Section 1: Preparatory Flashcards
(137 cards)
Define Medical Director
The physician who authorizes or delegates to the EMT, the authority to provide medical care
Define Paramedic
An individual who has extensive training in advanced life support, including endotracheal intubation, emergency pharmacology, cardiac monitoring, and advanced assessment and treatment skills
Define EMT
An individual who has training in basic life support, including AED, use of definitive airway adjuncts, and assisting patients with certain medications.
What is HIPAA
A federal legislation passed in 1996 that limits availability of patients health care information.
What is Online Medical Direction
Physician instructions given directly over the phone or radio
What is Offline Medical Direction
Protocols/standing orders
Define Abandonment
Leaving a patient, for whom you’ve established duty to act, without the consent of the patient or arranging for transfer of patient care to another medical provider trained to the same level or higher as you. Once you have an established duty to act, you cannot leave, for any reason (short of protecting your own life), without that consent or transfer of patient care.
Define Negligence
Failure to provide the level of care for which you are responsible. FOUR elements must have occurred for the legal determination of negligence to be reached:
- there must have been a duty to act
-there must have been a breach on that duty
- there must have been an injury/loss
- there must be a reasonable connection between the breach of duty and injury or loss
Define Dependent Lividity
After a person has died and circulation stops, the blood will begin to pool in the dependent areas (areas on the bottom part of the body in the position of death). This is called Dependent Lividity and begins within a few minutes after death, beginning in the extremities and progressing to the rest of the body. Lividity will appear as a discoloration resembling a blotchy black and blue or reddish mark. As time passes, the discoloration becomes more widespread and pronounced. It is caused when red blood cells in the blood vessels settle down to the lower areas of the body. This color change is less striking in skin with darker pigmentation. Lividity is also called Livor Mortis.
Define Rigor Mortis
Over the first few hours after death, chemical changes occur in the cells of the body. Muscle cells contract and stay contracted, causing a rigidity known as rigor mortis. This stiffening of the body begins with small muscles, including those of the fingers, neck, and jaw, and progresses to the extremities and pelvis. After roughly 12 hours the protein in the muscles degrades, causing the stiffening to relax and the body to become limp.
Explain the reasons for withholding resuscitation
-injuries are incompatible with life (ie. decapitation)
- Advance directive (do not resuscitate (DNR), medical orders for life sustaining treatment, etc.) stating resuscitation should be withheld
- Dependent Lividity, Rigor Mortis
List some DNR caveats
- For the patient in cardiac or respiratory arrest, no chest compressions, ventilation, defibrillation, endotracheal intubation, or medications
- If the patient is NOT in cardiac or respiratory arrest, full treatment l for all injuries, pain, difficult or insufficient breathing, hemorrhage, and/or other medicinal conditions must be provided
- Relief if choking caused by a foreign body is usually appropriate, although if breathing has stopped, ventilation should not be assisted
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) must be initiated if no out-of-hospital or facility DNR is present. If a DNR is presented after CPR has been started, stop CPR
What is EMT advocacy?
Protecting the patients rights
Identify the 2 gases that are exchanged during breathing
Oxygen (O2) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
The human body consists of how many bones?
206
Describe the regulation of ventilation
Although breathing can be altered voluntarily, it is primarily controlled involuntarily by the autonomic nervous system. A large part of the regulation is related to maintaining normal gas exchange and Norma blood gas levels. Receptors within the body constantly measure the amount of Oxygen (O2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen ions (pH) and signal the brain to adjust the rate and depth of respiration. Centers responsible for ventilatory control are the chemoreceptors, lung receptors, and specialized centers in the brain stem.
What is the function of chemoreceptors?
Chemoreceptors are specialized receptors that monitor the number of hydrogen ions (pH) and the Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen levels in the arterial blood, there are 2 different types of chemoreceptors: central and peripheral
Define hypoxic drive
A person’s ventilation is normally controlled by the strong stimulus provided by the amount of CO2 in the arterial blood. This is referred to as a hypercapnic drive or hypercarbic drive. However, some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis, have a tendency to retain CO2 in their arterial blood from poor gas exchange. Because the CO2 level is chronically elevated, the central chemoreceptors become desensitized to fluctuations that typically would stimulate a change in the rate or depth of ventilation. Because of the desensitization of the central chemoreceptors, the peripheral chemoreceptors become the primary stimulus to control ventilation. This, hypoxia, rather than CO2, becomes the stimulus for the person to breathe. This is referred to as hypoxic drive.
Name 3 Receptors that are located in the lungs
-Irritant receptors are found in the airways and are sensitive to irritating gases, aerosols, and particles. Irritant receptors will cause a cough, bronchoconstriction, and an increase in the rate of ventilation.
- Stretch Receptors are located within the smooth muscles of the airways. These are responsible for measuring the size and volume of the lungs. To prevent over inflation when stimulated by high tidal volumes, these receptors decrease the rate and volume of ventilation when stretched.
- J-Receptors are located in the capillaries surrounding the alveoli and are sensitive to increase in pressure within the capillary. When activated, these receptors stimulate rapid, shallow respiration.
What are the normal breathing rates for adults, children, and infants?
Adult: 12-20 breaths per minute
Child: 24-30 breaths per minute
Infant: 30-60 breaths per minute
Name the 10 systems of the body
Integumentary
Skeletal
Muscular
Nervous
Endocrine
Cardiovascular
Lymphatic
Respiratory
Digestive
Reproductive
What are the functions of the skeletal system?
-protect organs
-support body
-allows movement
-produce blood cells
-store minerals
What are the functions of the digestive system?
- Perform mechanical and chemical process of digestion
- Absorption of nutrients
- Elimination of wastes
What are the functions of the lymphatic system?
- Remove foreign substances
- Combat disease
- Maintain fluid balance
- Absorb fat
