Compensated vs. Stable

[CFRBryan347768]

Which term do you use and why. And now my question, Compensated does that mean that if I(17) Got into a car accident with severe injuries, i would be Compensated because of my age where if it was a 75 y/o they would be Un-Compensated?

 

[Flight-LP]

Which term do you use and why. And now my question, Compensated does that mean that if I(17) Got into a car accident with severe injuries, i would be Compensated because of my age where if it was a 75 y/o they would be Un-Compensated?

??????????????

 

[MRE]

Compensated = When I get paid for what I do.
Uncompensated = When I am volunteering and don't get paid

Stable = When my patient's condition is not changing.
Unstable = When my patient's condition is changing.


These are the only uses for these terms that I have encountered.

 

[mikeylikesit]

Which term do you use and why. And now my question, Compensated does that mean that if I(17) Got into a car accident with severe injuries, i would be Compensated because of my age where if it was a 75 y/o they would be Un-Compensated?

I use the word compensated in lieu of stable because it is what i feel to be a more professional term to use in front of the patient and bystanders. this is also true for why i use the term uncompensated to keep the patients family from worry. i assume most people in EMS tend to use the term in such instances as "compensated shock".

 

[VentMedic]

Two very different words with very different references in the clinical setting.

A patient can be compensated and appear to be stable. But, the problem still exists.

A patient can be compensating by one system and still be very unstable because more than one system is affected or soon to be affected.

Stable vitals do not always reflect compensation or the lack of. That would depend on the etiology of the problem.

If a patient is compensating then something has gotten their homeostasis out of balance.

Hopefully the body can continue to compensate until the problem that caused the homeostasis to become unbalanced is "stabilized".

Examples of situations involving compensation are metabolic disorders, shock, acid-base disorders, DKA, renal failure, liver failure, respiratory disorders, pulmonary emboli, trauma and so on to just name a few.

 

[mikeylikesit]

Two very different words with very different references in the clinical setting.

A patient can be compensated and appear to be stable. But the problem still exists.

A patient can be compensating and still be very unstable because more than one system is affected.

Stable vitals do not always reflect compensation or the lack of. That would depend on the etiology of the problem.

If a patient is compensating then something has gotten their homeostasis out of balance.

Hopefully the body can continue to compensate until the problem that caused the homeostasis to become unbalanced is "stabilized".

Examples of situations involving compensation are metabolic disorders, shock, acid-base disorders, DKA, renal failure, liver failure, respiratory disorders, pulmonary emboli, and so on to just name a few.

so basically compensation= your body trying to resolve itself with negative feedback. Stable=your body is not enduring any further harm and just kind of leveld off for the time being. WOW...sorry i was speaking of a different type of compensation in my original response.

 

[VentMedic]

Examples:

DKA: Your body will "compensate" for the dropping pH by rapid deep breathing. The problem is still unstable.

COPD: This patient with impending failure will purse lip breathe or breathe in whatever pattern and may get the ABGs to look "compensated" yet this patient is clinically unstable.
(Another reason I don't like the pulse ox numbers OR even ABGs to lead me to determine when it is time to intubate.)

Trauma: If the patient is bleeding, the body my attempt to shunt blood supply to compensate but the problem exists. You may give fluids to "stabilize" the vitals, but the problem still exists.

The kidneys can also be affected by any other system affected which can lead to another form of compensation which in turn may present a problem for yet another system.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

Which term do you use and why. And now my question, Compensated does that mean that if I(17) Got into a car accident with severe injuries, i would be Compensated because of my age where if it was a 75 y/o they would be Un-Compensated?

I use neither. I subscribe to the K.I.S.S. theory. Anything other than that is redundant. Not only that, but it's repetitive also.

 

[Outbac1]

I never use the term compensated although I may use stable. An example would be in a radio patch where I try to paint a picture of the pt I'm bringing in. Eg: We are transporting a 76m who's c/c is a heavy chest pain with radiation to L arm at 6/10 not relieved by nitro x 3. Pt is pale, cool and wet, vitals are stable at this time at about 140/88, Hr 84, R18. Our eta is about 8 min. Any questions?
The several sets of vitals I've taken are almost the same but the pt is not and has the potential to go downhill quickly.
That's the way I would use the term.

 

[VentMedic]

I never use the term compensated although I may use stable. An example would be in a radio patch where I try to paint a picture of the pt I'm bringing in. Eg: We are transporting a 76m who's c/c is a heavy chest pain with radiation to L arm at 6/10 not relieved by nitro x 3. Pt is pale, cool and wet, vitals are stable at this time at about 140/88, Hr 84, R18. Our eta is about 8 min. Any questions?
The several sets of vitals I've taken are almost the same but the pt is not and has the potential to go downhill quickly.
That's the way I would use the term.

I will use the word "unchanged" if the patient has potential to go downhill quickly or looks worst than their vitals.

I try to avoid conversations like:

"I thought said the patient was stable."
"No, I said the vitals were stable."
"Well we heard stable."

 

[So. IL Medic]

Compensated shock - normotensive to mild hypotensive, basically the body in a very general way is handling the insult

DEcompensated shock - hypotensive, tachycardic, thirst, decreased diuresis etc. The body is losing.

Irreversable shock - game over.

Unfortunately, the terms are too general and don't encompass the full physiological interactions but they are better terms than stable and unstable. The only times I've used those terms if in response to med control's question, "Is the pt stable?"

Well, if the little old that fell down go boom is happily talking my ears off and enjoying her nifty little outing away from the hell of her nursing home then, yeah, pt is stable.

Of course, a little old lady with no resps and in asystole is perfectly stable too...she can't get any worse.