Test For Unconsciousness: The Face Flick

Sometimes, when we get on that outer boundary of established medical practices we start running in to controversy. As an author, and a bit of a non-conformist, I love controversy. One area that falls in the gray realm of medical assessment is testing for unconsciousness. This is a concept familiar to all who work in emergency services and rarely considered by the lay public. I’ll explain. When we encounter a person who is not responding to us there are several possibilities. They may be unconsciousThey may be semi-consciousThe person may be sleepingThey may be fully conscious and feigning unconsciousness (for various reasons) We treat all patient who refuse or are unable to respond to us with a high index of suspicion for injury or illness, but it’s helpful to try to get an idea where the patient actually is mentally. Are they here and not responding to us, or are they just not here? I’ll be the first one to say that some of the things that have passed as acceptable tests for consciousness are inappropriate. I’m glad that we’re trending away from ammonia inhalants. I don’t want to get in to how I’ve seen those things abused, or how I’ve seen patients abused with them. I’m also not a big fan of painful stimuli. I much prefer the idea of noxious stimuli. In other words, stimuli that is annoying and / or unexpected. I find that I have a greater talent for being obnoxious than being torturous. My parents recognized this at a young age. What c...
Source: The EMT Spot - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: EMT Source Type: blogs