Lone Star Medics - Member - The Prepared

Discussions

Reply to: Tourniquets Posted January 25, 2022

Don’t assume you’ll have full or partial use of your arm/leg during tq application. Example: If the nerves are damaged, that arm/leg may not be able to move at all. Let alone any catastrophic muscle damage caused by the mechanism of injury.

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Reply to: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Posted February 2, 2022

Can I get away with saying, the pattern is there are no patterns?” lol/but half serious

Reply to: Wound Packing Posted January 25, 2022

Loaded question. 😉 The problems with removing packed material from a wound are extensive. Several variables will come into play. I would recommend reviewing wound management techniques and concepts first.

Reply to: Tourniquets Posted January 25, 2022

Don’t assume you’ll have full or partial use of your arm/leg during tq application. Example: If the nerves are damaged, that arm/leg may not be able to move at all. Let alone any catastrophic muscle damage caused by the mechanism of injury.

Reply to: Primary Survey Posted January 25, 2022

Answering #2: We fix it as we find it… as it relates to the type of assessment being performed. example: if you are “clawing” down a leg and find it bleeding moderately or severely. Then you would stop there and treat it accordingly. However if you found a small cut, note it mentally but continue on.

Reply to: Abdominal Pain Posted January 25, 2022

Good question. Short answer… it may depend. Some antibiotics may help, some may not do anything at all, some may complicate things. The “guts” in the abdomen may have a chain reaction that may help or hinder the appendicitis. You may end up slowing or preventing infection for now, but then run into trouble later on down the road. For every action there is a reaction. 😉

Reply to: Epinephrine Administration Posted January 25, 2022

Good question. As a general rule you want to remove as much air as possible from the syringe prior to administering the medicine. As a general rule you want to aspirate your syringe prior to pushing the medicine to confirm you are not in a vein or artery, no matter how small of chance it may be. Different medicines can be administered using different injection techniques; subcutaneous, deep intramuscular, intravenous, etc. So it can be very important at times.

Reply to: Chest Wall Trauma Posted January 25, 2022

Trachea deviation can be a late sign for thoracic injuries. Being able to visually identify paradoxical movement can be difficult and not always super easy to spot right away. Any thoracic injury, penetrating or not certainly can be life-threatening. Even spontaneous pneumothorax are severe, although rare. A good, thorough patient assessment is key.

Reply to: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Posted January 25, 2022

Another good question. I would recommend using your entire patient assessment findings and any trends found during continued ongoing assessments to determine the possible severity of a TBI rather than a set timeframe. Again, several variables need to be considered.

Reply to: Vital Signs Posted January 25, 2022

Good question. Short answer; not really. We really want to strive to keep our patients’ vitals within the normal ranges as much as possible. There are so many variables that can contribute to a patient’s vitals being abnormal; trauma, stress, environment, underlying health conditions, medications or illicit drugs (alcohol), etc. Sure, someone who is injured may have an elevated pulse rate. But that could be due to stress related to being injured or their body trying to compensate (look out, we’re about to go down a rabbit hole regarding “shock” lol) for blood loss due to that injury for example. Creating a log of vital signs certainly helps us identify trends, good or bad ones.

Reply to: Wound Packing Posted January 25, 2022

Good question. You want to start packing or applying that “power ball” directly at the precise site of the bleeding vein/artery. So focus more on that exact source of bleeding more so than using the direction of heart as a guide. Yes, use your hemostatic agent first. Never use “anticoagulant” products when trying to control any bleeding. “Anticoagulant” means basically not clotting or prolongs clotting; which in this case, we DO want clotting to take place.

Reply to: Patient Drag Posted September 28, 2021

Gender doesn’t really determine the outcome of a one-person drag. Mindset, technique, strength, and understanding how to perform the drag does.

Reply to: Moving Patients Posted September 28, 2021

Great question(s), Eric.Can patients sustain further injuries from moving them? Sure. Can we try to minimize those risk factors by taking in considerations such as the mechanism of injury, known/obvious current injuries presenting, environment (not just weather/altitude/location, but available resources such as EMS/SAR too), and even available tools or personnel to assist. In some of the videos and lessons, we present just the skill itself. By presenting an isolated skill, hopefully that helps provide folks with more “tools in their toolbox” so to speak. That way they can make the best decision based on the information they have at that time. I totally understand that there are several possible scenarios or even positive & negative-outcomes that could result from performing any of these skills. It is always a good thing when folks ask detailed questions like you have. However we may not be able to cover all potential scenarios in this one program. Let me put together a few more thoughts while I try to answer your specific questions.

Reply to: Spine Injuries Posted September 28, 2021

Great question, Lowell.Ibuprofen may help slightly with the pain. Just be sure to check for any potential complications with drug allergies, or mixing medications they may or may not be taking prior to administering any medicine, including ibuprofen. But usually you’re fine with ibuprofen.