Acronyms
Oh no! Your patient is in CPA, what does that mean?
Cardiopulmonary arrest
What are the two mechanisms of external chest compressions?
Cardiac pump mechanism and Thoracic pump mechanism.
True or False: the most common cause of CPA in dogs and cats is primary respiratory arrest
True!
CPR is generally performed in cycles. How long do these cycles last?
2 minutes
CPR is considered prolonged after how many minutes?
15
CPR is started and intravenous access is almost impossible. You opt to put in an IO catheter instead. What does IO stand for?
Intraosseous
What is the ideal depth of a quality chest compression?
1/3 - 1/2 of the chest of a patient in lateral recumbency.
1/4 of the chest of a patient in dorsal recumbency.
Name the 3 types of breathing techniques
1. Endotracheal intubation
2. Tight-fitting mask
3. Mouth-to-nose
What are the two, high-priority monitoring devices?
ECG and ETCO2
True or false: Only suspected hypovolemic patients should receive IV fluid boluses during ALS.
True! In many patients with CPA, IV fluid boluses can reduce blood flow and oxygen delivery to core organs, and should be reserved only for patients with documented or suspected hypovolemia.
Pulseless electrical activity.
Well-executed external chest compressions produce only ___% of normal cardiac output
30%
What is the commonly accepted respiration rate during CPR?
10 breaths per minute or 1 breath every 6 seconds.
A higher-than-necessary breathing rate will result in a low ___
CO2
In critically ill patients where CPA is considered imminent, _____ may prevent or treat vagally-mediated bradycardia, averting imminent CPA
parasympatholytics
Yay! After two rounds of CPR, your patient experienced ROSC! What does that mean?
Return of Spontaneous Circulation
A quality chest-compression should have a corresponding ETCO2 of at LEAST ____mmHg
18mmHg
When using an anesthesia machine for inspiration during ALS, what pressure should you achieve?
30-40 cmH2O to overcome the pressure of chest compressions
Which vital is going to be the biggest indicator of ROSC?
ETCO2
What is the recommended dose of epinephrine during ALS?
the standard-dose epinephrine (0.01 mg/kg IV), which is equivalent to 0.1 ml/10 kg of body weight
Now you can switch gears to the PCA algorithm to further help your patient. What does PCA mean?
Post cardiac arrest
Pleural-space disease and pericardial effusion are both indications of what type of ALS?
OCCPR (open chest CPR)
CPR utilizes positive pressure ventilation (as opposed to negative pressure that is present during spontaneous breaths), meaning that as air is pushed into the lungs, the thoracic pressure increases and compresses the ___ ___.
Venae Cavae. This means that there is less blood returning to the heart during compressions. This is why it is important in intubated patients to maintain a short inspiratory time.
CPR has been going on for 18 minutes now. What should we give to help treat the severe metabolic acidosis?
a dose of sodium bicarbonate
What -physiologically speaking- does successful defibrillation truly depend on?
The health of the ventricular myocardial cells. They need to be able to respond to stimuli in order to depolarize and repolarize. The longer ischemic injury occurs to the tissue, the less healthy, and therefore, less responsive, these cells become.