Emergency.Chaos

10/17/2026

Respiratory failure & GCS 7: rapid sequence intubation step explained for emergency nurses # # # # #

10/17/2026

Asthma Exacerbation
​Characterized by inflammation, bronchoconstriction and mucus production that lead to patients having difficulty getting oxygen in and carbon dioxide out as the airways are inflamed, constricted and filled with mucus.
​Symptoms can include shortness of breath and wheezing, chest tightness and coughing. As it progresses, there will be little air movement (less wheezing), unable to speak, cyanotic, and increasing altered as they go into respiratory failure if nothing is done.
​Specifics of the workup
​The diagnosis of asthma is typically done from the history and physical examination, not labs or radiology. However, the general workup will still most likely be ordered to help rule out other issues and or possibly help identify causes/triggers
​Chest Xray, CBC, BMP, Bedside Ultrasound
​Treatment
​Oxygen: Alleviates hypoxia
​Albuterol and Ipratropium
​Albuterol is a short acting beta agonist that helps relax bronchial smooth muscle, resulting in improved airflow from bronchodilation.

10/17/2026

Asthma exacerbation: what is the management to anticipate? Tips for emergency nurses

10/17/2026

Potassium is 8.1: hyperkalemia management priorities and medications

10/17/2026

10/16/2026

Ammonia:
A waste that is usually cleared by the liver and when there is a build up, it can result in patients presenting with altered mental status. Keep this in mind in patients who have a history of liver problems...
WBC: white blood cells fight infections, if you have a high amount, there is an infection somewhere in the body. Normal is 4.5-10. Neutrophils are mature wbc's while bands are immature version. When a patient has a bad infection, they start having a higher number of bands, its left shift, indicating that the body is unable to keep up with infection and is even throwing immature wbc's...
Hemoglobin: in the ER, commonly used to assess if a patient will need a blood transfusion.

10/16/2026

Lactate: Commonly used in the ER to help assess a patient's perfusion status. It's a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism, meaning the body isn't getting the blood flow or oxygen it needs, so it turns to anaerobic metabolism and lactate is a result of it. The higher the lactate the worse the patients perfusion status may be. A normal lactate is less than 2 mmol/L. The higher the worse off the patient may be, and typically from what I've seen, lactate levels above 5 indicate a very sick patient.
​D-Dimer:
When the body is breaking down a blood clot somewhere D-Dimer is produced. The higher the D-Dimer, the higher chances blood clot is actually present, and many providers will use a cut off of 500ng/ml when it comes to pulmonary embolisms. If the patient has a D-Dimer above 500, then a ct scan with contrast will most likely be ordered to rule out or in a PE.

10/16/2026

High Lactate: what does it mean? What is lactate? Explained for emergency nurses

10/16/2026

Symptomatic bradycardia priorities explained for emergency nurses

10/15/2026

H's and T's: Reversible Causes of Cardiac Arrest
The reversible causes of cardiac arrest. Addressing these reversible causes improves the chances of obtaining ROSC (Return of Spontaneous Circulation)
1. H's:
Hypovolemia: -> Intravenous Fluids
Hypoxia: -> Oxygen via BVM or ET Tube
Hydrogen Ions (Acidosis): -> Sodium Bicarbonate
Hypo-/Hyperkalemia: -> Calcium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate
Hypothermia: -> Warm the patient as needed
2. T's:
Tension Pneumothorax: -> Needle Decompression or Chest Tube
Tamponade (Cardiac): -> Pericardiocentesis
Toxins: -> Sodium Bicarbonate, Calcium Chloride and indicated antidotes
​Thrombosis (Coronary or Pulmonary): -> Thrombolytic
​Trauma: -> Control bleeding, Blood Products, Surgical Interventions