UPDATED: 02/24/2011 - Patient Follow-Up Posted. CLICK HERE FOR THE ANSWER
EMS responds to a fitness center where an elderly female has experienced a syncopal episode.
On arrival, the staff leads a paramedic and her EMT partner to the 68-year-old female who is lying supine next to a tread mill.
She appears pale, diaphoretic, and acutely ill.
A nurse is holding a gauze pad to the patient’s forehead. A look under the gauze reveals a laceration and hematoma the size of a silver dollar.
Vomit is noted on the floor next to the patient’s head.
The patient is conscious but listless and oriented to person, place and time but not event.
When asked if she has any pain the patient says, “Yes” and then rolls on her side and begins throwing up.
The radial pulse is slow and barely palpable. The patient seems very weak.
She denies neck or back pain. There is no pain or tenderness on palpation of the cervical spine.
The patient is placed flat on the gurney and vital signs are assessed.
Resp: 12 and shallow
Pulse: 40 and regular
NIBP: 81/43
SpO2: 96 on RA
Breath sounds are clear bilaterally.
The cardiac monitor is attached.
A 12-lead ECG is captured.
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