W1: MC Flashcards
Define Acute Care
Short-term, specialised care provided in a hospital setting to restore & maintain health
Examples include: ICU, ED, neurological, respiratory, maternity, paeds & aged care
The acute cardiorespiratory team includes patients who are:
- Pre/postoperative
- Have respiratory disease eg COPD, cystic fibrosis, etc
- Are in the ICU/HDU (acute trauma, post-surgical or medical respiratory dysfunction eg haemodynamically unstable)
What is the aim of an acute assessment?
- Seek information eg from medical chart, nursing staff, relatives or carers, ward rounds, medical chart review
- Ask questions
- Do our assessment
Who is weight bearing status particularly important for/who determines it?
Particularly important for people who have had orthopaedic procedures or fractures & determined by surgical team
Define the following weight bearing status:
- NWB: non-weght bearing
- Partial weight bearing
- Touch weight bearing
- Weight bear as tolerated
- NWB: 0%
- PWB - 50%
- TWB: light touch only for balance
- WBAT: as much as needed/no restriction
What is important to address prior to conducting a subjective assessment?
- Introduce yourself /state why you are there
- Obtain consent
- Determine if patient is oriented to time and place
- Start with open ended questions
- Allow the patient to discuss what problems are important to them at the time
What is included in a subjective assessment?
History of presenting condition
Past medical history
Medications
Home environment
Mobility & function
What special questions should be covered?
CSD WHS HC
Cough
Sputum
Dyspnea
Wheeze
Hemoptysis
Smoking history
Home oxygen
Chest pain
Particularly for respiratory presentations what else should be covered:
- Pain
- Falls
- Previous physio intervention
What is a cough?
What should you ask a patient about their cough?
What should you assess in a cough?
A protective reflex that rids the airways of secretions, particulate matter or foreign bodies (can be chronic or acute)
Baseline (do they normally have a cough) & do they cough up sputum
Strength, sound quality (eg dry or moist) & secretion clearance (productive or non-productive)
Healthy adults produce up to how much sputum?
100mL of tracheoronchial secretions each day
What should you ask a patient about their sputum?
Baseline (do they normally cough-up sputum)
The colour (can indicate disease severity)
Volume: how much can they cough up?
Viscosity: how thick are the secretions? Do they need interventions to do so eg nebuliser or can they do it independently
Saliva: description
Clear watery fluid
Mucoid: description & causes
Description: Opalescent or white
Cause: Chronic bronchitis without infection, asthma
Mucopurulente: description & causes
Description: Slightly discoloured, but not frank pus
Cause: bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis or pneumonia
Purulent: description & causes
Thick viscous
- Yellow
- Dark green/brown
- Rusty
- Red currant jelly
Causes: haemophilius, pseudomonas, pneumoccus, mycoplasma & kiebsiella (bacterial infection)
NOTE:
The term “purulent” describes a type of discharge or fluid that contains pus. Pus is a thick, viscous fluid that results from the body’s inflammatory response to infection. It’s typically yellow, green, or brownish, depending on the type of infection and the specific bacteria involved.
Frothy: description & causes
Pink or white
Cause: pulmonary oedema
Hameoptysis: description & causes
Description: ranging from blood specks to frank blood, old blood (dark brown) - essentially involves coughing up blood
Causes: Infection (tuberculosis, bronchiectasis), infarction/cardiac disease, carcinoma, vasculitis (damage to blood vessels), trauma & coagulation disorders.
Black: description & causes
black specks in mucoid secretions
Causes: smoke inhalation (fires, tobacco, heroin), coal dust
Definition of shortness of breath (ie dyspnoea)
Defined as an uncomfortable and abnormal awareness of breathing
True or false: shortness of breath is pathological if it occurs disproportionate to actiivty/conditions
True