Traumatic Injury
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The most common injury that the public reports to the emergency services is a traumatic injury. This injury is one that happens suddenly and is a very serious injury that will require immediate medical attention as they can at times be quite life threatening. It is important that the emergency services are alert and informed when responding to the call as there is different types of traumatic injuries and can seriously change how the paramedics approach the situation and give the best possible chance to help those that have been injured.
Abdominal Pain
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The emergency services must be active as well as knowledgeable about the different scenarios and injuries that the ambulance service may face when in the field. One of the more common injuries that requires the specialist medical attention of a paramedic is when someone is suffering from abdominal pain. When someone is suffering from abdominal pain there can be a vast amount of reasons for this including something as minor as trapped wind to more serious issues such as a burst appendix. The symptoms usually consist of nausea, fever and diarrhoea.
Respiratory Distress
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It takes a vast amount of bravery and courage to work for the emergency services due to the truly daunting injuries that you face on a day to day basis. Especially when you consider the serious common injuries that are reported to 911 very single day. One of these common calls is to provide medical support for someone suffering from respiratory issues. There are two different types of respiratory distress primary, which is asthma, pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and secondary which includes sepsis, stroke and head trauma.
Chest Pain
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When the emergency services receive a 911 call they never really know what to expect and there is no telling the level of danger that a person will be in and how to best react. That is why it is so important to learn what each individual injury category is so that they can give the paramedics as much information as possible. Chest pain is one of the most common injuries that is reported to 911. Chest pain can come in many different ways. It can be sharp like a stabbing pain, burning pain, crushing pain or aching. This can be a sign of some very serious illnesses such as cardiac arrest.
Behaviour Disorder
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The life of an emergency service worker is massively unpredictable and you never know what incident you will hear coming through the radio therefore it is so difficult to prepare yourself prior to the call. One of the most common callouts that an ambulance may receive, which is also quite surprising, is incidents involving behavioural disorders. When responding to a behavioural disorder it is crucial to learn whether the person is putting themselves at harm or others around them. These behavioural issues typically include: depression, schizophrenia and dementia.
Loss Of Consciousness
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It is crucial that all members of the ambulance service understand each individual call so that they can respond appropriately and best prepared to help the injured. One of the most common injuries that requires a lot of information to specify the medical attention that is needed is the loss of consciousness. With losing consciousness there are many different types: Vasovagal, Situational, Postural, Neurologic and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. All of these categories are vastly dangerous and cause serious damage.
Altered Levels Of Consciousness
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When working in the emergency services and more specifically the ambulance service it is crucial that you are aware of the many different emergencies that you can be called to and aware of the different specifics you will need to prepare when you are on route to the incident and must be prepared to help however they can. One of the common calls that paramedics are called to is when the patients are experiencing altered levels of consciousness. This is its own condition where people cannot control when they are and are not consciousness.
Seizure
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Seizures are a very common medical incidents that occur in today's modern day society and has been heavily increased because of the use of the rapid technological advancements being made. A seizure is brought on due to excessive brain activity. Seizures can be caused by changes in light, often flashing lights, stress, lack of sleep changes in blood sugar and alcohol withdrawal. If you are worried about somebody having a seizure and want to provide paramedics with the right information the person would be displaying a lot of whole body shaking and lapses in consciousness.
Poisoning Or Drug Ingestion
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One of most shocking and common injuries reported to the emergency services is drug ingestion and poisoning. You may be even more shocked to hear that the majority of poison related incidents reported to 911 is in children aged from 1 to 3 due to them having access to different household items and chemicals. Whereas adult poisoning is quite low and is usually only evident in the case of a suicide. There are three different main types of poisoning acute poisoning, systematic poisoning, and chronic poisoning all potentially have fatal effects.
Diabetic Symptoms
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Standing as one the world's most common illnesses it should come as no surprise that reports of medical emergencies that involve diabetes is one of the most common emergency calls that 911 receives. There are two different types of diabetes and each of them comes with their specific issues and risks to a person's health. Having diabetes can cause a person chances of dying at an early age by almost 50 percent. Diabetes is a metabolic condition where someone has continued high blood sugar for a prolonged period of time.
