An unconscious patient poses many ethical and legal difficulties. As medical students we must use principles from all three 'Tomorrow's Doctor' outcomes to allow us to appropriately care for a patient who is unable to respond to questioning or consent to treatment. There are three outcomes we must pertain too: a doctor as a scientist and scholar, a doctor as a practitioner and a doctor as a professional.
Immediately when presented with an unconscious patient the first duty of care is to ensure all action we take improves the wellbeing of the patient. We can use our skills as a practitioner to perform the clinically necessary skills to assess the patient, based on AVPU (Alert, responding to Verbal stimulus, responding to Painful stimulus, Unresponsive.) …show more content…
By having an underlying base of scientific knowledge a doctor is able to create specific lines of inquiry when faced with an unconscious patient. Consideration of: head trauma, self-poisoning, circulation, Sa02 levels and neurological disruption will take place. As a scholar and scientist a doctor should be able to apply the ethical and legal principles of medicine, they should have a thorough understanding of the medical regulations that govern appropriate practice and apply this to their care of a patient unable to give consent to treatment. A doctor should have clear knowledge of the extent of treatment they can provide and the consent barriers that will have to be considered. Specifically a doctor must use professional judgement to consider 'best interest' in terms of emergency medical management - to be able to ethically withdraw bloods from an unconscious adult. A competent doctor must have the relevant background information in pharmacology to understand and interpret laboratory results and prescribe appropriate medicines and dosages. Whilst not directly related to an unconscious patient, in Scenario two, the patient was found collapsed on the street with signs of possible drug use, from this information a competent doctor should apply principles of population health and understand the social and economic principles …show more content…
The patient showed shallow respiration, weak pulse and constriction of the pupils. As a professional the A&E consulting doctor was able to use effective communication with the paramedics to gain a recent history of the female's situation, the location she was found and the approximate duration of time she had been unconscious while in their care. As a practitioner the lead doctor displayed a variety of practical skills, prescribed treatment and administered an intravenous injection. The practical aspect of a medical professional should indicate the ability of a doctor to diagnose and manage presentations, specifically in this case the doctor was able to ascertain the reason for unconsciousness through a series of practical tests and prescribe the correct treatment to allow the patient to return to full consciousness. As a scholar and scientist the role of a doctor is to have a full and clear understanding of the biomedical principles which underpin the treatment of a patient. In this case the doctor is able to notice signs of neurological damage in regards to the pinpoint pupils. In order to care for the patient the doctor must be able to interpret haematological results and have a clear understanding of drugs which they can prescribe to counteract the fluctuation in the chemical balance of
Immediately when presented with an unconscious patient the first duty of care is to ensure all action we take improves the wellbeing of the patient. We can use our skills as a practitioner to perform the clinically necessary skills to assess the patient, based on AVPU (Alert, responding to Verbal stimulus, responding to Painful stimulus, Unresponsive.) …show more content…
By having an underlying base of scientific knowledge a doctor is able to create specific lines of inquiry when faced with an unconscious patient. Consideration of: head trauma, self-poisoning, circulation, Sa02 levels and neurological disruption will take place. As a scholar and scientist a doctor should be able to apply the ethical and legal principles of medicine, they should have a thorough understanding of the medical regulations that govern appropriate practice and apply this to their care of a patient unable to give consent to treatment. A doctor should have clear knowledge of the extent of treatment they can provide and the consent barriers that will have to be considered. Specifically a doctor must use professional judgement to consider 'best interest' in terms of emergency medical management - to be able to ethically withdraw bloods from an unconscious adult. A competent doctor must have the relevant background information in pharmacology to understand and interpret laboratory results and prescribe appropriate medicines and dosages. Whilst not directly related to an unconscious patient, in Scenario two, the patient was found collapsed on the street with signs of possible drug use, from this information a competent doctor should apply principles of population health and understand the social and economic principles …show more content…
The patient showed shallow respiration, weak pulse and constriction of the pupils. As a professional the A&E consulting doctor was able to use effective communication with the paramedics to gain a recent history of the female's situation, the location she was found and the approximate duration of time she had been unconscious while in their care. As a practitioner the lead doctor displayed a variety of practical skills, prescribed treatment and administered an intravenous injection. The practical aspect of a medical professional should indicate the ability of a doctor to diagnose and manage presentations, specifically in this case the doctor was able to ascertain the reason for unconsciousness through a series of practical tests and prescribe the correct treatment to allow the patient to return to full consciousness. As a scholar and scientist the role of a doctor is to have a full and clear understanding of the biomedical principles which underpin the treatment of a patient. In this case the doctor is able to notice signs of neurological damage in regards to the pinpoint pupils. In order to care for the patient the doctor must be able to interpret haematological results and have a clear understanding of drugs which they can prescribe to counteract the fluctuation in the chemical balance of