Foundations (at first sight)
Something that will help you gather information that will help you understand the emergency and give the appropriate care
Your observations
What is the 1st goal in checking an injured or ill-person?
identify and care for any life-threatening conditions.
Where do life-threatening cardiac emergencies often strike?
Close to home, where we live, work and play
When should you give CPR?
After checking a person and confirming that they are unresponsive/not breathing/only gasping
How does choking occur?
When the airway becomes either partially or completely blocked by a foreign object like a piece of food or small toy or bodily fluids
What if the injured or ill-person is a child?
Ask the parents for consent to give care
What should you look for while checking someone?
Medical identification tags, signs of injury, and facial expressions
What is a heart attack?
blockage of blood flow to part of the heart muscle
What should you do if you have arthritis in your hand while giving compressions?
What are some choking risks?
Talking or laughing with too much food in your mouth or eating too fast, dental problems, poorly fitting dentures, and babies mouthing on small toys
What emotion should you execute to the injured or ill child?
Calmness because if you look panicked, the child will become anxious
How should you check to see if a person is really unresponsive?
Shout the person's name (if you know it), and either tap their shoulder (for adults and children) or bottom of their foot (for infants)
Signs and symptoms of a heart attack
Chest pain, discomfort or pain on different body parts, dizziness/lightheadedness, difficulty breathing, nausea/vomiting, paleness, sweating, anxiety/impending doom, extreme fatigue, and unresponsiveness
What can you do to keep rhythm with compressions?
Counting out loud
When should you call 911 when someone is choking?
There's no real right time for a medical emergency that can easily turn for the worse like choking
What childhood developmental stages should you account for?
Infants, toddlers, school-age children, and adolescents
What do you assume if the person seems to be unresponsive even after checking?
Cardiac Arrest
Difference of cardiac arrest symptoms between men and women
Men: "classic" signs and symptoms
Women: more subtle or entirely different signs and symptoms
Why do you need to keep the person's head tilted back, avoid taking large breaths, and avoid blowing too forcefully?
Doing so can force air into the person's stomach instead of their lungs which can cause them to vomit or worse
Signs and symptoms of choking
General symptoms and sigms that indicate a medical emergency in an older adult
Headache, change in the person's usual level of activity, a change in mental status, lethargy, and difficulty sleeping
What are recovery positions?
Positions that help to lower the person's risk for choking and aspiration
What is cardiac arrest?
The heart stops beating or beats too ineffectively to circulate blood to the brain and other vital organs
What is an ICD and how can you use a AED on someone who has it?
A small device that is surgically implanted under the skin to automatically prevent or correct an irregular heartbeat. Try to avoid placing the AED pads on top of the ICD if it's easy to tell, but if not just place them how you normally would
What is the goal of back blows and abdominal thrusts?
To force the object out of the airway in order to allow airflow