Stroke
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The emergency services are constantly dealing with a vast amount of different emergencies all of which cause problems for the team. Unfortunately a lot of the emergencies that paramedics are tasked to respond to are life threatening. One of these common injuries or incidents is the occurrence of a stroke. Often confused as a heart attack a stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the US and most commonly affects people over the age of 65. There are two different types of stroke: Ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke both of which can be fatal.
Cardiac Rhythm Disturbance
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Cardiac rhythm disturbance is more commonly know in the medical world as cardiac arrhythmia and it is an issue that affects millions of people across the US. Due to clear issues that cardiac arrhythmia causes to the heart and therefore can trigger certain fatal illnesses and issues such as a stroke and can even cause blood clots in the brain. This illness causes the heart to beat in an irregular rhythm either being too slow or too fast. If the heart rate is too slow then it is called bradycardia and if the heart beats too fast it is referred to as tachycardia.
Cardiac Arrest
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Another leading cause of fatalities in the US and a common injury that can both be a side effect brought on by other illnesses or issues and as it being possible to happen without warning cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, emergency services workers respond to a vast amount of calls for someone suffering from a cardiac arrest and must be prepared to try and save their lives. Cardiac arrest is caused by a sudden loss of blood flow because the heart is unable to pump blood around the body efficiently. A person may show symptoms of abnormal breathing and loss of consciousness.
Hypothermia
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There are many different injuries that require the need for all of the emergency services to attend to and often these situations mean that there is a serious medical issue. One of these unfortunate incidents is when a person is suffering from hyperthermia. This can often be due to different incidents but often someone may be stuck in a cold place or even trapped in icy water. Hypothermia is a condition where the body's core temperature starts to go drastically below their natural body temperature. When the body goes below 95 degrees.
Allergic Reaction
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Allergic reactions are medical issues that affect the majority of the population in some capacity. Allergic reactions can come in varying levels of severity from a slight rash to very serious fatalities. An allergic reaction occurs when the body's immune system treats non-threatening substances as harmful substances that can cause the body to react in dangerous ways. To try and fight this the body will produce antibodies. However, when a reaction becomes too severe the emergency services will be needed to help stop the reaction.
Hypothermia
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The idea of becoming too cold and causing serious health issues such as hypothermia is well known around the world but another common medical issue that can occur due to the changing of body temperature hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is caused when the body starts to seriously overheat and causes the body temperature to rise over its average temperature of 37 degrees celsius. Hyperthermia sets in when the body temperature hits 38 degrees celsius. If someone starts to suffer from hyperthermia then they should try to remove tight or warm clothing.
Heart Attack
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One of the most common calls that the emergency services receive is informing them that somebody is currently having a heart attack. When this situation occurs it is critical that an ambulance gets to the scene as quickly as possible and the person with the injured is prepared to deliver life saving support. It is more beneficial for the person having a heart attack if someone calls 911 before the symptoms worsen even if it turns out to be nothing as this gives the paramedics more time to get to the patient to ensure that they have the best chance to make it through.
Choking
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Although this injury may seem as very simple one that people may suffer from on a minor scale and often we do not associate choking with the need for an ambulance and we know some simple manoeuvres to stop choking becoming quite critical such as the Heimlich manoeuvre and patting the person choking on the back with appropriate force. However, there are a number of situations that require the assistance of paramedics as the person will start to suffocate and then the injury can become fatal the longer their airwaves are blocked.
Car Accident
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There are many different critical emergencies that the ambulance services are required to respond to in order to give a person life saving treatment or tend to their injuries. A very common incident in which 911 will dispatch an ambulance to is a car crash. It does need to be said that an ambulance is not called for a crash that does not cause injury. However, crashes do come at varying levels of severity and at times can need urgent help to save a driver or passengers life. They are very careful when handling these situations as moving the person or vehicle can be fatal.
Fires
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The emergency services deal with countless different types of emergencies and witness some truly devastating scenes in their outings. Sometimes an incident will be so extreme or dangerous that it requires all of the branches of the emergency services to attend. One situation that requires the attention of all of the services is a fire. whether this is a wildfire, house or vehicle fire all services are required and the ambulance service especially due to the mass amount of serious burn injuries that people incur through fires.
