It is important to be able to recognize if a person may be having an emergency. For the sake of making this article concise, I will be breaking down emergencies into 2 categories: Medical and Trauma. A traumatic emergency is one due to an injury (i.e. motor vehicle accident, assault, etc…), and a medical emergency is due to a medical incident not related to being injured (i.e. heart attack, stroke, seizure, ect…). These 2 categories can overlap on occasion.
Medical Emergency
There are many types of medical emergencies, and I will be writing posts about most of these in the future. Some medical emergencies you should be knowledgeable of are:
- Respiratory Emergencies (difficulty breathing)
- Chest Pain
- Stroke
- Neurological
- Shock
- Nausea/Vomiting
- Abdominal Pain
- Syncope (fainting)
- Seizure
- Allergic Reaction
- Altered Mental Status
- Severe Pain (not caused by trauma)
- DVT
- Pulmonary Embolism
Trauma
Traumatic emergencies are caused by injury, and can be life threatening. Head injuries, altered mental status, Internal/external bleeding and shock are a risk during a traumatic injury, and it may be difficult to know if a person is bleeding internally. Some examples of traumas that may be emergencies are:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Fall
- Assault
- Penetrating Injuries
- Burns
- Head Injuries
- Broken Bones
- Crushing Injuries
It is important to consider the Mechanism of Injury (MOI) when there is an injured patient; this will provide a clue of how severely the patient may be injured. Try to gather information in any trauma (fall, mva, assault, etc) and see if you can find out if the patient hit their head, lost consciousness, see how far they fell, etc…
An example of this is when I respond to a Motor Vehicle Accident. I always gather as much information about the scene to give to the Physician at the ER. I will tell him approximately how fast the vehicle was traveling, if the airbags deployed, what type of vehicle the patient was in, what type of vehicle hit the patient, what part of the vehicle was hit, if there was any intrusion into the patient’s compartment, or intrusion into any other compartment, any damage to the windshield (where the patient may have hit), and if the patient was restrained, if anyone else in the vehicle was injured, etc…. This type of information is very pertinent during any a trauma to provide clues about the patient’s injuries.
During an traumatic injury, controlling bleeding and treating for shock is very important. A patient that is experiencing a traumatic emergency needs to get medical attention immediately, and needs an ER. The person may have life threatening injuries that you cannot see. It is also important to be careful not to move the patient’s neck or back if you can help it, if you suspect a spinal injury..
The patient may also need his/her airway to be cleared with suctioning, or rolled onto their side while someone is maintaining C-Spine, if they are not able to maintain their own airway. Please do not attempt any medical maneuver you have not been trained to do. If someone is bleeding profusely, you may need to put direct pressure on the sound with a dressing to attempt to stop the bleeding. Please wear gloves if you have them. In some instances if I cannot control the bleeding on one of the patient’s extremities, I will use a tourniquet. Please do not use any medical equipment you have not been trained to use.
Conclusion
In future articles, I will be going into more details about different types of Traumas and Medical Emergencies. I recommend having a medical kit available in your vehicle and residence for traumas, and please check out my page about some medical supplies that you should have available with you as well.