Managing the patient assignment - Essay Example

MANAGING THE PATIENT ASSIGNMENT School: Lecturer: MANAGING THE PATIENT ASSIGNMENT Ensuring to undertake radiographic procedures during the golden hours for trauma radiography is very important in getting the right kind of information about what might be happening to the patient as a result of the accident. In this instance, the golden hour can be referred to as the first one hour following the car accident (Victorino, Battistella and Wisner, 2003). During this golden hour, it is expected that “swift intervention may be the deciding factor between life and death and so prompt treatment of shock and hypoxemia is needed” (GE Medical Systems, 2002).

Even though no evidence exists to the effect that survival rate drops after the first one hour, giving care during this time ensures that most forms of injuries and traumas are still fresh for informed decisions to be made.Right after identifying haemorrhage in patient’s brain, the most immediate action to take is to stabilise the blood pressure and breathing of the patient (Kool and Blickman, 2007). This is because, the haemorrhage, which represents breeding in the patient’s brain may deteriorate with deteriorating blood pressure level.

The stabilisation can be done by the radiographer using breathing assist machine, which is a ventilator. This is because a ventilator can guarantee sufficient oxygen supply to the brain and other organs, which will be a very important intervention to ensuring that the haemorrhage is brought to stable conditions. The radiographer can also choose intravenous access, especially where the patient came in unconscious. In the giving situation, as much as early x-ray procedures are important, it is also very important to ensure that procedures are carried out in a manner and in a way that is successful and less restricting.

Achieving this however depends on how the radiographer will deal with the patient during x-ray procedure. One of the most acceptable interventions in such situations of trauma and vehicular accident is the use of backup radiography. This means that the radiographer must first admit to the need for other people to assist. Such assistance should be focused on accurate diagnosis, which can be achieved when immobilisation techniques are used to ensure that the patient stays in place as expected for the processes to take place (Victorino, Battistella and Wisner, 2003).

Where the patient is conscious, communication will be very important in ensuring that the right information is had pertaining to specific activities that cause particular injury patterns in the patient (Battistella, 1998). During the golden hour of the accident, one thing that is important for the radiographer to know is that the patient will be in a lot of pain and will therefore want to move a lot; in accordance to ways in which they feel they will get relief (Zhu et al., 2000). However, such movement may only be worsening injuries to the bone and other organs.

Such movement will also hinder successful one shot x-ray examination. It is therefore important to limit movement in the patient by use of immobilisation techniques. Depending on where the patient is hurting, the radiographer can minimise movement by the use of either a relocatable head frame or a vacuum bag (Zhu et al., 2000). For total limitation of movement however, the vacuum bag is the most preferred. But whiles doing this, the radiographer must also bear in mind the need for the patient to get some relief.

This is where cooperation, communication and distraction techniques can be combined to ensure that the patient is able to concentrate on the procedure willingly.ReferencesBattistella FD (1998). Ventilation in the trauma and surgical patient. Crit Care Clin. Vol. 14 No. 4, pp731-42.GE Medical Systems (2002). Program Supplement. XR: Trauma Radiography. [Online] Available at http://www.gehealthcare.com/gecommunity/tip_tv/subscribers/sup_material/xr/xr_trauma/docs/supplement.pdf [28th April, 2014]Hilty MP, Behrendt I, Benneker LM, et al; Pelvic radiography in ATLS algorithms: A diminishing role?

World J Emerg Surg. 2008 Mar 4;3:11.Kool DR and Blickman JG (2007). Advanced Trauma Life Support. ABCDE from a radiological point of view. Emerg Radiol. Vol. 14 No. 3, pp.135-41. Epub 2007 Jun 12.Victorino GP, Battistella FD and Wisner DH (2003). Does tachycardia correlate with hypotension after trauma? J Am Coll Surg. Vol. 196 No. 5, pp 679-84.Zhu Y1, Stovall J Jr, Butler L, Ji Q, Gaber MW, Samant S, Sontag MR, de Armendi AJ and Merchant TE. (2000). Comparison of two immobilization techniques using portal film and digitally reconstructed radiographs for pediatric patients with brain tumors.

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