College Essay On Stroke

Medical Emergency Strokes. Generally, whenever we hear about someone who suffered from a stroke, the result is never good. Why is it that strokes are so dangerous and why is it so important for providers to recognize them as early as possible? What do we do when we suspect a patient is currently having an active CVA (cerebral vascular accident)? All of these are excellent questions that medical providers need to affluent in.

So, what is actually happening when a stroke occurs? A stroke occurs blood flow to the brain is either impeded or significantly reduced. When this happens, the brain cells are starved of the essential oxygen and nutrients they need and begin to die. There are three different kinds of strokes. They are ischemic, hemorrhagic,

Like with anything else, it is imperative to ensure a patent airway, adequate ventilation, good oxygenation, and adequate circulation. However, stroke patients have an increased risk of losing the ability to protect their own airway and subsequently aspirate. You can help protect the patient from aspirating by simply placing them in the semi-fowlers position. Now if severe vomiting becomes a factor and the airway is compromised, intubation may need to be used to protect the patient from any further aspiration. If either the tidal volume or rate becomes inadequate, quickly assist their ventilations at a rate of 10-12 breaths per minute. If assistance is needed with ventilations, its good practice to have your BVM hooked up to oxygen too because unless your patient is intubated at this point, some of the room air you pump into them is going to go into the stomach, making for less adequate oxygenation. Along with the ABC component, you’re going to establish IV access and apply the cardiac monitor to see what the heart is doing (Mistovich, 2008). Treating the symptoms is all you’re going to be able to do. As it was mentioned before, the only way to treat the underlying problem is to get the patient to the hospital as quickly as you