Section 3 - Hemorrhage and Shock Part 1

Hemorrhage refers to bleeding, internal or external. “Shock” often is thought of as a bleeding problem, however, the EMT-I needs to recognize that hemorrhaging is only one way for shock to occur. Shock is all about a failure of perfusion of blood to the tissues in the body where oxygen is unable to reach the cells, in other words hypoperfusion.

What is important for the EMT-I is to treat obvious causes of shock (such as hemorrhage) AND to look for subtle signs of hypoperfusion (compensated) shock before the patient deteriorates, leading to severe (decompensated or irreversible) shock. Answer the questions based on the following situation:

You respond to a local hardware store for a male patient complaining of abdomen pain. Upon arrival you are escorted to a back office and find Richard who is 58 years old and the assistant manager of the store sitting in a chair. Richard is alert, anxious and complaining of abdomen pain that started an hour ago while stocking shelves. He vomited 15 minutes ago and now is feeling dizzy. During the initial assessment you find Richard’s skin to be pale and sweaty, his respirations appear to be faster than normal and his radial pulse is rapid.