EMS

Author Question: Pedestrian vs. Truck 2/2

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Today, we’re continuing with Luna’s question. You can view Part I here. In short, a 24 y/o woman has been hit by a truck throwing her into the air. When she lands, her head hits a concrete divider.

What will the doctor check or say when she first arrives at the emergency department?

If EMS care has been provided as I outlined in the previous post, we would do the following in the ER:

  1. Check vital signs and level of consciousness. If vital signs are abnormal, we would address those immediately. For instance, if her oxygen level is low, then we’ll provide more oxygen and evaluate whether or not the patient needs to be intubated (a breathing tube into the lungs). EMS may have already done this. If so, we’ll check the placement of the tube. If her blood pressure is low address that by giving either more fluids, blood, and/or a vasopressor (which is a medication given via a continuous drip to raise blood pressure). Of note, sometimes giving lots of IV fluid with head injuries is problematic.
  2. Draw lab work. In this case, we would check multiple labs. Blood counts, chemistries, and labs that look at how well the blood is clotting.
  3. Radiology studies. This patient automatically buys herself a full spine series (looking for fractures in the spinal cord) and a head CT (that would look for bleeding– and other things). Other labs and studies would be ordered depending on what other injuries were found. As previously stated, this patient would likely have more than just the head injury. A chest x-ray as well particularly if intubated to check placement of the tube.

Is surgery needed? 

This would be up to you as the writer. Would there be a case in this scenario where surgery might be indicated? Yes. Hitting your head into a concrete barrier could definitely cause some fractures in the skull where bone fragments could enter the brain. This patient would get a neurosurgery consult for sure.

Does she require blood transfusion for the surgery? 

Whether or not a patient gets blood is largely dependent on what their blood counts are. We look at this by evaluating a patient’s hemoglobin and hematocrit or H&H in medical lingo. If low, the patient gets blood. In trauma patients where there is a concern for bleeding, we draw blood every few hours to trend this lab. If it’s dropping, we know the patient might be bleeding from somewhere.

What machines would be used to keep her alive?  

In this case, likely a ventilator (or breathing machine).

How long will she be in the hospital? I am writing for two days.

Unfortunately, I think this patient would be hospitalized much longer than that. A brain injured patient that requires brain surgery would likely be hospitalized for a week or more. A week on the short end if they wake up and are neurologically intact meaning that they can speak, walk, and talk. That they know who they are, where they are, and what time they are in. Also, are their cognitive abilities intact (memory, ability to do simple calculation, etc). If this patient had a simple epidural bleed, then perhaps home in a few days if the above is normal.

The reason I say a week for this patient is the concern for brain swelling surrounding this type of injury. Brain swelling peaks around 48-72 hours and patients generally get sicker when that happens.

Thanks for reaching out to me, Luna! Best of luck with this story.

Author Question: Pedestrian vs. Truck 1/2

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Luna Asks:

I hope you can help me with my writing. I need some details for my character.

She is a 24 year old girl that was hit by a 4×4 pickup truck while crossing the road. She was thrown and her head hit the road divider. She was bleeding moderately (not too heavy) from her head injury. She was conscious when her friend sent her to the hospital where later the doctor said she had brain hemorrhage as a result from that accident.

Can I have the details for:

  1. Will she have shock and shortness of breath on her way to the hospital?
  2. What will the doctor check or say when she first arrives at the emergency department?
  3. Is surgery needed?
  4. Does she require blood transfusion for the surgery?
  5. What type of machines would be used to keep her alive?
  6. How long will she be in the hospital? I am writing for two days.

Jordyn Says:

Hi Luna! Thanks so much for sending me your question.

First off, this is a VERY significant trauma to this young woman. There are some specifics missing from your scenario that would be helpful in answering your questions such as how fast the truck was going when it hit your character. The fact that you mention that the victim was thrown indicates a higher rate of speed. Being thrown coupled with the fact that her head hits a very hard surface (the concrete divider) doesn’t bode well for your character.

