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Advances in Pre-hospital medicine
Paramedics,
emergency rescue teams, police, and fire rescuers or any first responder to an
emergency are trained to have their own alphabet when it comes to pre-hospital
care. These are A: airway, B: breathing, and C: Cardiac. As trained
life rescuers, they also have three Bs in mind during a rescue
operation.
They must check for signs of breathing upon arrival. Signs of bleeding
take second precedence and is immediately treated whether partially or
completely. When terminal danger has been controlled, paramedics check
for damages to bone structures.
In
cases of traumatic injuries, victims often suffer from cardiac problems and can
be vulnerable to hypotension (low blood pressure) / hypertension (high blood
pressure) and to cardiac dysrhythms often in the form of atrial
tachydysrhythmias. As a combative medication to low blood pressure,
sympathomimetics like dopamine, which help to regulate blood pressure and
return it to the normal state, are often injected to patients.
In cases of cardiac problems such as cardiac dysrhythms, calcium channel
blockers such as Diltiazem (commonly referred to as Cardizem) are used as
treatment via intravenous therapy to normalize heart beat rates. The product
Diltiazem is verified by the Bryn Athyn Fire Company and the Annals of
Emergency Medicine 2001 to be very safe and effective in normalizing heart
rates. In a road accident involving a 73 year old man who was found to
have a heart rate of 150 beats per minute, Diltiazem, given in a dose of 20mg,
was able to normalize it and brought it to 90 beats per minute.
The
World Health Organization or WHO reports that most pre-hospital deaths are
cases of traumatic injuries. These often involve bleeding. As an advanced
form of medication to prevent death from exsanguinations (or the excessive loss
of blood), blood substitutes are utilized.
Conscious
patients, victims of injuries or diseases of whatever kind that would merit as
an emergency situation, often do not have the strength to stand against
physical pain. After a faithful application of EMS (Emergency Medical
Services) protocols, paramedics can provide pre-hospital care medications in
the form of pills. To combat pain, painkillers such as morphine sulfate
and opiods and sedatives such as benzodiazepines which commonly comes in the
form of lorazepam. Lorazepam is also used to treat nausea as well.
Article Source: EMS - EveryMinuteSucks.com
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