Multisystem Trauma, Environmental Emergencies Flashcards
Define multisystem trauma
Multiple injuries that affect more than one body system
What are some of the most important critical decisions an EMT can make on the scene of a serious trauma?
Determining patient priority, amount of time on-scene, and hospital transport decision.
What is the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) measurement of altered mental status, which according to CDC guidelines necessitates transport to a trauma center?
13
According to CDC guidelines, a systolic blood pressure of less than how many mmHg indicates a patient should be transported to a trauma center?
90 mmHg
A respiratory rate less than how many and greater than how many indicates a patient should be transported to a trauma center?
Less than 10
Greater than 29
What trauma triage criteria would justify transportation to a trauma center based on mechanism of injury alone?
Auto versus pedestrian
What are the 3 elements of the Revised Trauma Score?
GCS, systolic blood pressure, and respiratory rate
What type of trauma triage criteria regarding transport would a finger amputation receive?
Any hospital w/ surgical facilities
When the body is in water, how many times faster does it lose heat than when it is in still air?
25 times faster
A patient who is lying on cold ground is losing the most amount of heat by what mechanism?
Conduction
What term describes the temperature of the surrounding air?
Ambient temperature
The technique for central rewarming requires the application of heat to which areas of the patient’s body?
Lateral chest, neck, armpits, and groin
The term gangrene means tissue what?
Death
The term blanching, used to describe localized cold injury, means the tissue has turned to which of the following colors?
White or lighter
What should the EMT do during the treatment of localized cold injury?
Gradually warm the affected area
