RedAirplane
Forum Asst. Chief
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I am absolutely pleased with the amount of discussion given to scenarios on this forum, and the amount I can learn from your responses. Here is another one that is an amalgamation of things I have seen, scrubbed to protect privacy.
You are at an out-of-town conference when you hear a friend (with whom you are traveling) call you out by name. You politely exit the conversation you are having and turn around to see the buffet table is knocked over with food all over the place. After a minute you realize that there is an elderly man who collapsed into the table. It looks like he hit his head against a cement block upon falling, but it also looks like a platter of cakes cushioned his fall significantly. (Fate is enforcing your diet).
(For simplicity, assume that in the state you are in, you have a duty to act, or that you have otherwise chosen to act).
C-spine?
You ask a trusted person to call for EMS, and he does so immediately. It doesn't look like there are any other victims. The patient is alert and oriented, skin is pale but not cool/clammy, and pupils are pinpoint (but it's extremely bright lighting and hard to really gauge reaction to light). The pt states his chief complaint is "I'm just a little dehydrated" and tries to get up, but is unable to. You calm and reassure him, and collect whatever medical history you can.
First responders show up on a little go-cart, but let you continue with the patient while they work on clearing a path for EMS to get in. Anything you want to ask them for? Oxygen or not?
The patient last ate/drank yesterday (or so he says) and denies any medical history, but a family member quietly tells you he was recently hospitalized for "depression" and that he takes some medications but she doesn't know what they are. You cover the patient with a blanket and take vital signs every five minutes (BP a little low, respirations and pulse a little fast, unchanged).
The patient vomits twice in the 25-35 minute wait for ALS/ambulance, which unfortunately is on a higher priority call which came in at exactly the same time. Anything else you want to do?
There's a growing crowd of onlookers. How do you want to deal with them?
And, my personal weak point, how do you hand off the patient when the ambulance crew finally arrives? I have all the info, how do I make a cohesive sentence instead of babbling?
(Whatever you did, you did a good job. The ambulance crew copies down your contact information under "first responder" and the next day you get a call from the local fire chief, who thanks you and invites you to visit his city/town again).
And if you had to venture a guess, what's going on with this pt?
You are at an out-of-town conference when you hear a friend (with whom you are traveling) call you out by name. You politely exit the conversation you are having and turn around to see the buffet table is knocked over with food all over the place. After a minute you realize that there is an elderly man who collapsed into the table. It looks like he hit his head against a cement block upon falling, but it also looks like a platter of cakes cushioned his fall significantly. (Fate is enforcing your diet).
(For simplicity, assume that in the state you are in, you have a duty to act, or that you have otherwise chosen to act).
C-spine?
You ask a trusted person to call for EMS, and he does so immediately. It doesn't look like there are any other victims. The patient is alert and oriented, skin is pale but not cool/clammy, and pupils are pinpoint (but it's extremely bright lighting and hard to really gauge reaction to light). The pt states his chief complaint is "I'm just a little dehydrated" and tries to get up, but is unable to. You calm and reassure him, and collect whatever medical history you can.
First responders show up on a little go-cart, but let you continue with the patient while they work on clearing a path for EMS to get in. Anything you want to ask them for? Oxygen or not?
The patient last ate/drank yesterday (or so he says) and denies any medical history, but a family member quietly tells you he was recently hospitalized for "depression" and that he takes some medications but she doesn't know what they are. You cover the patient with a blanket and take vital signs every five minutes (BP a little low, respirations and pulse a little fast, unchanged).
The patient vomits twice in the 25-35 minute wait for ALS/ambulance, which unfortunately is on a higher priority call which came in at exactly the same time. Anything else you want to do?
There's a growing crowd of onlookers. How do you want to deal with them?
And, my personal weak point, how do you hand off the patient when the ambulance crew finally arrives? I have all the info, how do I make a cohesive sentence instead of babbling?
(Whatever you did, you did a good job. The ambulance crew copies down your contact information under "first responder" and the next day you get a call from the local fire chief, who thanks you and invites you to visit his city/town again).
And if you had to venture a guess, what's going on with this pt?
