What does an emergency attendant do?
What is meant by emergency care? Workers in paramedical vocations provide pre-hospital emergency medical care to patients suffering from injuries or diseases, as well as transporting them to hospitals or other medical facilities for further treatment.
From the previous chapters, you will now know that to ensure the best possible outcome for anyone who is injured or suddenly becomes ill you need to take responsibility for making assessments. Tell those at the scene that you are a trained first aider and calmly take charge.
Resist the temptation to begin dealing with any sick or injured casualty until you have assessed the overall situation, ensured that everyone involved is safe and, if appropriate, taken steps to organize the necessary help.
How do you act in when Emergency care support?
- Be calm.
- Be aware of the risks.
- Build and maintain the casualty’s trust.
- Call appropriate help.
- Remember your own needs.
Managing Emergency care for INJURED OR SICK
There are three aspects to this:
- First, find out what is wrong with the casualty;
- Second, treat conditions found in order of severity – life-threatening conditions first.
- Third, arrange for the next step of a casualty’s care. You will need to decide what type of care a casualty needs. You may need to call for emergency help, suggest the casualty seeks medical advice or allow him to go home, accompanied if necessary.
Other people at the incident can help you with this. Ask one of them to call 999/112 for emergency help while you attend a casualty. Alternatively, they may be able to look after less seriously injured casualties. or fetch first aid equipment.
FIRST ACTIONS:- Support the casualty a bystander may be able to help. Ask the casualty about what happened. and try to identify the most serious injury.
Method of Emergency care assessments
When you assess a casualty you first need to identify and deal with- any life-threatening conditions, the sick or injured a primary survey.
Deal with each life-threatening condition as you find it, working in the following order airway, breathing, then circulation, before you progress to the next stage.
Depending on your findings you may not move on to the next stage of the assessment. If the life-threatening injuries are successfully managed, or there are none, you carry on the assessment and perform a secondary survey.
Emergency care | PRIMARY SURVEY
This is an initial rapid assessment of a casualty to establish and treat conditions that are an immediate threat to life.
If a casualty is conscious, suffering from minor injuries, and is talking to you, then this survey will be completed very quickly. If, however, a casualty is more seriously injured [for example, unconscious), this assessment will take longer.
Follow the ABC principle: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation.
- Airway Is the airway open and clear? If not, open and clear it. An obstructed airway will prevent breathing, causing hypoxia, and ultimately death. If the casually is talking to you. the airway is open and clear.
- Breathing Is the casualty breathing normally? If he is breathing, you need to check for and treat any breathing difficulty(for example, asthma). He is not breathing, call 999/112 for emergency help, then start chest compressions with rescue breaths (cardiopulmonary resuscitation/CPR). If this happens, you are unlikely to move on to the next stage.
- Circulation Is the casualty bleeding severely? This must be treated since it can lead to a life-threatening condition known as shock.
SPECIAL CASE SEVERAL CASUALTIES
If there is more than one casualty, you will need to prioritize those that must be treated first according to the severity of their injuries. Use the primary survey ABC principles (above) to do this. Remember that unresponsive casualties are at the greatest risk.
Emergency care | SECONDARY SURVEY
This is a detailed examination of a casualty to look for other injuries or conditions that may not be apparent. To do this, carry out a head-to-toe examination. Your aim is to find out:
- History What actually happened and any relevant medical history.
- Symptoms Injuries or abnormalities that the casualty tells you about.
- Signs Injuries or abnormalities that you can see.
By checking the recognition features of the different injuries and conditions explained in the chapters of this site, you can identify what may be wrong. Record your findings and pass on any relevant information to the medical team.
Emergency care | LEVEL OF RESPONSE
You will initially have noted whether or not a casualty is conscious. He may have spoken to you or made eye contact or some other gesture.
Perhaps there has been no response to your questions such as “Are you all right?” or “What happened?” Now you need to establish the level of response using the AVPU scale.
This is important since some illnesses and injuries cause a deterioration in a casualty’s level of response, so it is vital to assess the level, then monitor him for any change.