Hypoglycaemic Attack

Procedure for dealing with a patient having a hypoglycaemic attack in the dental chair

Category:

Education

Tags:

• dental
• CPD

[Gabberz123]

Started out great, but you have some SERIOUS problems with both your procedure and the video itself.

1) ALWAYS roll your patient onto their side, don't leave them supine, especially without an OPA

2) administer oral glucose of another oral glucose source along with the glucagon, it's  benifits will be felt MUCH faster

3) (relating to #2) glucagon takes 10-20 minutes to kick in, as with many SC injections.

but of course you already knew this, being a doctor and all right?

[vivasnicky]

my brother is working on the ambulance and told me that with that injection.. you will be awake in no time!

[DRnikkiH0USE]

@Gabberz123 Some doctors do not use a OPA if they know what their doing and have experience in the area. I am sure that if the glucagon is not avalible then a OPA will have to be inserted.

Everyone is different so they all respond differently to different amounts of medication.

PS The uploader may not be a doctor and it is just a video.

[DRnikkiH0USE]

@Gabberz123 First off I am a paramedic and use OPAs almost daily

Secondly you MUST make sure the patient is TOTALLY unconscious because if you insert the OPA and they are semiconscious the could vomit which could obstruct the airway even further.

[Gabberz123]

@DRnikkiH0USE

You need to look up the purpose of an Oropharyngeal Airway (OPA). When losing consciousness the muscles in the body relax, including your tongue. When a patient lays supine, the tongue settles back onto the epiglottis and can either fully or partially obstruct the airway which can cause suffocation.

[DRnikkiH0USE]

@Gabberz123 When you are choking your tongue naturally moves out of the way but if the object that is actually being choked on is not removed you will die due to lack of oxygen to the brain

[Gabberz123]

@DRnikkiH0USE

nope, but you can choke to death on it.

[JSRDN]

@Gabberz123 snap 

[DRnikkiH0USE]

You cant swallow your tongue

[Fluffybunnies26]

thats a hazard because he could have choked on his own tongue which would then lead to other serious things, and if it helps dont inject glucogan in the thigh, it works faster in the top of the arm. im only 16 and only just started medical training with college. and think bout it the thigh is further away then the top of the arm just thought to say that if its a serious hypoglycaemic attack then as soon as those sympsoms hit the patient call for an ambulance straight away then keep on their side