Define Acronyms
What does ABC stand for?
A - Airway assessment
B - Breathing
C – Circulation
How do you perform the ABC's?
Airway - OFA manually stabilizes the head and neck, opens the airway and assesses the movement of air in and out of the mouth and nose. If an obstructed airway is suspected, it must be cleared before proceeding.
Breathing - Assess the patients breathing. Check the respiratory rate.
Circulation - Assessment for signs of shock, life threatening bleeding, and obvious fractures. Check pulse.
When checking the pupils, whats the difference between constricted and dilated pupils?
Constricted is small, dilated is big.
What is the purpose of an AED and when is it used?
Patient must be unresponsive and not breathing effectively before application of the AED. the AED is then used to stun the heart allowing it to return to normal sinus rhythm.
What color is pointed “up to the sky” and what medication is it referring to?
Blue is pointed up to the sky and its an epi-pen which contains epinephrine.
What does RTW stand for?
Return to work
How often should you perform the ABC Assessment?
5 mins for patients that require rapid ambulance services
10 mins for all other patients.
What 6 questions do you ask in regards to medication? Ill give you three
1. Name of drug
2. Dose
3. Frequency..........
4. Purpose
5. Compliance - are they taking it like they should be?
6. Expiry date of medication
What is general use of an AED?
When the AED arrives, turn it on and follow the prompts. do not touch the patient during analyse or shock phase. direct bystanders to stand clear. unless the victim shows signs of life continue CPR for 2 minutes after shock or no shock prompt.
Where should you inject the epipen?
Side of the thigh
What does AVPU stand for?
A - Alert
V - Verbal: Responds to voice
P - Pain: Responds to pain
U - Unresponsive
What do you do first if you find an unresponsive patient?
Check for breathing and if there is pulse present.
What two characteristics do you look for when performing a skin assessment?
Color - pale skin could be from blood loss, blue skin from cyanosis caused by low levels of oxygen, fingertip color.
Temperature - cool to the touch on hands and feet, temperature of the forehead. As blood loss continues, sweating usually occurs.
What is an oximeter and what is it measuring?
Oximeter, is an instrument for measuring the proportion of oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood. The unit of the measurement is %SpO2. This is the pulse oxygen saturation in percentage of HbO2 in the total Hb in the blood, so called the O2 concentration in the blood. It is an important bio-parameter for the respiration. Also, it provides heart rate simultaneously.
At what oxygen saturation should people need to seek medical treatment?
When the SpO2% is lower than 92%.
What does PPQRRST stand for?
Position, Provoke, Quality, Radiation, Relief, Severity and Timing.
What do you do if a patient is found with no pulse and is not breathing?
Start CPR/AED
What 4 types of allergies must you ask the patient about?
Drug or medication, chemicals, foods, pollens, animal fur, dust.
What is a blood pressure monitor and what is it measuring?
Blood pressure monitor, is an instrument used for measuring blood pressure. This is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system.
What is the rhyme used to remember how to use an Epi-pen? What does it mean?
blue to the sky orange to the thigh. It means that the blue cap should be pointing upwards and the orange part should be pointing towards the thigh.
What does GCS stand for and what are the three responses?
GCS stands for Glasgow Coma Scale and the three responses are Eye Opening Response, Best Verbal Response, and Best Motor Response.
What do you do first if the patient is suspected to have a spinal trauma?
C-Spine - realign to anatomical neutral. Do not apply significant force; neck should realign with minimal effort. If force required, maintain in position found.
How do you check pupils?
Using a flashlight. Darkness causes eyes to dilate whereas light causes pupils to constrict. Check to make sure both pupils are constricting and dilating in the same way and size. OFA attendant should examine both eyes and determine if the pupils are constricted, normal or dilated and whether they are equal to each other. Brain injury can be determined by reaction of the eyes.
What is a normal blood pressure in systolic mm hg and diastolic mm hg?
Systolic mm hg (upper number) = less than 120
Diastolic mm hg (lower number) = less than 80
What should you do if the AED has administered the shock and the victim is still unresponsive?
Continue CPR for 2 mins after shock or no shock prompt.