BLS Flashcards
What is the proper procedure for back blows?
- Stand behind the patient placing your arm across their chest to support them and have them lean forwards. 2. Using the heel of your dominant hand give 5 firm blows in a slightly upward direction between the scapulae
How do you assess airway obstruction?
Use a head tilt chin lift to open the airways incase of a tongue obstruction
Have a look in their mouth to see if anything is blocking the airway e.g. vomit, lego etc
What is the purpose of assessing patient circulation?
To asses the presence and severity of any bleeding.
How deep should you compress the chest wall in CPR?
5-6 cm
1/3 of the chest wall
What do you do depending on the outcome of assessing a patient’s breathing?
If breathing normally:
- Check for severe bleeding them place them in the recovery position and monitor breathing
If breaths are agonal:
- Continue with BLS and start CPR if they fall unconscious as agonal breaths are present in 40% of heart attack cases
If not breathing:
- Call 999/112
- Start CPR immediately
What should you do if the airway is obstructed?
If it is easy to remove e.g. tongue then do so
If it looks deeper then leave it
How do you position a patient in the recovery position?
- Kneel by the side of the patient
- Take the arm closest to you and place is above their head with their elbow at 90o
- Grasp the leg furthest from you and pull it up so their knee is bent with their foot still on the floor
- Take the arm furthest from you and bring it across their chest, placing the back of their hand on the cheek closest to you and holding it there
- Keeping the back of their hand on your cheek pull their knee until they have rolled towards you
- Rest this leg in front of the body
- Raise their chin and tilt their head back making sure their mouth is pointed slightly downwards
- Ensure they’re breathing normally
How do you assess danger?
- Check the surroundings e.g. in the middle of a street, next to a fire etc 2. Check for harmful objects e.g. needles or broken glass around the body 3. Pay attention to the number of people in need of help - keep in mind the possibility of a mass harm causing event like a gas leak.
What’s the first step in treating a choking patient?
Ask them if they’re choking Assess the severity of the airway obstruction by asking them to try and cough. If they can cough then keep encouraging them to and don’t intervene anymore unless they stop being able to cough If they can’t cough then begin intervention
How do you check for responsiveness?
- Project your voice very loudly saying “Hello, can you hear me?” 2. Give the patient a command e.g. “Open your eyes” 3. Squeeze the patients descending trapezius to elicit a pain response
How do you use the AED?
- Remove all obstructive clothing and shave excessive hair over the areas of skin required
- Press the clearly defined button to initiate the AED
- Follow the AED instructions
Explain what you do when administering CPR to a pregnant woman
Something must be placed under the right side of the woman to displace the uterus to the left
This is done so that the uterus itsn’t compressing the inferior vena cava which would decrease venous return.
When should you halt CPR?
- A senior health professional tells you to stop
- You become exhausted - get a bystander to take over
- The patient has been resuscitated - place in recovery position if un-responsive
- Verbal instructions from the AED
What are the steps for a primary survey of a patient?
Danger Response Shout for help Airway Breathing Circulation
When would you put a patient in the recovery position?
If they are:
- Unconscious
- Breathing
- Have no known spinal injuries