patient assessment Flashcards
when is the one indication of c-spine becoming a priority of pt assessment over airway
if the patient is clearly showing signs of spinal injury or trauma or the scene/clues on scene indicate that there was a possible accident that could have injured the spine or neck of caused some sort of spinal trauma
a key point to keep in mind when doing general assessment is that
the scene is reflective of the chief complaint; do not have tunnel vision; keep your eyes open to all clues; you do not have to go in proper order as long as you have hit all things
what is the first set of evaluations that needs to be performed when receiving a call
the scene up
when is scene size up to be completed
prior to patient contact
what are the steps of scene size up
- safety
- moi/ios
(mechanism of injury- trauma)
(indexof suspisioan- medical) - number of patients
- help needed
what assessment is to be completed upon patient contact and after the scene size up
the initial (primary) assessment
what is the first thing done in the primary assessment
forming a general impression
what is the initial thing to be assessed in the primary assessment
LOC- level of consciousness which is to be assessed through AVPU (alert verbal pain unconscious)
in a critical patient during the primary assessment the main things to do are to
find the life threatening conditions and fix them
(if trauma pt do a rapid trauma assessment which is essentially a police pat down)
what is a rapid trauma assessment
“a police pat down” physical examinations where you find the life threatening injuries of the patient and try to fix them
the first thing in patient contact to address (ish) is the CC (Chief complaint) which is
the nature of illness and nature of injury
the first thing to assess, maintain and manage in a patient is
a patent airway
when assessing a patients airway what are the main questions you should be asking them
can you take a deep breath and did anything prevent you from taking that deep breath
how do you treat a gurgling respiration
with a suction (and if the patient is able to, encourage them to spit their secretions out)
how do you treat a snoring respiration
you insert an OPA (oropharyngeal) if there are no contraindications such as a gag reflex. if it is contraindicated then you can insert an NPA (nasopharyngeal) the contraindications to using one are trauma to the face, more specifically the nose, and pull it out if there is excessive resistance
how do you maintain a patent airway in a choking patient
what is the second thing one maintains, assesses, and manages in their initial assessment of a patient
breathing
what things are done in the assessement ofa patient breathing
breath sounds are assessed, their pulse ox is taken, and they are administered oxygen if needed
when assessing a patient breathing what question should be asked
“do you feel like you are getting enough air”
artificial ventilations versus supplemental oxygen
artificial ventilations is us breathing for the patient; if the patients breathing is not controlled then we must do artificial ventilations and if their breathing is controlled then we can just give them supplemental oxygen to keep their oxygen levels where they are supposed to be
what are the three main forms of artificial ventilations
mouth to mask (pocket mask); BVM (bag valve mask/AMBU Bag); mouth to mouth
what are the main means of providing supplemental oxygen
nasal cannula, partial nonrebreather/ simple face mask, complete nonrebreather
