Medical Emergencies Flashcards
What is a medical emergency?
a situation in which the condition or status of a patient suddenly changes requiring immediate medical attention.
What is an emergency crash cart?
A wheeled container of equipment and drugs needed to handle typical life threatening emergencies.
What are crash cart contents?
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)
What drug class is benadryle?
Antihistamine which is used to treat allergic reactions
What is the chemical name for benadryl?
Diphenhydramine
What drug class is heparin?
Anticoagulant which inhibits blood clotting
What drug class is dilantin?
Anticonvulsant which prevents or controls seizures
What drug class are cathartics?
Laxative which promotes defecation and the elimination of feces from the colon
What is the drug name for cathartics?
Bisacodyl (Dulcolax)
What is shock?
a failure of the circulating system to support vital body functions.
What are the types of shock?
Hypovolemic, Septic, Cardiogenic, Neurogenic, Vasogenic, and Anaphylactic
What is Hypovolemic shock?
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.
What is Septic shock?
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.
What is Cardiogenic shock?
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.
What is neurogenic shock?
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.
What is vasogenic shock?
due to sepsis, deep anesthesia or anaphylaxis.
What is anaphylactic shock?
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.
What are symptoms of shock?
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
How can shock be prevented?
Maintain a normal body temperature
Minimize the patient’s stress, pain and anxiety
What is the Glasgow coma scale?
scale that is used to assess the severity of a brain injury.
What does the Glasgow coma scale consist of?
Values from 3-15 obtained by adding the rating assigned to three variables
opening the eyes
giving a verbal response
giving a motor response
What are the Glasgow coma scale scores?
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.
What is choking?
An airway obstruction
What is the univerasl sign of choking?
Patient clutches their neck with their hand
What are symptoms of airway obstruction?
Choking, coughing
Unable to speak
Patient may hold throat
Face becomes red
Loss of consciousness
What are a radiographer’s response to choking?
Encourage the patient to cough
Check mouth for foreign object
Perform Heimlich Maneuver
What is the heimlich manuever?
a series abdominal thrusts to middle of the abdomen causing the foreign object to be expelled out of the mouth.
What is the heimlich manuever procedure?
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
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.
Modification of the Heimlich Maneuver for Infant Patients
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.
