Capnography

An interview with B.J. has provided an opportunity to gain an appreciation for these qualities from someone in her area of nursing. Initially, she was a Licensed Practical Nurse until 1983, when she decided to pursue an Associate Degree in nursing the same year. After graduating in 1985 she went to work in Neuro rehabilitation. Later on she moved to orthopedics, rotated through other Intensive care units. Three years ago she assumed a position as a case manager for an addiction centre, then onto…

In today’s society a need for rapid advanced medical care and transport outside the hospital setting has become a must. With a large increase in population, the need for more ambulances and more personnel to staff these units are in high demand. These personnel must be highly trained and skilled in many areas to safely and efficiently perform. Today’s paramedics are trained to handle nearly any emergency they may encounter in the field. In 1972 the United States was recovering from several…

One of the most fundamental skills of a pre-hospital EMS provider is management of the airway. Having the knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the pediatric airway along with the various tools now at our disposal, have allowed the opportunity to have a much more successful rate of securing the pediatric airway. The one thing to remember is, “Kids are not small adults!” There are many differences from the anatomical and physiological perspective along with pathological conditions that…

we then noticed that her respirations were 4 breaths/min. The patient was nasal flaring and abdominally breathing meaning she was in respiratory distress. We switched her from the nasal cannula to a 100% non-rebreather at 10 L/min with end-tidal capnography measurements. It looked like a nasal cannula under the non-rebreather. The paramedic then opened the clamp on the normal saline that she had started in school to midway. The patient’s heart rate was 296 the monitor was reading. We got the…