Pre-hospital Emergency Care Glossary Field Related
Pre-hospital Emergency Care Glossary
Hi! My name is Rebecca Vermette. I live in Laval. I have been studying in Prehospital Emergency Care for 3 years. Next year, I'll graduate, and I'll officially be a paramedic. This glossary will be useful for every other student in my program, and it could be used by paramedics too. I choose 20 words that are hard to pronounce to learn them, and easily used them with a patient.
- anaphylactic shock
- noun
- Exaggerated allergic reaction that can lead to death.
- Example: My little brother is allergic to peanuts. If he eats one, he will do an anaphylactic shock.
- fr: choc anaphylactique
- arrhythmia
- noun
- A condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm.
- Example: The last patient suffered from an arrhythmia, her heart was beating with an irregular rhythm.
- fr: arythmie
- breathlessness
- noun
- Shortness of breath : a dyspneic condition.
- Example: The patient is breathlessness, we need to check his vitals.
- fr: essoufflement
- cephalalgia
- noun
- Any type of pain located in the head.
- Example: The medical term for a headache is a cephalalgia.
- fr: céphalée
- concussion
- noun
- A type of traumatic brain injury caused by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth.
- Example: After my car accident, the doctor told me I had a concussion.
- fr: commotion
- cyanotic
- adjective
- When a patient's skin and mucous membranes are bluish from an inadequate supply of oxygen in the blood.
- Example: The patient had trouble breathing, he was showing signs of cyanotic.
- fr: cyanotique
- diaphoresis
- noun
- Sweating to an unusual degree as a symptom of a disease or a side effect of a drug.
- fr: diaphorèse
- edema
- noun
- A condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body.
- Example: Due to a congestive heart failure, the patient had edema in his legs.
- fr: oedème
- evisceration
- noun
- The physical removal of internal organ from the body cavity, whether they are completely removed or still attached but outside of the body.
- Example: The patient fell on a fence, he tore his abdomen and suffered an evisceration.
- fr: éviscération
- nasopharyngeal airway
- noun
- A short tube which is designed to be inserted through the nose to secure the airway of a patient who requires ventilatory assistance.
- Example: The patient needed ventilatory assistance, so we installed him a nasopharyngeal airway in his right nostril.
- fr: canule nasopharyngée
- oropharyngeal cannula
- noun
- An object used to keep the respiratory tract open for an unconscious patient.
- Example: The patient's airway was blocked by his tongue, we installed an oropharyngeal cannula to keep his airway open adequately.
- fr: canule oropharyngée
- orthopnea
- noun
- Form of dyspnea in which the person can breathe comfortably only when standing or sitting erect, usually associated with asthma, emphysema or acute lung edema.
- Example: We installed the patient on the stretcher, and since he mentioned has orthopnea, we sat him as straight as possible.
- fr: orthopnée
- pulse oxymetry
- noun
- A non-invasive method for monitoring a patient's level of oxygen in his blood.
- Example: The patient's pulse oximetry was lower than the normal, we installed him an oxygen mask to help him.
- fr: saturation pulsée en oxygène
- stretcher
- noun
- A framework of two poles with a long piece of canvas slung between them, used for carrying sick, injured, or dead people.
- Example: "Let's go sit on the stretcher, so we can go to the hospital."
- fr: civière
- thrombophlebitis
- noun
- Formation of a clot in the deep venous system of the lower limbs.
- Example: The patient's right leg was painful and tender. It was swelling compared to his left leg. We are suspecting a thrombophlebitis.
- fr: thrombophlébite
- twinge
- noun
- A sudden, sharp localized pain.
- Example: The patient felt a twinge in his chest while doing an exercise, and called 911.
- fr: pincement
- turgor
- noun
- The state of turgidity and resulting rigidity of cells, or tissues, typically due to the absorption of fluid.
- Example: To see if someone is dehydrated, you can pinch the skin to see how turgor it is.
- fr: turgescence
- Cincinnati Prehospital stroke scale
- noun
- The Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale is a system used to diagnose a potential stroke in a Prehospital setting.
- Example: We suspected a stroke on this patient. We used the Cincannati Prehospital stroke scale to diagnose it.
- fr: échelle préhospitalière d'AVC de Cincinnati
- "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"
- phrase
- Sentences used to see if the person slurs the words, gets some words wrong, or in unable to speak, that could be a sign of a stroke.
- Example: We asked the patient to say "you can't teach a dog new tricks" to see if he had a stroke.
- fr: "le ciel est bleu à Cincinnati"
- ventricular fibrillation
- noun
- Rapid, irregular twitching of heart muscle which prevents coordinated contraction of heart.
- Example: We could see on the monitor that the patient had a ventricular fibrillation. We were able to shock him with our semi-automatic defibrillator to attempt to re-synchronize the cardiac electrical activity of the heart.
- fr: fibrillation ventriculaire