[Exam 5] Chapter 68 and 70: Mx of Patients with Neurologic Trauma Flashcards
Head Injury is a broad term that refers to what?
Injury of the scalp skull or brain.
Head Injuries: Most common cause?
Falls, Motor Vehicle Crash, Being Struck By Blunt Object
Head Injuries: Age associations with this include who?
0-7
15-19
> 65
These are who are most prone to this
Head Injuries: What is key for this?
Preventing. If riding a bike, wearing a helmet. Always trying to protect your head.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a primary injury?
The initial damage to the brain. May have contusions, lacerations.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a secondary injury?
This will develop hours to days after initial insult. Due to inadequate delivery of nutrients or oxygen to brain cell. May have hemorhage, cerebral edema, increased ICP
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a scalp injury?
These are minimal injuries. Vessels have poor constriction with scalp and do tend to bleed more
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a skull fracture?
A break in the skull somewhere. It can cause damage to the brain but you can still have skull fracture and there not be a brain injury associated with it
Patho of Brain Damage: What are the types of skull fractures?
Simple, Comminuted, Depressed
Patho of Brain Damage: What are the locations of skull fractures?
Frontal, Temporal, Basal
Patho of Brain Damage: What are the two forms of injuries?
Primary injury or secondary injury
Patho of Brain Damage: Bleeding within skull is going to increase what?
Contents inside of the cranium. Blood is going to increase, increasing ICP and causing brain damage.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a simple fracture?
Simple break within the skull.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is comminuted fracture?
There are multiple fractures within skull, they are splintering.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a depressed fracture?
Thats a bone skull fracture where the fracture is forced down into the brain tissue.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is a basilar skull fracture?
Happens at the base of the skull, right near the ear drum. With this, you will see battle sign.
May also see CSF leaking from the nose or external auditory canal.
Patho of Brain Damage: Why is a basilar or all skull fractures bad?
This is when the blood-brain barrier can be broke. CSF can escape through ear and nose.
Patho of Brain Damage: What is battle sign?
This is bruising around the mastoid process with racoon eyes.
Patho of Brain Damage: How to determine if fluid is CSF?
You can place drops of that fluid on a absorbent filter. If you get double ring sign, then you have clear ring on the outermost, that is likely CSF.
Patho of Brain Damage: What tests are not conclusive for CSF?
Total Protein, Glucose, Chloride. It may be a good indication but not guaranteed.
Head Injuries: With any head injury, you need to consider what
That there is a brain injury.
Head Injuries: Why is a brain injury bad?
Because they do not store oxygen or nutrients. Need to make sure that they are not deprived.
Head Injuries: What is the Patho of this after brain suffers injury??
Brain swelling/bleeding increases cranial volume
Right cranium allows no room for expansion so ICP increases
Pressure on blood vessels within brain cause blood flow to slow
Cerebral Hypoxia and Ischemia
ICP continues to rise. Brain may herniate.
Cerebral blood flow ceases.
Head Injuries - CMs: This includes what for patients that comes in?
Pain associated with fracture.
Basillar Skull Fracture - Mastoid process bruising and racoon eyes are the battle sign.
Head Injuries: Diagnostics include what?
CT or MRI
If they expect that skull fracture seems severe, they may jump straight to MRI
GCS Assessment
Neuro Assessment
Head Injuries - Med Mx: If this is not depressed, what will patient require?
They will not need any surgery and patient will just be observed.
Head Injuries - Med Mx: If there is a depression of skull fracture into brain, what do patients need?
Surgery to pull the piece of skull out of brain and debriding the brain tissue of any remaining skull fractures.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a closed (blunt) injury?
This means that head will rapidly accelerate and decelerate. Its going to happen when it has collided with a object. Get hit in the head and head whips back and forth with brain shifting.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a open brain injury?
An object has penetrated the skull and entered the brain. Got hit with a sharp object.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a concussion?
This is damage to the protective layer of the brain. Dura membrane gets damaged graded from 1-3 scale. There is no structural damage.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a contusion
This is a moderate to severe head injury. Brain is basically bruised here and there is damage to a specific area. Will have LOC, confused, loss of stuporedness. Will peak after 18-36 hours.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a diffuse axonal injury
Shearing damage from the brain to the axons in the brain. Those patients are in prolonged coma
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a intracranial hemorrhage?
All of the hematomas. Collection of blood in one of the epidural, subdural, intracerebral areas.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is included under intracranial hemorrhage?
Epidural Hematoma
Subdural Hematoma
Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Hematoma
Types of Brain Injuries: What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
Occurs from repeated concussions that happen. Causes problems later on in life
Types of Brain Injuries: What is epidural hematoma
This is when an artery has been severed. Miniature artery severed. Will experience brief loss of consciousness and then will be lucid, awake, conversing. Able to compensate through monro kelley hypothesis
Types of Brain Injuries: What is subdural hematoma
Blood between the dura and brain. Will be seen from ruptured aneurysm. Do tend to be more venous in nature. Can be acute or chronic.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is intracerebral hemorrhage and hematoma?