Severe Bleeding
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There is never an easy day for paramedics as they are constantly out on the road responding to different medical emergencies all varying in levels of severity. This can be quite difficult for paramedics to deal with and handle but through their continued exposure to these injuries it makes it easier for them to deal with the situation. One of the most common situations that an ambulance is called to is people suffering from extensive bleeding. This injury itself is extremely dangerous but often it is the dangerous scenarios where the person has suffered the injury that can devastating.
Amputation
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Through our lives we try to do as much as we possibly can and make them full of exciting adventures but these adventures can cause some quite painful and life changing injuries and leave you in the need of medical support. Many ambulances are commonly called out to incidents where people having unfortunately suffered injuries that have altered the course of their lives. The emergency services respond to calls where the injured people are in need of amputation due to the severe damage to the person's limbs.
Miscarriage
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The role of a paramedic and the ambulance service as a whole is to react to incidents and try to treat the injures or issues that patients are facing and unfortunately quite frequently this will require them to try and save peoples lives. But tragically one of the most common calls that the ambulance service receives is for woman who believe they are suffering from a miscarriage. Many woman when pregnant become fearful of a miscarriage so when it happens it is crucial that medical professionals are there for both physical and emotional support.
Diabetic Coma
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The ambulance service is built on the resilience and dedication all of its brave and brilliant employees and these truly outstanding people are more than qualified to handle all of the incidents that they are called to respond to and understand how to react to every situation. A common call that the ambulance service receive is to tend to someone who is in a diabetic coma. This can be a truly terrifying experience for people as it can happen spontaneously or they may not wake up from a sleep. When this occurs for a diabetic it is crucial they receive assistance as soon as possible.
Drowning
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There are countless different types of emergencies that require the response of all emergency services. These are often more serious and life threatening incidents and unfortunately they are all too common in modern society. One of these horrid incidents is drowning. When people head out into water and encounter difficulties it requires the services to act very quickly in order to save the patient's life. This will be a large job for the paramedics once the person is pulled from the water they must ensure their air waves are clear and they can breathe.
Severe Headache
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The severity of an injury or type of injury is always questioned when a person is calling for the emergency services to try and identify if the incident does in fact require an ambulance. One of the most common calls that 911 receives that can trigger an urgent reaction and the dispatching of an ambulance to the patient is the sudden or continued occurrence of a very severe headache. The occurrence of a sudden severe headache is certainly not something that is normal and if the patient is also vomiting and their vision is hindered then this could be a sign of an aneurysm.
Severe Pain
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The ambulance service deals with thousands and thousands of incidents and injuries everyday therefore each and every respondent must know what the incident is and relay this information to the relevant people to deal with the issue as quickly as possible. One of the most common calls that paramedics get is to respond to patients who are experiencing sudden extreme pain without any clear explanation. It is important to call the emergency services if you are in severe pain as this can be an indicator of a more serious internal injury.
Coughing Or Vomiting Blood
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When you work for the emergency services it can be difficult to deal with the different scenarios and incidents that you may be called to at only a minutes notice so it is crucial that these courageous people know what they must do and how to treat each different type of injury. The most important injuries are the most common as they must be able to tend to these injuries as quickly as possible as they are often the more serious injuries. Coughing up blood and vomiting blood requires immediate attention as it could imply a more serious issue.
Severe Burn
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The emergency services are continuously pushed to the edge with the vast amount of different incidents that they can be called to which makes their jobs that bit more difficult. One of the most common injuries that people tend to incur in everyday tasks is burns. Due to how frequently the injury is, it makes it one of the most common reason why an ambulance may be called. Although, burns are classed as a minor injury and do not always require an ambulance one is often provided as it can be hard to determine how severe a burn is over the phone.
Home Invasion
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The heroic acts that our brave emergency services workers do each and everyday is truly humbling and they encounter things that we would never wish see in our lives. One of the most common calls an ambulance work receives is one that would terrify and scar the people who they attend. Home invasions are all too common in today's society and ambulance workers are called out to many of these types of incidents everyday. Care from a paramedic is crucial for the victims of a home invasion as it takes a large toll on someone's mental health.