From your questions, it sounds like you want this to be a more minor injury. If you want this to be a survivable injury (which could be doubtful) you would need to change the nature of this accident and make it less lethal. For instance, the character isn’t thrown a distance. The truck isn’t traveling at a high rate of speed. Or, your character is in a vehicle of her own.

I will answer these questions based on your scenario as is, but keep in mind, this is a very serious accident and if the character survived, she would likely have an extensive hospitalization.

Will she have shock and shortness of breath on her way to the hospital?

You don’t specify in your question whether or not 911 was called and the patient was transported via EMS to the hospital. I would recommend that you do this. You also outline in your scenario that her head wound isn’t bleeding a lot. This is another part of your question that will need some revision. Head wounds do bleed extensively and heavily. If you’ve ever seen a minor laceration to the head you’d be impressed. The scalp is very vascular (meaning lots of blood vessels supply the area and therefore a much higher rate of bleeding).

Yes, this character could be in shock likely related to the blood loss from her head wound, or her head injury, or psychologically from the fact that she’s just been hit by a truck. Keep in mind, the head injury may not be her only injury. Anyone hit by a vehicle and then thrown will likely have other injuries such as broken bones, possible internal injuries, other cuts, lacerations, and abrasions.

If the patient was transported by EMS, they would first provide for C-spine stabilization (placement of a C-collar and backboard) while simultaneously assessing her breathing. Whether or not she’s breathing would be up to you. I could see it either way in this scenario. If she’s not breathing, then they would assist with her breathing. In addition, they would control any visible bleeding by applying pressure and dressings. She would be placed on a monitor to track her vital signs. An IV would be placed and IV fluids would be started.

Since this is a lengthy question, we’ll conclude tomorrow.

Disaster Status: Part 1/3

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Nothing can complicate a story more than a disaster hitting the town in your novel. What would a realistic response look like from the EMS community? There’s no one better to talk about disasters than an EMS professional. Dianna Benson is here for a three part series on EMS and hazardous materials.

Worst Possible Haz-Mat Situations

In a hazardous-material situation, a small town can easily and rapidly become overwhelmed and thus unable to efficiently handle the crisis at hand due to their limited resources. Below is a list of some additional factors beyond “the town is small” that would heighten the chaos, and for writers, would create solid fictional conflict.

Scenario: Traveling at high speeds, two tanker trucks collide; both roll-over. One truck is an atmospheric pressure tank; the other is a cryogenic liquid tank.

Additional possible factors….

The accident occurs:
1)      Near a school during school hours
2)      Near a stadium filled with spectators and athletes/performers
3)      Near a power plant
4)      Near a hazardous waste facility
5)      Near the town’s landfill (landfills contain countless haz-mats)
6)      Near the town’s water treatment plant
7)      Near the town’s only EMS station
8)      Near the town’s only hospital
9)      Near the town’s only fire department
10)  Near the town’s only police department
11)  During rush hour traffic
12)  During a storm
13)  At 3am
14)  The closest haz-mat team is four hours away

In all of the ten “near” cases above, assume those buildings/areas are contaminated by hazardous material spills from both trucks. Haz-mats are often airborne (so air vapors), which are the most deadly simply because air vapors are invisible— they travel quickly, through most any material (including ventilation systems), and without warning. Plus, they’re next to impossible to contain. Sometimes an unusual cloud or smell is detected, but obviously that warning comes concurrent of the smell and/or cloud discovery, so those individuals in or near the hot zone are already exposed. Keeping safe distance from the hot zone is the only way to eliminate exposure.

Minimum safe distances depend on the chemicals of the hazardous materials present, but an example of an initial minimum safe distance is: 1,000 feet downwind, 500 feet upwind, 330 feet complete radius. Avoid downwind areas entirely and stay upwind. Clearly, continuous monitoring of wind changes is vital.

What additional scenarios and additional factors can you think of?

