Chapter 10- Determine Priority of Patient CAre and Transport Flashcards
If the patient passes the assessment of the ABCs, you should then move on to
primary assessment of the patient’s body
For example, you may find a firm or distended abdomen, or bilateral femoral fractures, which would indicate __________
internal hemorrhage
These examples are indications for _________
immediate transport
Categorize patients according to _____, _______, or _______ transport
High
Medium
Low
Priority designation is used to determine what
if a patient needs immediate transport or will tolerate a few more minutes on scene
Patients with any of the following conditions are examples of high-priority patients and should be transported immediately:
Unresponsive
Difficulty breathing
Uncontrolled breathing
Altered LOC
Severe chest pain
Pale skin or signs of poor perfusion
Complicated childbirth
Severe pain in any area of the body
This refers to the time from injury to definitive care, during which treatment of shock and traumatic injuries must occur
Golden Hour or Golden Period
Over time, the body has increasing difficulty in compensating for shock and traumatic injuries.
For this reason, you should ____
spend as little time as possible on scene with patients who have sustained significant or severe trauma
Define the 3 slots of The Golden Hour
First 20 minutes- discovery of incident and activation of EMS
Next 10 minutes- “The Platinum 10 minutes” Initial assessment, intervention, and packaging
The final 30 minutes- EMS transport and initial hospital stabilization
Some patients, on the other hand, may benefit from remaining on scene and receiving continuing care. Give an example of this.
Older patient with chest pain may be better served on scene by administering nitroglycerin and waiting for ALS vehicle than by immediate transport
Splinting a patient who has sustained an isolated injury to a bone as relief to the the pain is more important than immediate transport Splinting
When indicated, ALS support should be requested if not already in route or a ____ should be coordinated in the case of a high priority patient
rendezvous (meet up)
Overall, your decision to stay on scene and treat, or transport immediately will be based on
Patient’s condition
Availability of more advanced help
distance of transport
local protocols
Correct identification of __________ is an essential aspect of primary assessment
high priority patients
____________ is one of the key factors to patient survival
Immediate transport
What is the main goal of primary assessment?
To identify and treat life threats, including management of the ABCs, as quickly as possible
You can measure _______ more precisely during the secondary assessment once time and life threats are less of an issue
vital signs
If a patients condition is stable, reassess vital signs every _____ minutes
If a patients condition. is unstable, reassess vital signs every ____ minutes, or as often as the situation permits
stable - 15 minutes
unstable- 5 minutes
When reassessing vital signs, you are looking for ______ in patients condition
Trends
Do not be falsely reassured by normal _______
vital signs
Why can vital signs sometimes be misleading ?
The body has amazing abilities to compensate for severe injury or illness, especially in children and young adults
Even patients who have experienced severe _____ or ______ conditions may initially exhibit fairly normal vital signs
medical and traumatic
What happens during decompensated shock?
The body’s ability to compensate eventually decreases and vital signs may deteriorate rapidly, especially in children
This tendency for vital signs to fall rapidly as the patient decompensates is the reason it is important to do what
frequently recheck and record vital signs
Treating a patient for shock before ___________ increases your patients chance to survive
Blood pressure drops
