemithoracies should alert the examiner to the prescence of ?
- Pneumothorax
- Hemithorax
- Contusion
- Flail chest
Causes of ventilation problems?
1.Direct chest trauma
2. Intracranial injury
3. Cervical spine injury
4. Complete Cervical cord transection
- Painful breathing, rapid and shallow ventilation and hypoxemia
- Abnormal breathing patterns and compromised breathing
- Diaphragmatic breathing and compromised ability to meet increased oxygen demands
- Abnormal breathing and paralysis of the intercostal muscles
Objective signs of Inadequte ventilation ?
LOOK, LISTEN, FEEL?
- Look: Look for assymetry or labored breathing
- Listen: Decreased or absent = thoracic injury and Rapid respiratory rate
- Adjuncts : Pulse oximeter and capnography when intubating
How to minimize failure to recognize inadequte ventilation?
- Monitor patients respiratory rate and work of breathing
- Obtain arterial or venous blood gas measurements
- Perform continous capnography
Symptoms of inadequate ventilation?
Difficulty breathing, shortness of breath and if the patient request to sit up to breath.
Objective signs of inadequte ventilation?
1.Tachypnea,
2.Tachycardia,
3.Arrythmia,
4.Altered mental status(Obtunded,combativeness, agigation and lethargy),
5.Use of accessory muscles,
6.Dimineshed breath sounds
Low oxygen saturation.
When performing airway maneuvers that do not involve neck motion, temporary release of c-spine protection is warrented?
False !!!
Trauma patients with glasgow coma scale of 8 or less require?
Prompt placement of definitive airway!
Airway management Techniques?
- Manual maneuvers( Chin lift, Jaw thrust)
- Basic adjuncts( Näskantarell, Svalgtub, Mask)
- Supraglottic adjuncts
- Intratracheal tube
When to intervene with a patient with a patent airway?
- Impending Airway compromise (Airway problem)
- Need for ventilation (Breathing problem)
- Shock (Circulation problem)
- Inability to self-protect airway (Disability problem)
- Need for suctioning
- Hypoxia
Helmet removal?
- Always 2 persons to protect C-spine
- one provides manual inline motion restrictions from below and one expands the sides and removes it from above.
Factors that indicate diffcult airways?
- C-spine injury
- Severe athritis of the C-spine
- Significant maxillofacial or mandibular trauma
- Obvious airway obstruction
- Limited mouth opening
- Obese patients
- Small chin, overbite, short muscular neck
- Pediatric patients
LEMON ASSesment
- Look externally things that obviuously makes it hard to intubate
- Evaluate 3-3-2
- Mallampati (1-4)
- Obstruction Epiglottitis, peritonsillary abcsess and trauma
- Neck mobility
Airway decision scheme for ?
- Patients in acute respiratory distress
- Patients with apnea
- Patients in need of an immediate airway
- Patients with suspected C-spine injury based on mechanism of injury or physical exam.
Airway maintenance technique?
- Chin-lift or Jaw-thrust
- Nasopharyngeal airway (NPO), often well tolerated in awake and unconscious patients
- Oropharyngeal airway (OPA)
- Laryngeal mask airway(LMA), Intubatin LMA, Laryngeal tube airway (LTA), Intubatin LTA, Multilumen esophageal airway
What are the 3 types of defintive airways?
- Orotracheal tubes
- Nasaltracheal tubes
- Surgical airways (Cricothyrodotomy or tracheostomy)
Indications for defintive airways?
Airway: Inability to maintain a patent airway by other means, with impending or potential airway compromise
Breathing: Inability to maintain adequate oxygenation by facemask or the presence of apnea
Circulation: Obtundation or combativness resulting from cerebral hypoperfusion
Disability: Obtundation indicating the prescene of head injury and required assisted ventilation, GCS score of 8 or less, sustained seizure activity; need to protect lower airway from aspiration
If the orotracheal intubation does not work ?
Use gum elastic bougie
How to check if intubation and ventilation is good?
- LIsten for lungsounds and no borborygimi in epigastrium
- Look: Capnopgraphy looks for presence of CO2 in exhaled air, if not detected its esophageal intubation that happend
- Chest X-ray is best confirming.
- When patient is moved reasses the tube placement
Inability to to intubate, what to do ?
- Use rescure airway devices
- Perform needle cricothyroidotomy followed by surgical airway
- Establish surgical airway
Equipment failure?
- Perform equipment cheeks
- Ensure backup equipment is available
Rapid sequence intubation - Indications?
- Patients who need airway control, but have intact gag reflexes
- Patients who have sustained head injury
What are the 2 surgical airways?
- Needle cricothyroidotomy (prefered for childreen under 12 years)
- Surgical cricothyroidotomy (Not recommended for children younger than 12)
What is the equipment needed for needle cricothyroidotomy?
1 12-14 gauge over the needle catheter
2. 6-12 ml syringe
3. Oxygen tubing connected to a source capable of delivering 50 psi or greater at the nipple
What adjuncts can be used in ventilation?
- Suction
- Manual laryngeal manipulation technique: Backward, upward and rightward pressure (BURP)
- Gum elastic bougie - if orotracheal intubation is unsuccesful on the first attempt or if the chords are diffcult to visualise
- Anesthetics, analgesics or neuromusculuar blocking agents for rapid sequence intubation
Why is continual pulse oximetry monitoring necessary in critically ill patients?
Because change in oxygenation occur rapidly and are impossible to detect clinically.
Ensuring adequate oxygenation by?
- Tight fitting oxygen resorvoir face mask
- Flow rate at least 10L/min
- Nasal catheter, nasal cannula or nonbreather mask can improve inspired oxygen concentration
- Continous pulse oxymetri (95 eller mer tyder för adekvat perifer perfusion)
What indicates the the endotracheal tube is in the proper position?
It is suggested if you hear equal breathing sounds, no borborygmi in epigastrium (talande för intubation av esophagus), Capnography och slutligen Chest X-ray to confirm.
What suggests sufficent ventilation?
- Arterial blood gas
- Continual end-tidal carbon dioxide analysis
Indications for surgical airway ?
- Edema of the glottis
- Fracture of the larynx
- Severe oropharyngeal hemorrhage that obstructs the airway
- Inability to place an orotracheal tube through the vocal cords.
What is the definition of shock?
An abnormality of the circulatory system that results in inadequate organ perfusion and tissue oxygenation.
What are diffrent types of shock?
1.Hypovolemic/hemorrhagic
2. Cardiogenic
3. Obstructiv
4. Neurogenic
5. Septic
How to think in shock?
- Identify shock–> Tachykardia and coldness
- Determine which type of shock it is
- Do something !!!
What is important information to obtain about a automobile collision?
- Seat-belt use
- Steering wheel deformation
- Activation of airbags
- Direction of imapct
- Major deformation or intrusion to the passenger compartment
- Patient position in vehicle
What could cause confusion in a trauma patient?
- SHOCK !!! due to hemorrhage
- Brain injury
- Stroke
- Alcohol and/or drugs.
What is the common cause of shock in trauma patients?
Hemorrhage
What does preload mean and what does hemorrhage do to it?
Volume of venous blood return to the left and right sides of the heart.
It decreases it