Hospital and Telephone Triage

91 videos, 4 hours and 28 minutes

Course Content

Debrief - Falls vs collapse

Video 65 of 91
1 min 47 sec
English
English
Want to watch this video? Sign up for the course or enter your email below to watch one free video.

Unlock This Video Now for FREE

This video is normally available to paying customers.
You may unlock this video for FREE. Enter your email address for instant access AND to receive ongoing updates and special discounts related to this topic.

The scenario you have just seen is a patient that has fallen over and has injured his left arm. In this scenario, it is important to establish whether it is a fall versus a collapse. So ask personal questions such as, "What were you doing before you fell? Did you lose consciousness? Did you hit your head? Was it a witnessed fall or was it un-witnessed? And if you did fall, how did you fall? Did you fall with an outstretched hand, or did you fall backwards? Any chest pain? Any dizziness?" Did he feel like he had an impending doom or tunnel vision? All these questions are important in ruling out anything neurological, or whether it be cardiac or just a simple mechanical fall.

In this case, he states that he tripped over the carpet and fell forward with an outstretched hand. He claims to have blacked out, but from questions that were asked previously, we could establish that there was no loss of consciousness. So because he fell with an outstretched hand and his pain score was two, which is quite comfortable at rest, we then proceeded to put the arm in a sling to make it a bit more comfortable for the patient and directed him to minor injuries. You may note that I have asked him to remove his ring. Due to the nature of the injury, it is important because there is a risk of swelling and that might cause complications down the line if the ring is not removed.