Common mistakes when giving first aid to people with stroke

Place the patient in a bowed posture or excessive neck rest when moving easily causing marrow injury leading to quadriplegia.

According to specialist doctor 1 Tran Quoc Tuan, Faculty of Neurology, Hospital of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, usually when a family member has a stroke, relatives are confused and confused in the way of initial management. , especially the problem of moving to the hospital for emergency. In some cases, because relatives do not know how to handle, improperly moving victims has accidentally caused injuries to the head, cervical spine, limbs or aggravation.

Neurosurgery doctors regularly receive emergency patients with stroke who are not properly moved, leading to unfortunate injuries. Dr. Tuan shared about a recent case of a 65-year-old female patient, residing in Ho Chi Minh City, who had a history of neck disc herniation. Early in the morning, she was discovered by her family members in a coma, taken to emergency. Arriving at the hospital, the doctor discovered that the patient had quadriplegia, CT results showed that one side brain hemorrhage was not so large that the cause of paralysis was not explained. The patient was assigned to take an MRI of the cervical spine and detect a bone marrow injury

The family member said he took the old lady to the hospital by carrying and letting her head free to follow the rhythm. Dr. Tuan recognized the possibility that during this move, the patient was placed in a bent posture or over-necked, leading to further damage in the medulla. This is the cause of quadriplegia.

Another case is a 42-year-old male patient, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, was discovered by family members on the bathroom floor and intends to carry him to emergency immediately. Unbelievably, the bathroom floor is slippery, the person who slipped in the foot made the two injured. The results of CT scans later revealed that a male stroke patient had a moderate brain injury and a cerebral infarction.

A stroke patient who has fallen during the move makes the injury worse.(Photo: TT).

Dr. Tuan recommends that moving a stroke patient in the wrong way often makes the condition worse. Many falls stroke patients may suffer from injuries, but their loved ones will not be detected for first aid. In the process of improper movement, existing injuries or new injuries will cause more serious consequences. Arriving in the hospital in time, the management of both the stroke and the accompanying injury will be much more complicated. Danger of paralysis, even death is higher.

As noted by the doctor, the cause of many unfortunate problems in the process of moving victims of stroke is that the first aid lacks the skills and knowledge of the initial assessment, so there is no safe move. They often do not assess the serious condition that requires cardiopulmonary resuscitation , delayed resuscitation can make the patient worse, so this is more important than moving to the hospital. Most cases of false movement are usually not fixed on the body parts of the patient. Even people who hold and patients with falls fall into another physical injury. In many cases, there is no supportive medical staff on the way to move, so it is impossible to detect a serious progression to conduct immediate resuscitation.

It is very important for the doctor to recognize that transporting the patient properly is important. Transportation medical professionals need to be educated to know how to move a stroke and must have appropriate supplies. Basically, the transportation of stroke patients has the following principles: One is to ensure airway and heart beating. The second is to protect the vulnerable parts like the head and the limbs. Three is as fast as possible.

Therefore, if you want to move the sick properly, your loved ones need to assess the pulse, breathing rate, ensure airway and heart beating according to the principles of general cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Knowing how to fix important parts including the head and limbs of the sick person when moving. If there is no specialized stretcher, it is best to leave the person on a flat surface, lay on his or her back and legs, and use heavy shoes or a fixed blanket on either side of the head to avoid injury to the cervical spine on the move.

In the United States, patients directly call 911 (equivalent 115 in Vietnam) and are transported directly by ambulance, the shortest time to the hospital and better prognosis than self-transporting by private vehicle or through other channels. Countries recommend that when someone has a stroke, call an ambulance directly and quickly bring the patient to the hospital.

Transportation by ambulance has many favorable factors such as faster than personal vehicle and priority giving, medical staff specializing in first aid assessment of patients' condition and initially managing more accurately multiply. Currently, the ambulance system has available information on the expertise of hospitals, it may be decided to transfer patients directly to specialized hospitals when necessary, avoiding extra time if taken through central hospitals. time.