Medical emergencies
Monika Staňková
Common emergencies
Heart attack Stroke Unconsciousness Bleeding Fractures Choking Abdominal pain Shock
Heart attack
Caused by the long-lasting interruption of blood supply – the heart cells are damaged or die.
Symptoms: Chest pain (can radiate to the left arm or neck), shortness of breath, nausea, sweating, anxiety.
Immediate treatment: Oxygen, aspirin, sublingual nitro-glycerine.
! Untreated can cause a heart failure!
Stroke
Rapid loss of brain function due to lack of blood supply
2 mechanisms: Lack of blood flow (blood clot) or bleeding
Symptoms: Inability to move on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate a speech, inability to see one side of the visual field.
! Can lead to permanent damage or death!
Unconsciousness
People do not respond to environmental stimuli.
Temporary – fainting (dehydration, drop in blood pressure, decrease of oxygen supply).
Long lasting: Stroke, brain injury, meningitis, heart failure, poisoning with sedative drugs (alcohol), epilepsy, hypo – or hyperglycemic coma, shock.
If you don't know type of coma (hypo- or hyperglycemic), what will you do? Sugar or insulin?
Bleeding
arterial – red, spouts x venous – dark, flows
How to stop it?Arterial – press the artery in the affected part.Venous – apply pressure bandage.In both cases lift the affected part of body
above the patient's heart.
A healthy person can endure a loss of 10-15% of the total blood volume without serious medical difficulties.
Fractures
Symptoms: Pain, inability to move,deformity of the affected area.
Fractures: closed (simple) x open
What to do: Immobilize the affected part of the body and take off all Jewellery. Why?
Choking
- Obstruction of the airway by a foreign object- Strangulation- Respiratory diseases – asthma,
pneumothorax, pulmonary embolism etc.
Symptoms: Gasping, impossibility to speak, clutching throat, Later the person's face turns blue (= cyanosis), unconsciousness
Choking – what to do?
1. Back blows: Bend the patient to put his/her head below his/her chest. Give five slaps between the patient's shoulder blades.
2. If it doesn't help, use the Heimlich Maneuver:Stand behind the patient, putyour fist above his belly buttonand under his breastbone. Wrapyour other hand around the fist.Pull inward and upward, usinggood force. Repeat five times.
Abdominal pain (stomach ache)
Inflammatory: Appendicitis, Crohn's disease, gastroenteritis
Obstruction: Hernia, tumours, constipation, hemorrhoids
Vascular: Embolism, thrombosis, bleeding
Digestive: Peptic ulcer, lactose intolerance, coeliac disease, food allergies
Traumatic; pain coming from other organs than stomach (kidneys, liver, pancreas, gallbladder)
Shock
Failure of circulation with an inadequate distribution of oxygen leading
to the “choking” of cells
Causes: Heart failure, Obstruction in blood flow,Loss of volume circulation,Malfunction of peripheralcirculation,Combination of all of these.
Shock - symptoms
Symptoms: Low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat; cool, pale skin, confusion, weakness
Other depend on the type of the shock
What to do:
Plane crash
Who screams most, usually needs your help least.
Check all the place of the accident.
Priority 1: Patients with severe bleeding, choking, unconscious who breathe spontaneously / after opening the airway
Priority 2: Conscious patients unable to walk
Plane crash
Priority 3: Conscious patients walking spontaneously
! We don't provide CPR – time is too precious for us!
First aid – Dr. ABC
D anger – Your safety comes first.
R esponse – Is the patient conscious?
A irway – Is there a blockage in the throat? Open the airway with the “head tilt – chin
lift” maneuver.B reathing – Check the breathing with free
airway.C ompressions – If the patient isn't breathing (!attention: gasping!), start
providing CPRCALL AN AMBULANCE: 155 (CZE) OR 911
CPR = cardiopulmonary resuscitation
ADULTS 30 : 2 !!!
- at least 5 cm deep- at least 100 times per minute
CHILDREN 15 : 2, NEWBORNS 3 : 1
New american guidelines recommend the compression – only CPR for untrained rescuers. Why?
What do you do?
You are waiting for the bus and you see a man fainting. The man doesn't respond at all, not even to a painful stimulation.
What do you do?
How do you check breathing?
What do you do?
How do you provide CPR (describe the mechanism, frequency, depth)?
When you can stop
In which cases can you stop providing CPR?
- The patient starts breathing spontaneously, there is a circulation
- Arrival of an ambulance
- Your exhaustion
- Patient's death
You have done everything right and you saved the patient. Hooray!
Congratulations and thanks for your attention.