The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
BASIC VITALS
O.K., I was just wondering how everyone else does this, or if you have any good tips to pass along....say, you are at the scene of a motor Vechicle accident and have a entrapment, you need to get basic vitals but all you can see or reach is a forearm, elbow to hand, how would you take blood pressure, pulse and everything else you need.?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Levi on
-
HAHA, THATS FUNNY, WERE LUCKY IF WE CAN GET MORE THEN TWO OR THREE PEOPLE TO RESPOND IN POV. IF ITS A CODE WE CAN CALL FOR LIFEFLIGHT BUT ONLY IF ITS A GOOD DAY.LOL SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, NO, WE USUALLY DONT EVEN GET THE ENGINE.LOL
-
Permalink Reply by Rahn Abbott on
-
WOW, Only 30 mins out from ALS. Must be nice. You are so lucky. :)
In my little neck of the woods if we want ALS we call lifeflight. Which, if they send their fixed wing we have to take the pt. to the airport. If the send their rotorcraft they can come on scene but they have to stop and get fuel first. This gives you an idea of how long we wait for the bird to get here, get fuel, and then make it to the scene. It's not pretty. We're talking 1:15 on a good day.
As to the original poster....
I have rewritten my response several times. I just can't think of any good way to put this. Like others have pointed out if you only have an arm to treat, there are a ton of other things that need to be done. Even if you get a good set of base line vitals but you can't get to more than your pts arm what good are your vitals? True, it would be nice to get a set of baselines to know how your pt is doing but if you are short handed like we usually are and you pull one guy out to just take vitals, that means there is one less guy to get the car torn apart and just that much more time until the pt gets definitive care.
I guess, I might have a little different view of things here because we are so far from anywhere. When I know that this pt is two to three hours from a surgery table that will fix him, I will treat him way differently that if I know ALS backup is 5 mins out and a surgery table is 20 or 30 mins away in this guys future.
-
Permalink Reply by Beans on
-
I would take b/p on the forearm as well as a pulse and also therefore a rate and quality. Just me I guess but thats how I would do it.
-
Permalink Reply by Rescuefrog on
-
I use the forearm to get B.P's on those that are obesed and the extra lrg doesn't fit, on those with sweatshirts, jackets and shirts that I can't remove or go up high enough and yes those that are trapped in a vehicle or anywhere else. I have also taken B.P's using the ankles. Make sure you note in your report where you take it at if not on the brachial. ABC's 1st Vitals 2nd. Forearm available- you got the radial for BP, pulse, pulse ox on the finger for sat /pulse.
-
Permalink Reply by Taunya Offdenkamp on
-
We were told that if that is all you can reach, then you know that the Systolic BP is around 70. You can also tell what kind of pulse they have, ie: weak, thready, bounding, whatever, and count it so when you call in what you have then you can alert the ER to the PT's condition. Hope this helps.
-
Permalink Reply by Pablo J. de la Torre on
-
O.k. guys, lots of good thinking. Just for the record, I really have not had any problems getting vital in cases like this, just wanted to get some ideals on how others do it, hey, you never know you could learn something new.......
-
Permalink Reply by TexasFire on
-
I'll hook the monitor to the forearm to get the B/P and pulse at the same time, try to talk to the person and see if he/she is responsive, the rest is more like what we do ..improvise and overcome
-
Permalink Reply by Val Kemp on
-
On our department we have BP/Pulse cuffs that go on the wrist. We generally use these for Fire Rehab,bunker gear and all, that way they don't have to take their coats off if its cold out. We carry these in the side compartment of our ambulances. We have used them in the type of situation you are referring to. We have found them to be very accurate. We got ours from EMP Medical Supply. They run from $40.00 to $90.00. Check into it for your department, they are well worth the money. Does your ems have an Spo2 Monitor in your first out bag to get their Spo2 from a finger? If not you might look into getting one of those too. Be prepared-they are expensive.
-
Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
-
We put BP cuffs on fore arms all of the time for either palping a BP or you can put the stethescope on the radial pulse to auscultate.At most MVA's it is to loud to ausculate a BP, so get one by palp initially. if you got a radial pulse, then you should have at least a systolic BP of 90 mm/hg. get the pt extricated and into your bus for a good set of vitals.
-
Permalink Reply by Sara Hall on
-
pulse ox is not always the best thing...you can get a persons pulse ox up to 100 by bagging...with the person being dead
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
