things an emt-b can do for asthma

TgerFoxMark

TgerFoxMark

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Im looking for things a basic can do to help a pt with asthma, made worse by an allergic reaction, or triggered by the reaction?
 
Let's try this one again. Keep the posts on topic and make sure they follow the rules.
 
Take them to the hospital.
 
Are you talking about extrinsic (externally triggered - e.g. allergin like dust or cat hair or the cold weather) or intrinsic (inflamatory) asthma or bronchoconstriction caused by allergic reaction/anaphylactic edema?

Since you are not allowed (from what somebody else said) to neb salbutamol or atrovent you can do is assist the patient with thier own meds (spacer or inhaler for asthma or epi-pen for anaphylaxis) if they have them or apply oxygen.

If you are dealing with asthma and not anaphylactic bronchospasam it's important you try to work with the patient to get them to exhale as much as they can. Coaching, reassurance etc are big here.

If the patient is not conscious then bag them but do so slowly and do not hyperventilate (> 6min) as you will over inflate thier lungs and could cause a cardiac arrest.

Bottom line here is the patient needs those sexy bronchodialators and designer steriods found in a hospital or with advanced backup. Balance of risk is in faour of rapidly transporting them.
 
externally triggered... cat hair in this case.
 
CPAP is indicated if 2 of the following are met once O2 is applied: SPO2 < 95% on oxygen, Respirations > 25/min, accesory muscle use

Asthma is not a contraindication
 
90%*

"Maybe, maybe not for the asthmatic. Do you know the signs that CPAP is causing more harm than good to remove it quickly?"

I'm not so sure of the signs. Get back to me on that, it's not in our protocol.
 
Company25Probie said:
CPAP is indicated if 2 of the following are met once O2 is applied: SPO2 < 95% on oxygen, Respirations > 25/min, accesory muscle use

Asthma is not a contraindication
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i believe asthma is generally regarded as a relative contraindication for the administration of CPAP.
 
i retract that former statement partially. i have heard to use caution when administering CPAP to asthmatics. For patients with COPD and asthma, CPAP overpowers the residual pressure thatprevents the lungs from fully emptying on exhalation. This decreases the patient’s workload and increases oxygenation. CPAP also increases the effectiveness of nebulized medication delivery. so i guess in some instances(not all) CPAP would be an appropriate intervention in asthma.
 
Lifeguards For Life said:
not anywhere that i am familiar with
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Then why are we talking about it here? I dont want to sound like an ***, but make a thread for this discussion. The question related to BLS management. There is scope to learn here and i would like to hear replies, Gas and ALS are fine but a monkey can work on that. I as an APE would like to do more.
 
Scout said:
Then why are we talking about it here? I dont want to sound like an ***, but make a thread for this discussion. The question related to BLS management. There is scope to learn here and i would like to hear replies, Gas and ALS are fine but a monkey can work on that. I as an APE would like to do more.
Click to expand...

beacuse it was brought up. it may be an EMT skill somewhere. whether an EMR or a medic knowing wether or not CPAP is a valid treatment can not hurt.
 
CPAP is now a BLS skill at my service in Pennsylvania provided you complete the training module. Same idea as the epi-pen module.
 
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