Date Archives: 5-Nov-2014

Category: Cardiac Ischemia   |   Date:

Question: I recently had a patient with ischemic like she's pain (no ECG changes). When going through questions to administer ASA, the patient stated she could not have ASA as per her physician because she was recently placed on Clopidogrel after a stroke about 3 weeks ago. I ask the patient if she meant she should not have daily aspirin, or if a one-time aspirin was okay. She could not answer the question, and stated she did not want to be treated with the aspirin. Is the patient correct, or should I have pushed harder to administer it?

Category: Acute Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema   |   Date:

Question: Last night I had a 75 year old patient calling because he was SOB x 2 days with it worsening this evening. Patient could not sleep (could not breathe very well laying down) and was more SOB on exertion. I could hear fine crackles in the bases of his lungs.

There was no ischemic chest pain or NTG history. His vitals on contact were HR 90, BP 188/70 (ish), SPO2 95% on Room air, 100% on NRB, RR 24 verified with an with ETCO2 of 40mmHg, No ST changes in 12 lead.

He had some slight increased work of breathing on scene with mild increased diaphragmatic use but was speaking full sentences and in good spirits with us. Patient had a history of COPD and CHF. He also stated he had taken some of his Ventolin puffers prior to our arrival with no relief (probably made things worse). I wanted to treat him with NTG but he did not seem to be in enough distress initially, so I kept him on the NRB which he stated help initially. We got to the truck and started an IV enroute, then administered 0.8mg NTG. Literally... within about 2 minutes of the NTG admin, while I was patching, the patient had a sudden onset of severe SOB. We were right outside the hospital, so I grabbed my BVM, assisted his respirations distress until my partner could get us out of the truck and help me put CPAP on. CPAP helped and he was back to normal shortly after our transfer of care.

My question is, should I have used the CPAP right away with the NTG, even though the patient was not showing signs of severe respiratory distress at the time, and on numerous auscultations of the lung, did not have any increase in crackles... until of course, he developed that sudden severe respiratory distress? My gut was to CPAP him early, but I felt he did not fit the protocol yet given his level of dyspnea, SPO2 sats, RR and minimal accessory muscle use.

Category: Do Not Resuscitate (DNR)   |   Date:

Question: There is some confusion about patients that have a valid DNR, and are very sick requiring transport. It makes sense that many of the ACP skills might not be utilized on these patients, and CPAP would be a PCP skill. There are cases where the family changes their mind on a DNR, and cases where the status is not clear. There are also other cases where a patient may be a trauma and have a valid DNR where they may need a needle decompression, but not necessarily cardiac arrest needing CPR or intubation. Is it OK for ACPs not to attend valid DNR patients?

Category: Adult Analgesia   |   Date:

Question: Is narcotic analgesia recommended for patients currently on methadone? Would there be any synergistic effect? Would it cause the patient to relapse?

Category: Adult Analgesia, Moderate to Severe Pain   |   Date:

Question: I have a few questions regarding the new analgesia and moderate to severe pain medical directives.

1. Could you be more specific on what you mean with "current active bleed"? Would this include the possible bleeding attributed with fractures? Blood in urine from damage caused by known kidney stones? Menstrual bleeding?

2. Could you elaborate on the condition of "patient must remain NPO or is unable to take oral medications" for Ketorolac? Does this mean it is only to be given if Tylenol/Ibuprofen cannot be given orally, or they should remain NPO after medication administration?

3. Should we avoid giving Tylenol/Ibuprofen/Ketorolac if patient has already self-medicated with other pain medications? i.e. Percocet, Demerol, etc.

Thank you in advance for your clarification.

Category: Miscellaneous   |   Date:

Question: In which instance should a transdermal patch be removed in the pre-hospital setting? Example 1: Hypotensive patient with a Nitro patch on. Example 2: VSA with a narcotic patch on. Example 3: Suspected OD with a narcotic patch on (or several).

Category: Medical Cardiac Arrest   |   Date:

Question: This question is in regards to timing during a medical VSA. Would your 2 minutes in between analysis restart when you stop to analyse or after you have analysed or shocked? For example, you stop to analyse at 1500:00 and you start your CPR at 1500:10 after shock or no shock, would your next analyze be at 1502:00 or 1502:10?