Burn Emergecies

1^st Degree Burn:

• Superficial , affects epidermis.
• Skin will be dry, pink or red, swollen, painful, and sensitive to touch. No blisters.
• Examples: sunburn or minor scald injury

2^nd Degree Burn:

• Partial Thickness, affects epidermis and dermis.
• Skin will be white to red, moist and mottled (blotchy), intense pain, swollen, blistered.
• Can be caused by contact w/ fire (flame or flash), hot liquids, objects, chemical substance, or sun.
• Two types: Superficial Partial-Thickness Burns or Deep Partial-Thickness Burns.

3^rd Degree Burn:

• Full-Thickness burn, affect epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layers.
• Skin will be dry, hard, tough, leathery and may appear white and waxy to dark brown or black and charred, no pain (never endings are destroyed) however, surrounding areas may only have superficial-partial thickness burns that can be very painful.
• Eschar-tough leathery dead soft tissue formed in full-thickness burns.

4^th Degree Burn:

• Some full-thickness burns can be classified as 4^th degree burns. These burns are very deep and extends completely through the epidermis and dermis and deep into tendons, ligaments, muscle, bone, blood vessels, and nerves.

Drowning Emergencies

Q. Is it possible to survive drowning?

A. Yes

Quick rescue and early resuscitation are the most critical factors associated with better outcomes.

Orlowski score predicts likelihood of surviving neurologically intact. Best chance of survival is with two or fewer of the following characteristics:

• · Patient is 3 years of age or older.
• · Patient was submerged for greater than 5 minutes.
• · Resuscitation did not begin for more than 10 minutes after rescue.
• · Patient is comatose on delivery to emergency department.
• · Patient’s arterial blood is very acidic (pH less than 7.10)

Three or more of those characteristics, chance of survival is only 5%.

Q. Is there a difference between drowning in warm water and drowning in cold water?

A. Yes, when a person dives into cold water (below 70°F or 21°C) the mammalian diving reflex may drastically slow down metabolism and make the patient more likely to be resuscitated, even after prolonged submersion.

Here’s how it works:

Face submerged in cold water, larynx spasms, breathing is inhibited, heart rate slows, blood vessels throughout most of body constrict. Blood flow to heart and brain is maintained so oxygen is sent and used only where it is needed to immediately sustain life.

In other words, the colder the water, the more oxygen goes to the heart and brain.

EMT-Basic Skills Training

This "patient" is being strapped to a backboard. We practiced doing this a lot!

We even had two vehicles that we worked on getting "patients" out of! Extrication is harder than it looks!

CPR is something I think most if not all of us are now completely comfortable with. We have practiced this a respectable million times now! :)

Managing two patients or more at once can be a challenge!

Here you see students holding C-spine, which means they are immobilizing the patient's neck and the other students are supporting the rest of the body as they position the patient on a back board.

I am kicking myself if the butt now for not bringing my camera to class, but the pictures above are other students (not of my school) practicing similar skills that we practiced all day yesterday. There was supposed to be someone from the college taking pictures, but I don't think they were there.

April 16th 2011 we will be practicing MCI's (Mass Casualty Incidents) which we will all be together again for a full day practicing! That one should be interesting!