Emergencies Outside the ER
Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination - Al Gore
image by: Jason Bain
HWN Suggests
When the Earth and the Heart Break Open
Studies show that in an emergency only 15 percent of us may remain clear-headed. That means 85 percent either panic or wander around, dazed and confused. Experts on fear and survival point out the two skills we need in an emergency:
- The practical skill acquired by mental rehearsal
- A solid and confident sense of intuition
The mental rehearsal part is literal. It is about making a "folder" in your mind about what to do in an emergency so that if fight, flight or freeze puts you on "automatic," you have a program to follow. When you look at the instructions card in an airplane, you are more likely to move to an exit in a crash landing.…
Resources
Save Your Life: Get ICE
By its very definition, an emergency is not planned. We never know when we or someone we love could be in an accident or have a heart attack. We don’t want to think about this, but it’s true. How can we prepare? The solution takes just a minute. The answer is ICE.
Why You Should Practice Emergency Preparedness With Your Kids
Practice calling 911 with your kids. Run a fire drill. Talk to them about doing exactly what you say in an emergency and not asking questions until after. Plan and think and consider the terrifying, because it could make a life-or-death difference.
An Exhaustive Inventory of the International Space Station's Medicine Cabinet
Life in space is fraught with a dizzying array of potential calamities. With no quick lifeline to an ambulance or hospitals, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have to be prepared to tackle medical emergencies, literally on the fly.
Duck and Cover: It’s the New Survivalism
Survivalism, it seems, is not just for survivalists anymore.
How to Add an Emergency Contact to Your Phone's Lock Screen
This one tech trick could help save your life. Here's how to make sure you and your family members have emergency medical information readily available.
How To Survive An Emergency
These short-term emergency kits should be readily accessible and cover the basic daily needs of your family for a period of at least 3 days. Please note that 3 days is a minimal time period and that you should have at least a 2-week supply of food stored in or around your home.
Medical Emergencies at 40,000 Feet
I have responded five times to "Is there a doctor on board the plane?" In three of the cases, it was a true emergency. Airline systems are woefully underprepared to deal with these situations. Here's what needs to change.
Outcomes of Medical Emergencies on Commercial Airline Flights
Worldwide, 2.75 billion passengers fly on commercial airlines annually. When in-flight medical emergencies occur, access to care is limited. We describe in-flight medical emergencies and the outcomes of these events.
The Erosion of U.S. Emergency Preparedness
Some of the most elementary capabilities -- including the ability to identify and contain outbreaks, provide vaccines and medications during emergencies, and treat people during mass traumas -- are experiencing cuts in every state across the country.
The most common in-flight medical emergencies
A physician passenger responds to nearly one in two in-flight medical crises, which most commonly involve fainting, respiratory problems, or nausea, according to research published this week in NEJM.
What Brings Americans to the ER?
Each region of the U.S. has the same four most common complaints, just in a different order.
911 Emergency: Call Centers Can’t Find Workers
Once hired, new dispatchers undergo several weeks or months of training, though there are no uniform nationwide standards. Few states have mandatory exams and the vast differences in resources between 911 centers can mean that the bulk of some new operators’ training comes from simply sitting beside longer-tenured colleagues.
Common Simple Emergencies
Extensive list from National Center for Emergency Medicine Informatics.
Emergency Care For You
Brought to you by ACEP.
Hospitals keep ER fees secret. We’re uncovering them
Reporter Sarah Kliff is collecting emergency room bills as part of a year-long project focused on American health care prices.
Strategies to Navigate the Emergency Room
The most important fact every E.R. visitor should know is that true medical emergencies —patients with a potentially life-threatening problem like a heart attack, stroke, respiratory distress or uncontrolled bleeding — take precedence over a broken bone, headache or stomach pain.
When the Earth and the Heart Break Open
And if an emergency happens, you model calm, talk it over with them to allay fears and clear up misunderstandings, limit media exposure, let them sleep with you if they want to, and give them plenty of ways to use their creativity to cope (drawing, writing a different ending, play acting).
10 Common Health Emergencies And How to Deal With Them
To make the decision easier, we spoke to pediatric ER doctors about ten common kid accidents and how to handle them.
10 Types of ER Patients
If you fall into one of these categories, here’s how to improve your care.
3 Solutions For Emergency Department Delays
Doctors and nurses tend to resist changes to their care-delivery methods, insisting that the old way has worked for centuries. The truth is, forcing patients to wait in the Emergency Department is unnecessary and dangerous. Improving patient flow can and does reduce hospital costs while improving clinical outcomes.
7 Common Survival Tactics (that Will Get You Killed)
Most of us like to think we'd make it through many life-threatening situations just fine. After all, you've seen the Discovery channel, you've watched disaster movies and you've got a good logical head on our shoulders. You should be just fine, right? But that's like thinking you'll be good in a fight because you've watched a Jackie Chan movie; whatever "techniques" you think you've learned are more likely to get your dumb ass killed.
ICE
By adding ICE to your mobile phone it allows paramedics on the scene to identify you, treat you and be able to contact your next of kin immediately. Also, carers and parents can relax knowing, that should anything happen to their loved ones, medics will have all the information they need to give the right treatment, and they will know who to call first.
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