Disaster Status: Part 1/3. Write realistic hazardous materials scenes. Click to Tweet.

*Originally posted January, 2011.*
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Dianna Torscher Benson is an Award-Winning and International Bestselling Author of suspense. She’s the 2014 Selah Award Winner for Best Debut Novel, the 2011 Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Genesis Winner, a 2011 Genesis double Semi-Finalist, a 2010 Daphne du Maurier Finalist, and a 2007 Golden Palm Finalist. She’s the author of The Hidden Son, Final Trimester  and Persephone’s Fugitive. The 2nd edition of The Hidden Son released in 2016.

An EMT in Wake County EMS since 2005, and a victim advocate practitioner since 2016, Dianna authentically implements her medical, rescue, and crime victim advocacy experience and knowledge into her suspense novels. She loves helping people in need, often in their darkest time in life. Dianna and her husband live in North Carolina with their three children.

The Good Doctor is Bad Medicine Part 3/3

/ Jordyn Redwood / 14 Comments

This is the third part of a series examining the medical aspects of ABC’s new medical drama called The Good Doctor which highlights the struggles of autistic surgical resident Shaun Murphy. You can read Part I and Part II by following the links.

Episode 2 has so many issues it’s taking me two posts just to cover it.

The other issue in Episode 2 is the care of a young girl with abdominal pain. Everyone but Dr. Murphy thinks this belly pain is caused by the girl’s parents’ divorce.

Issue #1: Ordering proper medical tests. One of the easiest things I feel like a medical show can get right is ordering the proper tests. Any medical consultant worth their salt should be able to assist the writing staff in this. For this patient, a child suffering abdominal pain, he orders a D-dimer, lactate, and amylase. Together, these tests make little sense. A D-dimer is used to look at blood coagulation. A lactate at how acidic the blood is. A lactate isn’t crazy, but a more applicable test for this girl would be what’s called a BMP or CMP— both of which are metabolic panels that look at the function of several organs in the abdomen. An amylase is okay as well— but drawn with other tests that make more sense. How about just a plain x-ray of her abdomen while we’re at it?

Issue #2: Going to a patient’s house. Despite the inappropriately ordered, fairly normal lab tests, the results bother Dr. Murphy so much that he goes to the patient’s house and insists on examining her. I cannot emphasize how much this would be frowned upon and I have personally never seen this happen. How would this be handled? First, simply a phone call to the family and request they come back to the hospital for further studies. If the situation is deemed serious enough, and the family cannot be reached by phone, involving law enforcement to help would likely be the next step.

Issue #3: Not calling an ambulance. When the girl is checked on, she is unresponsive and has vomited in her bed. Instead of calling an ambulance, Dr. Murphy insists that they take her by car. In an urban setting (in absence of a mass casualty situation), this is highly irresponsible. EMS response is generally very good and medical care can be started more quickly than driving a patient to the hospital. The episode proves my point when the girl becomes clinically more sick on the drive to the hospital and Dr. Murphy starts CPR. If EMS had been called to the house, this could have been prevented.

Issue #4: When to start CPR? In pediatrics, generally CPR is not started until the heart rate is under 60 beats per minutes. In this case, Dr. Murphy starts CPR for a weak, thready pulse. Looking up American Heart Association guidelines for pediatric CPR would be an easy way to figure out when CPR would be indicated.

Issue #5: Inaccurate medical portrayal of shock. When the 10 y/o girl arrives to the hospital, Dr. Murphy states, “Patient is a ten-year-old female with hypovolemic shock and bradycardia.” Hypovolemic shock is shock related to fluid losses, but seemingly this patient has vomited one time. Really not enough to set in shock in the older child. Also, the body’s response to hypovolemia is to increase the heart rate. The patient should be tachycardic. A pediatric patient can become bradycardic, or have very slow heart rate, in relation to shock, but it is a very late sign and I don’t think the medical history given on this girl is enough to warrant a code.

Issue #6: A surgical resident taking a patient to the OR. