Chapter 8 Flashcards
Patient Assessment
The secondary muscles of respiration. They include the necks muscles (sternocleidomastoids), the chest pectoralis major muscles, and the abdominal muscles.
Accessory muscles
To listen to sounds within an organ with a stethoscope.
Auscultate
A method of assessing the level of consciousness by determining whether the patient is awake and alert, responsive to verbal stimuli or pain, or unresponsive; used principally early in the assessment process.
AVPU scale
The pressure of circulating blood against the walls of the arteries.
Blood pressure
A slow heart rate, less than 60 beats/min.
Bradycardia
An indication of air movement in the lungs, usually assessed with a stethoscope.
Breath sounds
A test that evaluates distal circulatory system function by squeezing (blanching) blood from an area such as a nail bed and watching the speed of its return after releasing the pressure.
Capillary refil
A noninvasive method that can quickly and efficiently provide information on a patient’s ventilators status, circulation, and metabolism.
Capnography
The use of a capnometer, a device that measures the amount of expired carbon dioxide
Capnometry
Carbon dioxide is a component of air and typically makes up 0.3% of air at sea level. It is also a waste product exhaled during expiration by the respiratory system.
Carbon dioxide
The reason a patient called for help; also, the patient’s response to questions such as “What’s wrong?” Or “What happened?”
Chief complaint
To form a clot to plug an opening in an injured blood vessel and stop bleeding.
Coagulate
Capnometer or end-tidal carbon dioxide detectors are devices that use a chemical reaction to detect the amount of carbon dioxide present in expired gases by changing colors (qualitative measurement rather than quantitative).
Colorimetric devices
The delicate membrane that lines the eyelids and covers the exposed surface of the eye.
Conjunctiva
A grating or grinding sensation caused by fractured bone ends or joints rubbing together; also air bubbles under the skin that produce a crackling sound or crinkly feeling.
Crepitus
I bluish gray skin color that is caused by a reduced level of oxygen in the blood.
Cyanosis
A mnemonic for assessment in which each area of the body is evaluated for Deformities, Contusions, Abrasions, Punctures/Penetrations, Burns, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling.
DCAP-BTLS
Characterized by profuse sweating.
Diaphoretic
The pressure that remains in the arteries during the relaxing phase of the heart’s cycle (diastole) when the left ventrical is at rest.
Diastolic pressure
The amount of carbon dioxide present in exhaled breath.
End–tidal CO2
A type of physical assessment that is typically performed on patients who have sustained nonsignificant mechanisms of injury or on responsive medical patients. This type of examination is based on the chief complaint and focuses on one body system or part.
Focused assessment
Damage to tissue as a result of exposure to cold; frozen or partially frozen body parts are frostbitten.
Frostbite
A systematic head-to-toe examination that is performed during the secondary assessment on a patient who has sustained a significant mechanism of injury, is unconscious, or is in critical condition.
Full-body scan
The overall initial impression that determines the priority for patient care; based on the patient’s surroundings, the mechanism of injury, signs and symptoms, and the chief complaint.
General impression
The time from injury to definitive care, during which treatment of shock and traumatic injuries should occur because survival potential is best.
Golden period
Involuntary muscle contractions (spasms) of the abdominal wall in an effort to protect an inflamed abdomen; a sign of peritonitis.
Guarding
I step within the patient assessment process that provides detail about the patient’s chief complaint and an account of the patient’s signs and symptoms.
History taking
Blood pressure that is higher than the normal range.
Hypertension
Blood pressure that is lower than the normal range.
Hypotension
A condition in which the internal body temperature falls below 95°F (35°C) after exposure to a cold environment.
Hypothermia
A system implemented to manage disasters and mass- and multiple-casualty incidents in which section chiefs, including finance, logistics, operations, and planning, report to the incident commander. Also referred to as the incident management system.
Incident command system
Yellow skin or sclera that is caused by liver disease or dysfunction.
Jaundice
Breathing that requires visibly increased effort; characterized by grunting, stridor, and the use of accessory muscles.
Labored breathing
The way in which traumatic injuries occur; the force that act on the body to cause damage.
Mechanism of injury (MOI)
Flaring out of the nostrils, indicating that there is an airway objection.
Nasal flaring
The general type of illness a patient is experiencing.
Nature of illness (NOI)
An abbreviation for key terms used in evaluating a patient’s pain: Onset, Provocation or Palliation, Quality, Region/radiation, Severity, and Timing of pain.
OPQRST
The mental status of a patient as measured by memory of person (name), place (current location), time (current year, month, and approximate date), and event (what happened).
Orientation
To examine by touch.
Palpate
The motion of the chest wall section that is detached in a flail chest; the motion is exactly the opposite of normal motion during breathing (i.e., in during inhalation, out during exhalation).
Paradoxical motion
Circulation of blood within an organ or tissue.
Perfusion
Clothing or specialized equipment that provides protection to the wearer.
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Negative findings that warrant no care or intervention.
Pertinent negatives
A step within the patient assessment process that identifies and initiates treatment of immediate and potential life threats.
Primary assessment
The pressure wave that occurs as each heartbeat causes a surge in the blood circulating through the arteries.
Pulse
An assessment tool that measures oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in the capillary beds.
Pulse oximetry
A crackling, rattling breath sound that signals fluid in the air spaces of the lungs; also called crackles
Rales
A step within the patient assessment process that is performed at regular intervals during the assessment process. Its purpose is to identify and treat changes in a patient’s condition. A patient in unstable condition should be reassessed every 5 minutes, whereas a patient in stable condition should be reassessed every 15 minutes.
Reassessment
The way in which a patient responds to external stimuli, including verbal stimuli (sound), tactile stimuli (touch), and painful stimuli.
Responsiveness
Movements in which the skin pulls in around the ribs during inspiration.
Retractions
Coarse, low-pitched breath sounds heard in patients with chronic mucus in the upper airways.
Rhonchi
A brief history of a patient’s condition to determine signs and symptoms, allergies, medications, pertinent past history, last oral intake, and events leading to the injury or illness.
SAMPLE history
A step within the patient assessment process that involves a quick assessment of the scene and the surroundings to provide information about scene safety and the mechanism of injury or nature of illness before you enter and begin patient care.
Scene size-up
The white portion of the eye; the tough outer coat that gives protection to the delicate, light-sensitive inner layer.
Sclera
A step within the patient assessment process in which a systematic physical examination of the patient is performed. The examination may be a systematic full-body scan or a systematic assessment that focuses on a certain area or region of the body, often determined through the chief complaint.
Secondary assessment
Respirations that are characterized by little movement of the chest wall (reduced tidal volume) or poor chest excursion.
Shallow respirations
Objective findings that can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, or measured.
Sign
An upright position in which the patient’s head and chin are thrust slightly forward to keep the airway open.
Sniffing position
Breathing that occurs with no assistance.
Spontaneous respirations
Protective measures that have traditionally been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use in dealing with objects, blood, body fluids, and other potential exposure risks of communicable disease.
Standard Precautions
A harsh, High-pitched, crowing inspiratory sound, such as the sound often heard in acute laryngeal (upper airway) obstruction; may sound like crowing and be audible without a stethoscope.
Stridor
the presence of air in soft tissues, causing a characteristic crackling sensation on palpation.
Subcutaneous emphysema
Subjective findings that the patient feels but that can be identified only by the patient.
Symptom
The increased pressure in an artery with each contraction of the ventricles (systole).
Systolic pressure
A rapid heart rate, more than 100 beats/min.
Tachycardia
The amount of air (in milliliters) that is moved in or out of the lungs during one breath.
Tidal volume
The process of establishing treatment and transportation priorities according to severity of injury and medical need.
Triage
An upright position in which the patient leans forward onto two arms stretched forward and thrusts the head and chin forward
Tripod position
A severe breathing problem in which a patient can speak only two to three words at a time without pausing to take a breath.
two- to three-word dyspnea
Narrowing of a blood vessel.
Vasoconstriction
The key signs that are used to evaluate the patient’s overall condition, including respirations, pulse, blood pressure, level of consciousness, and skin characteristics.
Vital Signs
