1 What is hemorrhagic shock? Shock exists when the cardiovascular system is no longer able to meet the body’s metabolic and oxygen needs, resulting in cellular injury. In other words, the tissues are not adequately perfused to meet their oxygen…
1 What are the major components of the initial assessment of the trauma patient? The major components of the initial assessment of the trauma patient are primary survey and resuscitation, primary survey adjuncts, secondary survey, reevaluation as needed, and transfer…
1 What defines a geriatric patient? “Geriatrics” is best described as promoting the health of seniors. There is no specific age at which a patient is prescribed geriatric treatments. The United Nations uses 60+ as the numerical criterion, and most…
1 What is sepsis? Sepsis is a profound host immune response to infection. This systemic process can be accompanied by hypotension and can cause acute organ dysfunction. 2 What is septic shock? Septic shock is when hypotension secondary to sepsis…
1 What infectious diseases are transmissible via blood transfusion? Over 100 million blood donations are collected annually worldwide. Approximately half of these are collected in developed countries. Viruses, parasites, and bacteria and the diseases they transmit have all been found…
1 Have modern antibiotic developments controlled many, if not most, of the problems of surgical infection? No. In seriously ill surgical patients in intensive care unit (ICU) settings, the problems of sepsis have increased and remain among the principal causes…
1 What is the surgeon’s responsibility when confronted by a patient with an acute abdomen? a. To identify how sick the patient is (treat the patient first and then the disease). b. To determine whether the patient (1) needs to…
1 What is a surgical site infection? Surgical wound infections are now more appropriately referred to as “surgical site infections” (SSIs). There are different types of SSIs, which are classified by depth, timing after surgery, clinical criteria, and symptoms. The…
1 What is a fever? Normal core temperature varies between 36°C and 38°C. Because humans hibernate a little at night, we are cool (36°C) just before rising in the morning; after revving our engines all day, we are hot at…
Nutritional Assessment 1 What does a nutritional assessment include? The medical and surgical history determine preexisting conditions, metabolic stress, and alterations in organ function that influence nutritional support. Nutritional status is recently having a resurgence of importance as it can…