Prehospital Emergency Care

by Mistovich, Joseph J.; Hafen, Brent Q.; Karren, Keith J.

• ISBN13: 9780130492883
• ISBN10: 0130492884
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

For courses in Prehospital Emergency Care. The most complete resource for EMT-B training, this best-selling, student-friendly text contains clear, step-by-step explanations with comprehensive, stimulating, and challenging material that prepares and equips students for real on-the-job situations. The assessment and emergency care sections provide the most up-to-date strategies for providing competent care. The enrichment sections further enhance students' ability to assess and manage ill and injured patients in prehospital environments. With its use of the case study model, state-of-the-art scans, algorithms, protocols, and the inclusion of areas above and beyond the DOT curriculum, this new edition of Prehospital Emergency Care prepares students for success.

Author Biography

Keith J. Karren is Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Table of Contents

Detailed Contents	p. vi
Assessment Summaries/Emergency Care Protocols/Algorithms/Drug Profiles	p. xiv
Photo Scans	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Author's Letter to Students	p. xix
About the Authors	p. xxi
Guide to Key Features	p. xxiii
Preparatory
Introduction to Emergency Medical Care	p. 1
The Well-Being of the EMT-Basic	p. 12
Medical, Legal, and Ethical Issues	p. 29
The Human Body	p. 40
Baseline Vital Signs and History Taking	p. 72
Preparing to Lift and Move Patients	p. 86
Airway
Airway Management, Ventilation, and Oxygen Therapy	p. 95
Patient Assessment
Scene Size-Up	p. 142
Patient Assessment	p. 160
Assessment of Geriatric Patients	p. 238
Communication	p. 258
Documentation	p. 270
Medical, Behavioral, and Obstetrics/Gynecology
General Pharmacology	p. 283
Respiratory Emergencies	p. 294
Cardiac Emergencies	p. 323
Automated External Defibrillation	p. 348
Altered Mental Status and Diabetic Emergencies	p. 369
Acute Stroke: Altered Speech, Sensory Function, Motor Function, or Mental Status	p. 393
Seizures and Syncope	p. 409
Allergic Reaction	p. 422
Poisoning Emergencies	p. 438
Drug and Alcohol Emergencies	p. 462
Acute Abdominal Pain	p. 478
Environmental Emergencies	p. 493
Drowning, Submersion, and Diving Emergencies	p. 525
Behavioral Emergencies	p. 543
Obstetric and Gynecological Emergencies	p. 559
Trauma
Mechanisms of Injury: Kinetics of Trauma	p. 590
Bleeding and Shock	p. 608
Soft Tissue Injuries	p. 632
Burn Emergencies	p. 655
Musculoskeletal Injuries	p. 675
Injuries to the Head	p. 700
Injuries to the Spine	p. 717
Eye, Face, and Neck Injuries	p. 756
Chest, Abdomen, and Genitalia Injuries	p. 777
Agricultural and Industrial Emergencies	p. 805
Infants and Children
Infants and Children	p. 816
Operations
Moving Patients	p. 863
Ambulance Operations	p. 881
Gaining Access and Extrication	p. 903
Hazardous Materials Emergencies	p. 917
Multiple-Casualty Incidents	p. 936
EMS Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction	p. 952
Advanced Airway Elective
Advanced Airway Management	p. 969
Basic Life Support	p. 1
National Registry Skill Sheets	p. 1
Glossary	p. 1
Index	p. 1
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

I would like to commend you for your decision to undertake an EMT-Basic educational program. The field of emergency medical services is extremely rewarding and will provide you with experiences you will find both challenging and gratifying. In your EMS career, you will respond to a variety of calls in uncontrolled environments requiring confidence, compassion, and a high degree of competence. As an EMT-Basic, you will be put to the test to think critically and respond instantaneously. The foundation for these skills will be provided in your educational program; you will learn further and gain better clinical insight through patient contact, continuing education, and experience. Once you have read this textbook and completed your EMT-Basic program, you will have only begun your educational experience as an EMT-Basic. Every day you should strive to learn something new that may enhance your emergency patient care. Due to the dynamic nature of emergency medical services, you will become a lifelong learner. Patient assessment is one of the most important skills that an EMT-Basic performs, requiring good practical ability and also the capability to think critically. You must take each finding from the assessment, determine if an immediate life-saving intervention is required, store the information learned in the back of your mind as you continue with the assessment, and finally put all the pieces of the assessment together to provide effective emergency medical care. The challenge is similar to putting a puzzle together. You start out with individual pieces of the puzzle that have to be connected together to form a meaningful picture. The pieces of the puzzle correlate to signs, symptoms, and other findings of the assessment. You must take the findings, consider them individually, and then put them together to form a whole picture of your patient. Specific findings are meaningless without fitting them into the entire picture. Prehospital Emergency Care, Seventh Edition,provides a strong, comprehensive approach to patient assessment, which is reinforced at several points in the chapters--in the case study, chapter text, assessment summaries, and algorithms. This approach reinforces assessment information and also provides an alternative learning method. You will find the necessary clinical information integrated into the assessment approach for each section, unlike other sources that integrate the assessment information into the clinical information. This textbook uses a two-tiered approach to patient assessment: assessment-based and diagnostic-based. An assessment-based approach to patient injuries and illnesses is used initially. This approach teaches you to identify life-threatening conditions and provide immediate interventions to reverse those problems. An assessment-based approach to acute patient care is followed no matter what level of care is provided. Once you have managed life-threatening conditions, you will then move to the next level of assessment, the diagnostic-based approach. The diagnostic-based approach entails putting the signs, symptoms, and other assessment findings together to come to a probability of what condition the patient may be suffering from. Many EMS providers refer to this as their "field impression."Prehospital Emergency Care, Seventh Edition,presents the necessary information to move naturally, successfully, and effectively from the assessment-based approach to the diagnostic-based approach. Much of the "field impression" information is contained in enrichment sections throughout the textbook. As you progress through your educational program, you will learn a new system of communication that involves the use of appropriate medical terminology. It is important to establish a basic understanding of medical terminology so that you may communicate effectively, by both written and oral means, with other members of the medical team.Prehospital Emergency