Advantages and Disadvantages of Paramedics Using Online Medical Controls and Set Guidelines in Emergencies - Report Example

Paramedic practice Student Name Instructor Date Paramedic Practice Advantages and disadvantages of paramedics using online medical controls and set guidelines in emergencies Paramedics are important persons in the situation of an emergency. This is because they are trained in managing and ensuring that the emergency situation is maintained. There are several benefits attached to the paramedics using the online medical controls and the set guidelines. When the paramedics use these sources as references, it is therefore to the advantage of the patient. By constantly referring to the guidelines, the patient will be assured of receiving quality services. This is because the guidelines are like procedures used for the management of several situations (Abbott et al, 1996). It is also safe for the paramedics since the guidelines will always remind them of what they are supposed to do. For example the guidelines recommend that the paramedics ensure that they wear protective material before handling any patient. It is therefore safe for them to read the guidelines each and every time. It is also safe for the patient since when the medic is constantly reminded of what they are supposed to do, then it means that several lives will be saved from the emergency situation. Using the online medical controls enhances communication between the emergency center and the health care system. In this way, the paramedics are able to communicate to those in the health care facilities. This enables them to get the required help from the medical practitioners. The medical controls are also beneficial to the emergency team as a whole since these controls can be used across the borders. However there are also some disadvantages associated with these practices (Caroline, 2010). When in an emergency situation, a paramedic may not have enough time to check the guidelines out and therefore it will mean that they use the time of the patient. This may cause some of the patients to lose their lives. It is also not accessible for every person in the emergency scene. The procedures can also slow down the process off life saving in the scene. How paramedics can control motorcycle accidents and mentally disturbed patient with a knife Road accidents are common in the modern world. These were increased by the situation whereby the motorcycles came into practice. There are several careless drivers in today; however, the most careful driver can also get an accident. This is why it is called an accident. For many people, an accident scene is scary; however a paramedic should always have the courage to contain the situation since they should save the lives of the victims. In the case of a motor cycle accident, the paramedic should calm down the crowd and the victims themselves. In this situation there is a lot of confusion that is likely to cause harm (Caroline et al, 2010). After that, the paramedic should assess the extent of the injury of the victims. First aid should be done immediately at the scene in order to ensure that instances such as loss of blood are contained. It is therefore important to establish a communication between the health care facility and the paramedic. This will involve calling an ambulance and explaining the situation to the facility. For the case of a mentally disturbed patient with a knife, a paramedic should be very careful to ensure that they are able to contain this patient to avoid damage. This can be done through asking for help from other medical practitioners or the public. This should be done in a careful manner to prevent the patient from harming themselves or the paramedic. The paramedic can also give the patients tranquilizes to cool them down (Curtis et al, 2011). It is then important to call an ambulance if the patient is not in a health facility. When the patient gets to a stable situation, it is important for the medics to ensure that the patient gets multi-disciplinary care. Why each patient should receive secondary assessment Secondary assessment is important for each and every patient. This is because this assessment is done after the primary assessment has been done. After the assessment of primary care, the patient may still need extensive care. This secondary care should be accorded to any patient regardless of whether they have the present complaints or not. This care involves the processes that that the patient has been taken through earlier and many more (Fellows et al, 2012). It is relevant for the paramedics to ensure that the secondary assessment should be done after the primary care. This involves several processes such as; The primary assessment and the first treatment given for stabilizing and for life threatening conditions such as Airway management the care of the spine such as spine immobilization transport for the unstable or very ill patient assessment in the case of an occurrence of a trauma Investigations should be done extensively for both the complaints and the associated conditions. Signs and symptoms should also be taken into consideration vital set of signs should be taken This assessment can be done concurrently with the history of the patient or can be done with the current complains as demonstrated by the patient. It is also important to conduct this assessment since it is possible to come across a condition that does not pose any complaints or signs and symptoms but increases the mortality and morbidity of the patient The key vital signs There are several procedures that a patient is required to undergo when they are found in an emergency scene. The most important processes are the first aid conducted by the paramedics at the scene. This procedure ensures that the patient becomes a little bit stable in the manner that they can be transported to a health facility. When in the hospital, the doctors conduct primary survey to the patients. This survey is a combination of several procedures that are important to the life of the patient. The primary investigations ensure that all the complaints of the patient are taken into consideration. The key vital signs as carried out in the medical field involve taking the pulse rate of a patient. This can be done with the recommended machine and results carefully documented. The results should be put in the patient’s file since it will be used for future evaluation and assessment. The blood pressure of the patient is also important since it gives the exact situation of the patient it is also important to manage it (Gregory, & Mursell, 2010). There are other key vital signs that are taken, the lung sounds of a patient, and the respiration condition of a patient and the cardiac rhythm of a patient. Assessing the pain and discomfort of a patient is also important since it can be assessed from a scale of 0-10. The reason for placing an unconscious person laterally An unconscious person is at risk of getting airway blockages since they are not in a position to control their airway properly. It is for this reason that they are placed in a lateral position with all the airway position in place. They should ensure that the patient lies laterally, with the mouth facing downwards in order to enable the fluids drain from the patient’s airway. The arms and legs should be locked so as to stabilize the patient. This position ensures that the patient maintains an open airway for free circulation. When an unconscious person is laid on their spine, this position is dangerous for them since it is hard from them to maintain an open airway. This way, the airway can become blocked, meaning that they are not able to breathe properly (Greaves et al, 2006). It blocks the correct gaseous exchange process making it very difficult for a person to breathe normally. The medical