You have a bleed right in the tissue of the brain. This is from stab wound or gunshot wound to the head.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is the Monro Kelley Hypothesis?
If one of the three components in the skull within that cranium increases then the other one will decrease.
Types of Brain Injuries: How will patients compensate with epidural hematoma?
May see a Burr Hole created or a craniotomy to help relieve some of that pressure building.
Types of Brain Injuries: Where is the epidural hematoma located?
This will be located above the dura mater
Types of Brain Injuries: Where is the subdural hematoma located?
This will be located below the dura mater
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a acute subdural hematoma?
Thats a major head injury. Will need immediate craniotomy. High mortality rate.
Types of Brain Injuries: What is a chronic subdural hematoma?
Minimal head injury. Tends to develop over time over weeks to months if a vein has ruptured.
Types of Brain Injuries: How is a chronic subdural hematoma fixed?
Will be treated by suctioning the clot, evacuating that way.
May do Burr Holes or Craniotomies to relieve pressure
Types of Brain Injuries: How to fix intracerebral hemorrhage?
Srugery can be difficult depending on location.
Supportive care. Monitoring Respiratory System. Monitoring ICEP by trying to keep it down as much as possible. Monitoring electrolytes
Mx of Brain Injuries: Anytime a patient with a head injury occurs, you need to suspect what
cervical injury unless proven otherwise
Mx of Brain Injuries: All treatment aimed at what
primary injury to prevent secondary injury from happening
Mx of Brain Injuries: Treatment will focus on what?
The increased ICP
Mx of Brain Injuries: How is ICP managed?
By getting head of bed up and not allowing twisting of head or neck. Allows blood to flow from head and not back on
Mx of Brain Injuries: What specific support can be given here?
Advance Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
Mx of Brain Injuries: What is ATLS?
These is activated once a GCS score of less than 8 is gotten. Is an emergency dignosis .
Mx of Brain Injuries: GSC should be rated at what ?
8 or less that activates ATLS
Mx of Brain Injuries: What is included in ATLS once activated?
Patients are intubated, receive fluid and resuscitation, go on ventilator to keep CO2 between 30-35 to decrease ICP.
Will be receiving oxygenation, sedation to decrease O2 demand, and might be given paralysis for short acting.
Mx of Brain Injuries: Once ATLS has been activated and interventions have been started, what is evaluated next?
Is there any herniation or Deterioration?
If yes, you give more hyperventilating and give them Mannitol (0.9 mg/kg) to dehydrate the brain and pull more fluid off.
Mx of Brain Injuries: If the herniation or deterioration has not resolved, what is done next?
Will be sent to the operating room to see where bleeding is coming from
Mx of Brain Injuries: What is done if there is resolution from mannitol reatment?
Will be given a CT scan to look for surgical lesion. If not present, will be sent to ICU where ICP will be monitored and intracranial hypertension will be treated
Mx of Brain Injuries: Normal ICP range?
0-15
Mx of Brain Injuries: What supportive measures can be done?
Respiratory patients will be on vent. Seizure precautions. Nutrition. Monitor fluids and electrolytes
Mx of Brain Injuries: How will nutition be done?
Through feeding tube.
Mx of Brain Injuries: If sedated, will need to help deal with what?
Making sure that a feeding tube is placed and helping deal with anxiety that the patient may be having.
Mx of Brain Injuries: May experience brain death, which is what
Brain injury is so severe, it is incompatible with life. They can be potential organ donors however.
Mx of Brain Injuries: What is the role of the nurse and organ donation?
It is never the nurses responsibility to go in and talk about organ donation to that patient’s family. You will call Indiana Donor Network and they will come in to family.
Mx of Brain Injuries: What are the three cardinal signs of brain death?
Coma, Absence of brain stem reflexes and apnea.
Mx of Brain Injuries: Absence of brain stem reflexes include what?
If the patient has a gag reflex.
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: What is teh first thing done for physical and neurologic exam?
GCS and see what they can do.
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: If brain dead, GCS will be scored at what?
3
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: What does this include?
Skull/Spinal X-Ray
CT Scan
MRI
PET Scan (May be if they have a brain tumor)
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: What Brain Death testing can be done?
EEG
Cerebral Blood Flow Studies.
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: EEG would show what
GOing to check the waveforms of the brain.
Brain Injury Diagnostic Evaluation: How does cererbal blood flow study work?
Will inject a dye and look for that to flow through the brain. Radiologist can look at that and see if there is blood flow in the brain.
Traumatic Brain Injury - Nursing Process: What assessments will be made initially?
You will be asking when injury occured, what caused injury, how did head get hit direction wise.
Traumatic Brain Injury - Nursing Process: Neuro assessment will include what?
Doing a GCS and pupils. ALso checking airway to make sure it is in place.
Traumatic Brain Injury - Nursing Diagnosis: This focuses on what?
Ineffective Airway Clearance (Maintain Airway)
Ineffective Cerebral Tissue Perfusion
Deficient Fluid Volume