Life threatening Situations

Question 1

What is the priority when conducting a telephone assessment?

Answer 1

Establish whether the patients condition is immediately life threatening

Question 2

How long does it take for a brain cell to die with no oxygen?

Answer 2

3-5 minutes

Question 3

What phrases might a caller use to indicate there is a problem with someone’s breathing or circulation?

Answer 3

‘He’s not breathing’
‘She’s collapsed on the floor and looks a funny colour’
‘They are wheezing’

Question 4

What 3 things are essential to keep the body supplied with oxygen? ABC

Answer 4

Airway- a clear airway through which air containing oxygen can enter
Breathing- air enters the lungs when oxygen passes into the blood
Circulation- a pumping heart and enough blood to carry oxygen to the body

Question 5

What can be a cause of blocked airways?

Answer 5

Choking, unconsciousness- tongue flop back and prevent air entering the airway

Question 6

What can stop a person breathing?

Answer 6

heart attack, injury to the chest or head, drowning, severe allergy or poisoning by drugs or toxic gases

Question 7

how can you tell if a person isn’t breathing?

Answer 7

• unconscious
• chest not moving
• no breathing sounds
• pale skin, grey or blue

Question 8

What is shock?

Answer 8

A life threatening condition that occurs when the cardiovascular system fails for some reason and is unable to circulate adequate amounts of oxygen around the body.

Question 9

What are symptoms of shock?

Answer 9

• person collapsed very weak and unable to stand. could be unconscious
• cold skin, pale skin

Question 10

What are the causes of shock?

Answer 10

• Severe blood loss due to excessive bleeding from a wound
• heavy fluid loss; due to vomiting, diahorrea
• Failure of the heart to pump properly
• low blood sugar or lack of hormones

Question 11

What happens if a persons ABCS are compromised?

Answer 11

They will need intervention of basic life support with CPR

Question 12

What is an AED ( automatic external defibrillator) ?

Answer 12

A portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses certain life threatening problems with hearts rhythm and gives an electric shock

Question 13

What is agonal breathing ?

Answer 13

Gasping, snorting, gurgling

Question 14

If CPR is delayed what is the reduction in survival rate ? %

Answer 14

10-12%

Question 15

What are survival rates of CPR ?

Answer 15

75%

Question 16

What pattern is aganol breathing ?

Answer 16

Barely breathing, taking infrequent, noisy irregular breaths usually occur about every 10-15 seconds

Question 17

What is the chain of survival?

Answer 17

A diagram which illustrates CPR being delivered outside of a hospital environment

Question 18

Give examples of CPR being delivered outside of a hospital environment?

Answer 18

• family member
• relative
• by stander

Question 19

How many steps is the chain of survival?

Answer 19

4 steps which if delivered effectively and in sequence can increase the chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest

Question 20

How many steps is the chain of survival?

Answer 20

4 steps which if delivered effectively and in sequence can increase the chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest

Question 21

What are the 4 steps for chain of survival ?

Answer 21

1. Early recognition and call for help
2. Early bystander CPR
3. Early defibrillation
4. Early advanced life support and standardised post resuscitation care

Question 22

What is step 1?

Answer 22

A call made to ambulance service and ambulance despatched to help the patient and CPR can be started.

Question 23

What is step 2?

Answer 23

Bystander starts performing cpr and this doubles or quadruples survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest.

Question 24

What percentage of people receive CPR from a by stander?

Answer 24

40%

Question 25

what is step 3 ?

Answer 25

If a patient can receive a shock from an AED within 3-5 minutes after collapsing the survival rate can be 50-70%

Question 26

What is step 4?

Answer 26

Advanced life support with airway management, drugs and the correction of casual factors may be needed if initial attempts are unsuccessful. Quality of treatment during post resuscitation phase affects long term outcome