Medical Emergencies

Question 1

What is a medical emergency?

Answer 1

a situation in which the condition or status of a patient suddenly changes requiring immediate medical attention.

Question 2

What is an emergency crash cart?

Answer 2

A wheeled container of equipment and drugs needed to handle typical life threatening emergencies.

Question 3

What are crash cart contents?

Answer 3

Equipment (i.e. Ambu bag, tourniquet, ET tubes, gloves, stethoscope, suction catheters, syringes, needles, Trach tubes)
Drugs (i.e. Benadryl, Heparin, Dilantin, Cathartics)
Solutions (i.e. alcohol, saline)

Question 4

What drug class is benadryle?

Answer 4

Antihistamine which is used to treat allergic reactions

Question 5

What is the chemical name for benadryl?

Answer 5

Diphenhydramine

Question 6

What drug class is heparin?

Answer 6

Anticoagulant which inhibits blood clotting

Question 7

What drug class is dilantin?

Answer 7

Anticonvulsant which prevents or controls seizures

Question 8

What drug class are cathartics?

Answer 8

Laxative which promotes defecation and the elimination of feces from the colon

Question 9

What is the drug name for cathartics?

Answer 9

Bisacodyl (Dulcolax)

Question 10

What is shock?

Answer 10

a failure of the circulating system to support vital body functions.

Question 11

What are the types of shock?

Answer 11

Hypovolemic, Septic, Cardiogenic, Neurogenic, Vasogenic, and Anaphylactic

Question 12

What is Hypovolemic shock?

Answer 12

Abnormally low volume of circulating blood throughout the body.
May be due to internal (bleeding of the GI tract or other internal bleeding) or external bleeding (from cuts or injury). Immediate response – stop bleeding if possible.

Question 13

What is Septic shock?

Answer 13

A severe systemic infection, a consequence of poor practice of medical and surgical asepsis.
Septic shock is a serious, abnormal condition that occurs when an overwhelming infection leads to low blood pressure and low blood flow. Vital organs, such as the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver may not function properly or may fail.

Question 14

What is Cardiogenic shock?

Answer 14

Failure of the heart to pump an adequate amount of blood to vital organs.
Cardiogenic shock is disease state where the heart is damaged enough that it is unable to supply sufficient blood to the body.

Question 15

What is neurogenic shock?

Answer 15

Shock results from damaged nerve tissue.
May be the result for a spinal cord injury, sever pain, neurological damage, extreme psychological stress or the effects of spinal anesthesia.

Question 16

What is vasogenic shock?

Answer 16

due to sepsis, deep anesthesia or anaphylaxis.

Question 17

What is anaphylactic shock?

Answer 17

is a type of vasogenic shock encountered when patients have a severe allergic reaction. (in radiology, anaphylactic shock may be due to an iodinated contrast media).
Reactions can be mild to severe.
Mild reactions are treated with an antihistamine.
Stabilize body temperature.
Severe reactions such as cardiac arrest require CPR.

Question 18

What are symptoms of shock?

Answer 18

Anxiety or agitation
Confusion
Pale, cool, clammy skin
Low or no urine output
Bluish lips and fingernails
Dizziness, light-headedness, or faintness
Profuse sweating, moist skin
Rapid but weak pulse
Shallow breathing with increased respirations
Chest pain
Unconsciousness

Question 19

How can shock be prevented?

Answer 19

Maintain a normal body temperature
Minimize the patient’s stress, pain and anxiety

Question 20

What is the Glasgow coma scale?

Answer 20

scale that is used to assess the severity of a brain injury.

Question 21

What does the Glasgow coma scale consist of?

Answer 21

Values from 3-15 obtained by adding the rating assigned to three variables
opening the eyes
giving a verbal response
giving a motor response

Question 22

What are the Glasgow coma scale scores?

Answer 22

Severe – a low score (below 8) indicates a poor chance of recovery.
Moderate – a median score (between 9-12)
Mild – a high score (13-15) indicates a very good chance of full recovery.

Question 23

What is choking?

Answer 23

An airway obstruction

Question 24

What is the univerasl sign of choking?

Answer 24

Patient clutches their neck with their hand

Question 25

What are symptoms of airway obstruction?

Answer 25

Choking, coughing
Unable to speak
Patient may hold throat
Face becomes red
Loss of consciousness

Question 26

What are a radiographer’s response to choking?

Answer 26

Encourage the patient to cough
Check mouth for foreign object
Perform Heimlich Maneuver

Question 27

What is the heimlich manuever?

Answer 27

a series abdominal thrusts to middle of the abdomen causing the foreign object to be expelled out of the mouth.

Question 28

What is the heimlich manuever procedure?

Answer 28

Rescuer stands behind the choking victim
Place closed fist in middle of the abdomen just above the navel and below the ribs
Place second hand over closed fist
Apply 5 sharp thrusts pushing inward and upward
Pause repeat until object is dislodged

Question 29

Modification of the Heimlich Maneuver for Pregnant Do not perform abdominal thrusts – perform chest thrusts instead by standing behind the patient and applying pressure to mid sternum.

Question 30

Modification of the Heimlich Maneuver for Infant Patients

Answer 30

Apply a combination of back blows and chest thrusts.
Location of the back blows – between the infants scapulas
Location of chest thrusts – two or three fingers are placed on the placed on the middle of the sternum just blow the nipples.