Catastrophic Haemorrhage Flashcards
What is bleeding
Result of damage to blood vessels
It categorised by type of bleeding or weather it’s external and internal
What does blood loss from a capillary look like
Blood oozes out, usually small loss
What does blood loss from a vein look like
Darken colour, flows freely due to less pressure
What does blood loss from a artery look like
Bright colour, spurts out due to pressure from the heart
What does external blood loss look like
Visible, should be assessed as part of primary and secondary survey
What does internal blood loss look like
Hard to detect
Possible bruising
Check obs
What is the step wise approach to controlling bleeding
Visualise the wound Direct pressure Elevation Wound packing Limb positioning Indirect pressure Tourniquet
What is circulatory shock
Acute circulatory failure with inadequate or inappropriate distributed tissues perfusion resulting in generalised cellular hypoxia
What two things do cells require
Oxygen and glucose
What is the cellular explanation of shock
Not enough oxygen in the blood for the oxygenation of the tissues so energy cannot be created to sub stain life
What are the 4 types of shock
Hypovolemic
Cardiogenic
Distributive
Obstructive
What are the 3 stages of shock
Compensated
Decompensated
Irreversible
What is the compensated stage of shock
Body compensatory mechanisms able to maintain some degree of tissue perfustion
What is the decompensated stage of shock
Body’s compensatory mechanism fail to maintain tissues perfusion
Leads to a drop in BP
What is the irreversible stages of shock
Tissues and cellular damage is so massive that the organism dies even if perfusion is restarted