practitioners can also decide to manage the airway in a manual way. This is important since it can also unblock the airway even faster. Management of the airway is a critical procedure that should be done for any unconscious person to ensure that they get the required oxygen in the period that they cannot support themselves. Risks of low blood pressure The blood pressure is a vital condition for the body. This pressure should be maintained under the normal conditions, not high and not low. These conditions should be checked and managed with the help of a medic. Many people are often afraid of high blood pressure because of the risks that it poses (Rahm, & Pollak, n.d.). Even though high blood pressure has a lot of risks as compared to low blood pressure, low blood pressure is also very risky. An elderly person with low blood pressure is at risk of getting related conditions that are harmful to them. For example, if a person ahs low blood pressure then they are likely to feel dizzy and even faint at times. There is also a relationship between low blood pressure and related illnesses such as diabetes, heart illnesses and shock (Sanders et al, 2012). Low blood pressure also causes a lot of other problems in the systems of the body. This is because if the pressure is low, then there is a probability that the brain, heart and other organs do not get enough oxygen. This situation may cause some of the organs to fail completely. It may be dangerous for a person if this occurs. This is because, if the vital organs of the body fail. Then it means that the elderly person may experience a chain of health problems. Poor handover I relation to the patients safety Handover of the patient is quiet important for the safety of the patient. This simply means that the patients’ information was documented well and stored safely. The patient should be given priority when it comes to changing of the shifts and schedules of the hospital. The shifts should be given time to take placing. This will ensures that the doctors and nurses have adequate time to exchange their handovers. The documents should also be organized in a manner that any person given them will be able to understand them. This means that a specific way of documenting the results and findings should be applied. The paramedics should also be able to document the results and finings in a good manner to support the organization of their work (White, 2012). Handover documents should have a clear leadership and ensure that a person passing it to the other person will be in charge of everything that happens. If the history of a patient is documented well and passed on to the other facilitator, then the medication can also be traced and done in a systematic manner. It is therefore evident that poor handover places the health and safety of a client at stake. Benefits of randomized control trials over expert opinion when developing patient care guidelines It is important to ensure that when setting guidelines for patient care then the practical aspect is involved other than the theoretical part of it. This is simply because when involving randomized control trials then one is able to get the facts as they are at the ground. This is unlike the involving of experts to give their opinions about the guidelines that should be used in the care of patients. It is also not possible to determine the work of the caregivers if one is not at the ground. There are some things that even though people may have the theoretical part of it, it may still require one to use the practical knowledge. Using the randomized control trials is a good idea since it enables the stakeholders to evaluate the impact of the guidelines and the benefit it has had on the staff. It is quite important for the stakeholders to evaluate the acceptance of the guidelines by the trials first. Many scholars advocate for this method since they are able to establish the importance that it has had in many organizations. Why CCR is preferred over CPR Cardio cerebral resuscitation also known as (CCR) is a way of resuscitating a patient. This is a procedure that is done when the patient is in a bad state and the heart and brain need to be started to delay the death of the tissues before further action is taken. This process is a new procedure that has come to replace the traditional cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CCR has been known for the ability to save lives of many patients since it is able to perform the process faster. CCR unlike CPR is a procedure than can be done faster and in a simple manner. The process ensures that there is a forceful chest compression to ensure that there is a good flow of blood in the body. In this condition, it is important to ensure that blood flows in the body in a systematic manner (White, 2012). It is also easy for many people to offer help in a situation where they are involved with a stranger since many people avoid performing the mouth to mouth mechanism. Cardio cerebral resuscitation ensures that the patient is helped to restore normal breathing and to ensure that the airway of the patient is open. This enables the patient to get to a health facility and receive help in time. It is important to ensure that the patient is breathing; this is the first indication before performing any first aid. Why CPR has a different compression ventilation ration to adults The ventilation ratio of adults is quite different from that of infants and children. This is because the ventilation of infants and children is different from that of adults. The ventilation ratio of adult is of 30.2 while that of infants and children is of 15.2. The ratio can therefore be used as that one of children since it has been found to be suitable for both cases (Abbott et al, 1996). This situation involves both parties in the sense that the infants have a more ventilation ratio than that of children and than of adults. It is therefore important for both parties to find a more suitable manner in which they can use to compress the chest. Even though the ratios have been found to be different, it is important to note the suitable ratio for both the adults and the children. Health care givers however are likely to change from the compressions to ventilations in a smoother manner than a lay person. The ratios as indicated by the health guidelines should be administered in the correct manner so as to save life. Reference Abbott, J., Gifford, M., & Abbott, J. (1996). Prehospital emergency care: A guide to paramedics. New York: Parthenon Pub. Group. Caroline, N. L. (2010). Nancy caroline's emergency care in the streets. S.l.: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Caroline, N. L., MacDonald, R. D., Burgess, R. J., American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons., & Paramedic Association of Canada. (2010). Nancy Caroline's emergency care in the streets. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett. Curtis, K., Lord, B., & Ramsden, C. (2011). Emergency and trauma care for nurses and paramedics. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier. Fellows, S., & Fellows, B. (2012). Paramedic case book: From street to emergency department. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Greaves, I., Porter, K., Hodgetts, T. J., & Woollard, M. (2006). Emergency care: A textbook for paramedics. London: W. B. Saunders. Gregory, P., & Mursell, I. (2010). Manual of clinical paramedic procedures. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell. Rahm, S. J., & Pollak, A. N. (n.d.). Medical case studies for the paramedic. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Sanders, M. J., Lewis, L. M., Quick, G., & McKenna, K. (2012). Mosby's paramedic textbook. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Mosby Jems. White, N. (2012). Paramedics to the rescue. New York, N.Y: Bearport Pub. Read More