Pre-Hospital Care; Recognizing the Injury, Accessing Care
Brain Injury management starts with Emergency Service Providers (Nurses, Doctors, Paramedics, EMT’s, First Aid Volunteers). The goal of care is to recognize, treat and transport the brain injured patient by the most appropriate method (ground, lights and sirens, air ambulance). EMS provider responsibilities include;
Two years ago, at a conference in Atlanta, a woman from Jamaica excitedly approached me when she learned that my company provided experts for medical malpractice cases. She had been searching for resources to help in her efforts to support victims of medical malpractice in her home country. She shared multiple stories of negligence that were almost unimaginable and confided that although many Jamaican doctors were educated to North American standards, their underfunded, undersupplied and poorly managed public health-care system was struggling greatly, leaving too many patients injured as a result. There was little recourse for injured patients and minimal accountability for health-care providers.
It’s another packed evening in the hospital emergency room. You’re here with a painful cut on your hand, caused when you grabbed at a razor-sharp piece of falling metal tubing. You can’t help but notice that the busy waiting area is overflowing with patients and worried family members in equally dire straits.
Next to you, a mom sits anxiously with her toddler, whose tears, flushed face and bleary eyes suggest she has a fever. Across the aisle, an elderly man is coughing loudly into a tissue (causing you to secretly hope his illness isn’t contagious).
You’re called by the triage nurse, who tells you your swollen purple index finger should have been stitched days ago. She sends you back to the waiting room, smiling patiently as you ask how long until you see a doctor. “We’ll get you in as soon as possible, we have a lot of sick patients here tonight.”
Now, picture that you are the triage nurse for a moment. How do you determine who goes in next? Over the past 20 minutes alone, the following patients have arrived in the emergency along with the sobbing toddler with a temperature of 39.5C, a heart rate of 120/minute, sore throat and earache:
This white paper is the second of three parts on the complex functions of brain, what happens when an injury is acquired and how to care for and manage a life-changing brain injury.
BY LINDA SIMMONS, RN BScN
Consultant and Cost of Future Care Expert, Connect Medical Legal Experts
TBI refers to any injury to the scalp, skull (cranium or facial bones) or the brain. Injury to the brain can be focal or diffuse. Focal injuries result in contusions, lacerations, or hemorrhages. The hemorrhages that can occur are epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, intracerebral hematoma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The diffuse injury can cause a mild to severe concussion or diffuse axonal injury.
BY LINDA SIMMONS, RN BScN
Senior Nurse Life Care Planner, Connect Medical Legal Experts
This document will increase the health care professionals understanding of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). ABI is defined as damage to the brain that is acquired after birth. It can affect cognitive, physical, emotional, social, or independent functioning. ABI is an umbrella term used to describe all brain injuries. ABI can result from traumatic brain injury (i.e. accidents, falls, assaults, etc.) and non-traumatic brain injury (i.e. stroke, brain tumours, infection, poisoning, hypoxia, ischemia or substance abuse).
The motor vehicle related accident clients that we at Connect Experts see with ABI have often resulted from a Traumatic Brain Injury and thus ABI’s that have resulted from a TBI will be the focus of this document.
The recent court case, Ghiassi (Litigation guardian of) v. Singh 2017 ONSC 6541 focused on a rare, but serious complication..