wtorek, 15 czerwca 2010

Breathing

Unconscious patients

In the unconscious patient, after the airway is opened the next area to assess is the patient's breathing, primarily to find if the patient is making normal respiratory efforts. Normal breathing rates are between 12 and 30 breaths per minute, and if a patient is breathing below the minimum rate, then in current ILCOR basic life support protocols, CPR should be considered, although professional rescuers may have their own protocols to follow, such as artificial respiration.Rescuers are often warned against mistaking agonal breathing, which is a series of noisy gasps occurring in around 40% of cardiac arrest victims, for normal breathing.

If a patient is breathing, then the rescuer will continue with the treatment indicated for an unconscious but breathing patient, which may include interventions such as the recovery position and summoning an ambulance.
Conscious patients


In a conscious patient, or where a pulse and breathing are clearly present, the care provider will initially be looking to diagnose immediately life-threatening conditions such as severe asthma, pulmonary oedema or haemothorax.

source: wikipedia.org