You have arrived on the scene of a paramedic who was shot as she approached a residence on a call. The scene has since been secured. Your patient is a 38-year-old woman with one gunshot wound to the left side of the chest at the fifth intercostal space in the midaxillary line. She is pale, cool, and awake but agitated. She is diaphoretic and complaining of pain in her left side and difficulty
breathing. The patient's EMT partner has applied oxygen by nonrebreather mask and placed an occlusive dressing over the entry wound before your arrival. As you continue your assessment, the patient's level of consciousness decreases. She responds to verbal stimuli. Her airway is clear, her respiratory rate is 38 per minute and shallow, her neck veins are flat, and her breath sounds are absent on the left side. The patient lacks a radial pulse, and her abdomen is non-guarded and non-tender. Which of the following best explains the presentation of this patient?
A) Simple pneumothorax
B) Tension pneumothorax
C) Pericardial tamponade
D) Hemothorax
D
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You are an assistant instructor for an Emergency Medical Responder course. One of the students asks you how the head-tilt, chin-lift airway maneuver works to open the airway. Your response is:
A) "It opens the airway by lifting the tongue from the back of the throat." B) "It creates an open airway by separating the lips, allowing air to enter." C) "It stimulates the patient to begin taking deeper breaths, thereby moving air into the lungs." D) "It opens the airway by relaxing and expanding the size of the throat."
Infection control pertains to limiting the spread of _________ microorganisms that cause disease
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).