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5 Things You Learn From First Aid Training

January 25th, 2012 No comments

Are you serious about helping somebody when they are in need of some life support treatment? Then it is high time you thought about undergoing first aid training. Agreed, you have got the heart to help others, but it is not going to be enough to save a person when they may be in dire straits. First and foremost, you need to be aware of several things and responsibilities to be able to administer necessary life saving exercises.

Even though, every one of us loves to learn first aid, many do not know what it is like to support victims when they are in a state of trauma. You should stay levelheaded and overcome the apprehensions when you are forced to deliver.

first aid trainingHandling such situations with care comes with proper first aid training. Let us delve into some aspects that only first aid training can provide you with.

1) There is a marked improvement,before and after first aid training, in the way first aid givers react impromptu to such terrible situations. The level of preparation that the training showered on them is the reason behind such an obvious change. This goes to show that being repulsed by the sight of cuts and wounds becomes a thing of the past when one undergoes a proper first aid training course.

2) A person can provide better support after going through several insightful sessions of first aid training. Among the very many pointers that one picks up during the training course in the wake of a ghastly accident involving cuts and bruises, one needs to hold your senses, without being very much squeamish. As stipulated in the manuals of first aid training, you would be able to sit by the side of the victim.

3) As said before, the benefits of going through a course in first aid are very many in number. The training inculcates basic steps to be followed with respect to the situation, which may vary anywhere from mild to severe. After all, the severity of a situation depends on the extent of injury and in turn the importance of prompt action. In any case, a first aid giver should be very much there by the side of the victim, till the emergency medical aid is at hand.

4) First aid programmes are designed to prepare you for the worst. There are several real life scenarios, case studies and other activities that require interaction. This is how the training provides an insight into the way you need to carry yourself without distraught, pain and fear.

5) Register yourself with umbrella authorized centers which come under the direct supervision of health care centers, as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. These centers have distinguished staff offering HIPAA training online and in many other notable cities in the USA. These centers allow partakers like you to complete the training at your own pace, and provide an appropriate certificate at the end of the program of your choosing, marking your special achievement.

Find a reliable training center to enroll yourself to, no matter what or why. Become certified to save a life.

The New Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Guidelines

December 22nd, 2011 No comments

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique useful in many emergencies, including heart attack or near drowning. A situation when someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. CPR can keep oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs until more definitive medical treatment can restore a normal heart rhythm. Ideally, CPR involves two elements: chest compressions combined with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. However, what you as a bystander, should do in an emergency situation really depends on your knowledge and comfort level. The bottom line is that it’s far better to do something than to do nothing at all.

cardiopulmonary resuscitationThis is what I, as a physician of thirty years, recommend to those who ask me what they should do.
If you’re not trained in CPR, then provide hands-only CPR. That means uninterrupted chest compressions of about 100 a minute until paramedics arrive. You don’t need to perform rescue breathing. If you’ve previously received CPR training, but you’re not confident in your abilities, then just do chest compressions at a rate of about 100 a minute. This is the “magic number”, 100! It’s the only real number you need to remember. If you’re trained, and confident in your ability, then you can opt for one of two approaches: Alternate between 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths, or just do chest compressions.
This advice applies only to adults needing CPR, not to children.

Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation changed this year, as statistically, “mouth to mouth” shows no significant improvement in CPR effectiveness. This applies to adults and not to children. Mayo Clinic findings have convinced experts to remove the mouth to mouth component out of the protocol traditionally endorsed by the American Heart Association and The American Red Cross. Even without mouth to mouth, the compressions alone, are delivering about 70% oxygenated blood to the brain, giving the victim a huge chance for survival. The alternative, “doing nothing at all”, is fatal.

I am often asked, why doesn’t this apply to children? The reason is that most CPR events occur with older adults who have had a cardiac event which renders them unconscious and unresponsive. Children, on the other hand, are generally healthy and robust from a cardiac stand point. They do not generally have heart attacks, and do not usually suffer from cardiac arrest unless already air starved from a life threatening pulmonary condition such as an asthma attack, depleting them of oxygen. Therefore, replacing oxygen (mouth-to-mouth breathing) is critical for their survival.

Do the smart thing. Get certified in CPR. Always be prepared to make a difference, and be able to save someone’s life.

Nighthawk Radiology: Providing Quality Analysis Anytime, Anywhere

October 13th, 2011 No comments

To understand the nighthawk radiology industry, it is important to first understand how today’s hospitals, clinics, and private practices greatly benefit from it. While larger and more established hospitals and clinics will have their own in-house radiologists, they normally work within a set shift during regular office hours.

This leaves time windows wherein the hospital may not have a trained specialist available when a medical emergency arises-an event that requires personnel to provide careful, and often, life-saving analysis of radiology scans.

nighthawk radiology

This problem becomes even more pronounced in smaller hospitals and clinics, which often house only one trained radiologist at any given time, and who are in turn, often already overwhelmed by his existing workload. This long-term stress can result in diminished decision-making ability that can adversely affect a diagnosis. Meanwhile, some hospitals and clinics simply do not have a radiologist available; instead of handling things themselves, they would need to outsource their work to radiologists stationed at the closest hospital.

In light of these problems, it is easier to see how nighthawk radiology is a boon in providing life-saving services. Using the advanced technology available to teleradiologists today, MRI, CT, US, NUC and X-Ray scans and interpretations can be sent all across the country in just moments via the Internet, to be received by a fully trained staff of professionals working in an entirely different state and time zone.

Teleradiology service providers enable physicians to more effectively decide on an appropriate course of action to take during critical situations by providing them with a service that literally never sleeps, and is available every day of the year.

As an added benefit, teleradiology also helps to ease the workload of the client’s own staff, enabling them to remain well-rested, and thus, more capable of maintaining their own level of quality and accuracy.

Given the degree to which nighthawk radiology providers play increasingly vital roles in the medical industry, hospitals and clinics need to ensure that the company they choose is compliant with the stringent standards set by the Joint Commission, HIPAA, and ACR. Aside from guaranteeing that the teleradiology staff hired is professionally trained, a team that’s compliant with these requirements can also be expected to be fully knowledgeable in all United States medical protocols, ensuring fewer chances of any costly miscommunications or time-consuming re-orientations.

These standards become especially important as more and more nighthawk radiology service providers sprout up today.

The Need for On-Site and Urgent Medical Care Centers

October 11th, 2011 No comments

There is a new trend worldwide that is influencing the healthcare industry and it includes major companies and employers that are eager to curb the ever-increasing healthcare costs. They are opening their own healthcare centers, which provide state-of-the-art medical services and uses the latest healthcare equipment, such as X-ray and EKG equipment, to provide these medical services.
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Many companies have embraced the new cost-cutting strategies that have been implemented through the opening of these new healthcare centers, where doctors and nurses provide important medical care to people. Most people are now able to gain access to medical care, closer to where they work and live.

medical care centers

Full Service Healthcare at the Office

Many of these new healthcare centers offer full healthcare services, previously only provided by hospitals. They are equipped with X-ray machines, exam rooms, and pharmacies that offer you all the medical care you need. X-rays, labs and EKG on-site services are on offer to all patients and further services include dermatology, dentistry, and psychiatry. Other specialists who specialize in the treatment of life-threatening illnesses are available at most of these healthcare centers as well.

Most employers that have implemented this cost-cutting strategy are seeing the new healthcare centers as a way to receive much more for their money. They say that by providing in-house medical services, they will keep their employees healthier and more productive too. There are those skeptics that wonder about the quality of the medical care that are provided at these healthcare centers and others worry that employees are surrendering all their medical privacy to their employers.

The latest statistics have shown that nationally in the US, there are 15% of all companies with more than 500 employees, which have their own healthcare centers, and the numbers are increasing.

Urgent Care for All

Most of your urgent care centers offer on-site X-ray and EKG facilities and they will have their own laboratory service as well. More of these urgent healthcare centers are opening closer to where people live as well, and these centers offer an important medical care service to people who suffer from an injury or an illness that requires urgent care. These injuries or illnesses are usually not serious enough to warrant a visit to any hospital’s emergency department. Compared to a hospital’s emergency room, or emergency department, which is open 24/7, an urgent care center is not open on a continuous basis.

A huge advantage of all urgent care centers are that you do not need to make any appointments and they offer a full walk-in service. Your waiting period in an urgent care center is usually not as long as in the normal emergency room of a hospital. You are able to receive any medical care at an urgent care center when your doctor is not available, which often happens when you have a medical emergency.

The Healthy Prostate

August 25th, 2011 No comments

First of all, what is the prostate gland? The prostate gland is an organ that secretes a substance. To be specific, it is an endocrine gland because it excretes the substance that it excretes into a duct. As to its location, it basically surrounds the urethra and is situated just below the bladder. It usually doesn’t weigh much, about seven to sixteen grams. Its main responsibility is to secrete an alkaline, milky-white fluid that composes semen. That’s the very basic of what the prostate gland is. What is a healthy prostate like? Basically, a healthy prostate is a prostate that functions well and does what is expected of it to do. The prostate gland grows during puberty and continues to grow until about the time when a person reaches the ages of forty or fifty. prostate and doctor When is the prostate not healthy? Given that the prostate is healthy when it does function well and its size is okay, it can be said that the prostate is not healthy when it does more that what is expected of it, it doesn’t function well, its size is far different from the normal and, basically in general, it does harm the human being. Canadian cialis There are known medical conditions in relation to a person with a bad prostate. The medical terms would be Prostatitis, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, and Prostate Cancer. Prostatitis is the medical term for the inflammation of the prostate gland. This is one of the body’s ways to response to infection. When a prostate gland is inflamed, a person will have signs and symptoms of inconveniences. Since the prostate gland is located just below the bladder and as it surrounds the urethra, it can be said that – when inflamed – the prostate gland increases in size, thereby blocking the passage of urine making it quite difficult and painful to void. The case to point out when one has Prostatitis is infection due to inflammation. This is, then, treated by either antibiotics that kills and slows down the growth of bacteria due to accumulated urine, psychotherapy to at least suggest to the mind that the brain can alter the size of the inflamed prostate, or with other means necessary. When the prostate is gets really huge, it can further progress into Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH, which also includes Prostatitis with it. With BPH, there would be either an uncontrollable voiding or hesitancy. Sometimes, even, the prostate gland might be so big that it is impossible to urinate. This usually happens to older men with ages ranging from forty to seventy. BPH is such an inconvenience that it is bothersome to take note when there is randomness in storage and voiding, interfering with the activities of daily living. Treatment would usually range from oral to other forms of medication to invasive surgery to correct the functioning of the organ or to completely remove it instead. Likewise, there is Prostate Cancer which almost always includes the aforementioned signs and symptoms of Prostatitis and BPH. It is not conclusive, however, that the signs and symptoms of both Prostatitis and BPH can be seen in people who have Prostate Cancer. Some people even don’t have any symptoms, later to be discovered that they have this disease. As any cancer, the abnormal cells tend to metastasize or spread elsewhere in the body to cause further damage. Viagra super force Clearly, a healthy prostate is nothing like the how the unhealthy prostate is described to be. inflamed prostateHow can you keep a healthy prostate? To keep the prostate healthy, one must consider the overall wellness of a person. In general, the sense of it would be having diet and lifestyle modification. Plus, of course, supplements to add benefit. The best approach would be preventive and, of course, second would be curative and supportive. Having said that the best approach would be preventive, this is where diet and lifestyle modification come in. With food intake, study has shown that a high calorie intake increased the risk of a person in getting prostate disease. Moreover, men who had high protein in their diet increased furthered the risk. So it is imperative to take note that meat intake should be on the average; that you don’t eat too much of it. Low-caffeine diet has shown that to have slowed down the growth of the prostate gland. Saw palmetto can also be taken into consideration, having been found to be effective. For your prostate gland, you have to eat your vegetables, reduce fat intake and lessen or avoid caffeine and alcohol as much as possible. Daily exercise lowers a person’s fat level which can also help.

Isolation Cart And Anesthesia Cart For Hospitals And Clinics

July 25th, 2011 No comments

If you are in charge of purchasing mobile medication carts, or medicine trolleys, or if you are a specialist that buys these trolleys for your own practice, then you know that there is a huge selection in the market place of mobile medication carts of different kinds and all of them serving different purposes. Alone the operating room will be filled with medical mobile equipment and instrument trolleys, anesthesia carts, IV carts, surgical carts, and other specialty procedure carts during the operation.

We will focus on describing two of the commonly used mobile medication carts, the anesthesia cart and the isolation cart.

anesthesia cart

The anesthesia cart

The anesthesia cart, perhaps counter intuitively, is not used to host the anesthesia machine, or the gas machine. It turns out the anesthesia machines are still too bulky, and require their own cart. However, to host the supplies and the accessories needed while performing the anesthesia, anesthesiologist will organize the supplies and the accessories in a separate, anesthesia cart. There are two main types of anesthesia carts, the classic anesthesia cart, and the MR-conditional anesthesia carts.

Classic anesthesia cart: The classic anesthesia trolley consists simply of the large working surface and of several, typically five to seven drawers of varying height, which host the supplies, anesthesia items, and drugs needed. The drugs may include Propofol, Etomidate, Sux, Vecuronium, Atropine. The anesthesia items may include airway adjuncts such as tubes for nasal cavity, tongue blades, laryngoscope (throat viewer), a light wand, and also tubes to access deeper wind pipes such as endotracheal tubes.

MR-conditional anesthesia cart: The MR-conditional cart will include all the drawers and surfaces that a classic anesthesia trolley will use, but will need to be constructed out of a metallic materials that do not influence, the strong magnetic field inside the MR room. Likewise, the materials should not heat up in the presence of the radio waves that are also emanating from any MR machine. There are international standards for MR-conditional trolleys, given by ASTM. Independent certification companies are licensed to certify individual anesthesia trolleys as MR-conditional.

The mobile isolation cart

When it comes to medical storage and supply carts, the isolation carts are used more and more in hospitals. Not surprisingly, statistics have shown that in hospitals with higher number of patients, the contagion with different pathogens is more likely. Hospital carts were seen as one of the main vectors of contagion. Thus, the isolation trolley was invented. The isolation trolley can be any kind of medical supply and storage cart and is used for all the same purposes as the regular hospital carts. However, the isolation trolley is painted with a special antimicrobial paint, which kills the germs on contact. Therefore, it becomes unlikely that an isolation trolley could be transferring pathogens from one hospital bed to another.

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Categorising Critically Ill Patients by Critical Care Nurses

July 19th, 2011 No comments

Critical care nursing is the delivery of specialised care to critically ill patients or patients with the potential to become critically ill – that is, those who have or are susceptible to life-threatening illnesses or injuries. Such patients may be unstable, have complex needs and require intensive and vigilant critical care nursing.

The Department of Health categorises acute hospital patient care into levels from 0 to 3:

  • Level 0 is normal acute ward care.
  • Level 1 is acute ward care with the input of critical care specialists, e.g. outreach. This may be required because of recent discharge from a critical care unit or because the patient’s condition or therapy/equipment used in their care means increased intervention is needed.
  • Level 2 is high dependency care for patients requiring an increased level of monitoring owing to their condition or potential for deterioration or patients with single organ failure/support. Nurse to patient ratios for this level of care are usually one nurse to two patients.
  • Level 3 is intensive care for patients with two or more organ failure/support or requiring mechanical ventilation. Nurse to patient ratios for this level of care are usually one nurse to one patient.

Illnesses and injuries commonly seen in patients on critical care units, either separate level 2 and 3 facilities or combined units, include:

  • traumatic injuries from such events as road traffic accidents, falls and assaults
  • cardiovascular disorders, such as heart failure and acute coronary syndromes (unstable angina and myocardial infarction [MI])
  • elective surgeries, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and carotid endarterectomy
  • emergency surgeries, such as bowel perforation and neurosurgery
  • neurological disorders, such as hypoxic brain damage and subarachnoid haemorrhage
  • respiratory disorders, such as acute respiratory failure and pulmonary embolism
  • GI and hepatic disorders, such as acute pancreatitis, acute upper GI bleeding and acute liver failure
  • renal disorders, such as acute and chronic renal failure
  • cancers, such as lung, oesophageal and gastric cancer
  • shock caused by hypovolaemia, sepsis and cardiogenic events (such as after MI)

Meet the critical care nurse
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They are responsible for making sure that critically ill patients and members of their families receive close attention and the best care possible.

What do you do?

Fill many roles in the hospital setting, such as staff nurses, sisters, charge nurses, nurse-educators, nurse-managers, clinical nurse specialists, advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs), nurse consultants and outreach nurses.

Where do you work?

Wherever critically ill patients are found, including:

  • adult, paediatric and neonatal intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs), or combined critical
  • care units caring for both level 2 and level 3 patients
  • coronary care units
  • cardiothoracic/neurosurgical/burns/liver units
  • accident and emergency departments
  • postanaesthesia/postoperative care units
  • general wards as part of an ‘outreach’ team (providing care to patients and education to staff caring for patients
  • with complex care needs, potential to deteriorate or recently discharged from a critical care unit).

Motoring First Aid – Being Prepared

July 12th, 2011 No comments

Motoring first aid may be required at the scene of any motoring accident. Often it is ordinary people who are first on the scene of an accident. All too often they are not trained in first aid and are therefore not able to offer any help to anyone who is in need of essential first aid. Those who do have training in motoring first aid have a very valuable skill. No one want to come upon a motoring accident, but if you are trained in a way that could possibly mean the difference between life and death, you will be in a better position than most.

motoring first aid kit

Motor accidents often result in serious injuries that require immediate hospital attention. However, it can be some time between the accident happening and an ambulance arriving on the scene. Those who have undergone proper training in motoring first aid can make all the difference if they arrive at the accident scene before an ambulance arrives. They can deal with excessive bleeding or shock, and they can perform resuscitation procedures on anyone who needs it.
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Sometimes it is not a good idea to move a person who has been in a car accident. Bystanders will often do this though with the best intentions, not knowing they could be causing serious problems for the injured person. A person who has been through a motoring first aid course is much more likely to know whether it is safe to move a person or not. And if an injured person must be moved, perhaps if there is a danger of the car’s petrol igniting, then someone with first aid training is also more likely to know the best and safest way to move the crash victim.

Most cars don’t carry a motoring first aid kit, despite the fact that they are inexpensive, easy to find and purchase, and they could make a big difference. Even just having a first aid kit and not having the necessary training to go with it is better than having nothing. These kits are basic, but they contain essential things like bandages, plasters, aspirin and antiseptic creams and ointments. Their low cost and easy availability make them an easy addition to anyone’s essential car inventory.
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Conclusion Motoring first aid is perhaps one of the most useful skills anyone who travels on the road can have. Usually it will be other people who benefit from your first aid skills, but it could be a member of your own family, for instance, and not a stranger. The road is a potentially dangerous place and being prepared is the least anyone can do.
Ever wondered how you would react in an emergency situation? Ian Martin invites you to join one of the North East’s leading First Aid Training organisations, providing expert and HSE accredited training for a wide range of First Aid courses to businesses and individuals.

Air Ambulances

April 26th, 2011 No comments

Have you ever heard of air ambulances? Well if not then, air ambulances are specialized aircraft where the interior has been configured as a mobile Intensive Care Unit, ICU. They are used when a more traditional means of medical transportation cannot be used to rescue a patient and transport him or her to the nearest hospital and are a new concept that is gaining a lot of importance and popularity.

ambulances

Helicopters are the main form of this medical transportation, but now private Corporate Jets are also gaining a lot of popularity due to their flexibility, range, reliability, and flight comfort. This type of aircraft is significantly more flexible then other types of aircraft because of their ability to be configured with the latest intensive care unit equipment, these jets are well suited for transporting patients long distances, quickly, comfortable, and safely.

Fixed wing jet aircraft are best for transporting people who have had severe accidents or have fallen ill where they cannot be transported by conventional means either because of time or distance. An example would be during winter sports athletic competitions where there is a high probably for the competitors to face serious accidents during playing winter games.

Air ambulances are very well equipped with medical items and the quantities of medicine and specialized equipment are tailored for each specific mission. By reducing the amount of excess equipment the airplane carrying we are able to reduce the amount of weight that the aircraft has to carry. An example of this mission tailoring would be not bringing a kidney dialysis machine on a mission to transport someone who has a broken leg. All carry some standard equipment such as ventilators, CPR’s, ECG’s, monitoring units etc. All this equipment allows the crews to monitor and stabilize the patients till they reach to the hospital.

You do not need to worry about whether or not the crews onboard the aircraft are efficient and are very well trained. The crew knows how to handle a patient to stabilize their condition before they reach to a safe location. The crews are a team who know how to work together as a team and have the medical and flying experience. They have the experience and the training to stop profuse blood flood, any crushes and falling, cardio attack any many more.

air ambulances

The services that are offered by air ambulances are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week which means that whenever you call them you will be able to report to them regarding where you are stuck or have fallen ill. These services are provided for people who are within the local country or somewhere outside which means internationally as well. Once the advocate or the patient is able to contact the medical transportation provider, the flight coordinator will decide how urgent the situation is and what kind of medical treatment is needed for the patient to stabilize them before he or she is admitted to the hospital.

Air ambulances are also called Aero-medical evacuation, Medevac, Airevac, and Medical Flight. There are many different agencies that own or one can say operate aircraft configured as ambulances. Two of the main agencies are own that is owned by the government and is owned by private enterprises agencies.

6 Year Old Cardiac Arrest Victim Saved by AED

February 17th, 2011 No comments

In February of 2009, 6 year old Olivia Quigley was playing in the auditorium with her first grade class during gym when her heart stopped. What happened next was a series of frantic attempts to revive a little girl that just moments before had been playing running and laughing with her friends.

Two teachers in the auditorium, Robert Casaletoo and Kathleen Carabine, immediately began performing CPR on Olivia, but to no avail. Despite their practiced rhythm and efforts to restart Olivia’s heart, they could not revive a heartbeat. An ambulance had been called, but seeing Olivia’s small body laying lifeless on the auditorium floor left a horrible feeling of helplessness as they waited for the emergency responders to arrive.

For every minute that Olivia went without a heartbeat, her chances of survival diminished. Over 90% of cardiac arrest victims don’t recover after 10 minutes without oxygen, and the average national response time for emergencies is 10-12 minutes. Though her teachers continued administering CPR, there is only one treatment proven to consistently restore a heartbeat during ventricular fibrillation – Olivia needed a defibrillator, and quickly.

In an answer to prayer, Boston EMT, Phillip Kennard, and his partner, Michael Steiner, arrived at the scene in less than seven minutes. They worked frantically, applying the electrodes to Olivia’s chest and using a defibrillator to shock and jump start her heart. “After one shock, she not only got a heartbeat back, but she started breathing simultaneously as well,” said Steiner.

A year later, in 2009, Olivia was smiling again with her friends, clad in plaid jumpers and appearing to have made a full recovery at a ceremony commemorating her rescue. Joe Quiqley, her father, thanked her teacher’s and the EMT’s that responded so well, and a portable defibrillator was presented to the school. Mr. Quigley invited attendees to an upcoming class teaching emergency response techniques.

Hopefully, school boards and administrators around the country heard the remarkable story of Olivia’s collapse and timely rescue and have taken measures to ensure their campuses are prepared for the real possibility of a sudden cardiac arrest, or SCA.

As in Olivia’s case, getting a defibrillator to an SCA victim quickly is imperative, and while Olivia was fortunate to have EMT’s arrive in under 10 minutes with a defibrillator, many paramedics are unable to reach a victim within that time frame. Automatic external defibrillators, or AED’s, are available for schools and organizations to purchase and can mean the difference between a student’s life or death. The portable medical devices, which once were only available to professional response units, are lightweight machines that can fit in one hand and are easy to use.

Categories: Critical Care Tags: ,