Which link of the American Heart Association’s Chain of Survival must occur first, if a patient is to survive cardiac arrest?

An alert and distressed 72-year-old male patient with a history of pulmonary edema from heart failure is in severe respiratory distress, breathing 28 to 32 times per minute. His airway is patent, respirations are labored, crackles are heard in the bases of the lungs, and skin is found to be diaphoretic with a rapid radial pulse. Other vital signs are pulse, 136; blood pressure, 202/110 mmHg; and SpO2, 83%. Cyanosis is evident in the fingertips. The best treatment for this patient’s breathing difficulty would be:

Your medical director is providing a review of diabetic emergencies and asks you to describe glucose. Which of these statements would be your most appropriate response?

You suspect that an unresponsive female patient may be diabetic. To help confirm this suspicion, where would you send your partner to look for vials of insulin?

You are reviewing prehospital care reports and notice that a patient with low blood sugar and no contraindications to oral glucose did not receive the medication. You recognize that this inaction placed the patient at risk for which condition?

An unresponsive patient presents with a blood sugar of 30 mg/dL. What is the major threat to this patient’s well-being?

The primary function of the heart is to:

As you enter the living room of an adult patient who called 911 for shortness of breath, you observe the patient sitting upright in a chair with a panicked look on her face, struggling to breathe, with obvious suprasternal retractions. Her breathing rate appears to be fast and her tidal volume poor. You can hear rhonchi from her lungs without the aid of a stethoscope. Once at her side, your initial care should be to:

You are approached by an EMR who informs you that last week, he was on a call in which a patient with chest pain and a known history of coronary artery disease was not given oxygen by the EMTs. You would reply:

You have been called to a home for an 18-year-old male patient, who informs you that he experienced a sudden onset of shortness of breath and back pain while watching television. He has a history of spontaneous pneumothorax, and the current symptoms he is experiencing are identical to those he felt with a previous pneumothorax. Assessment reveals the patient to be slightly dyspneic with breath sounds clear and intact bilaterally. During transport, what is most critical to continually monitor on this patient?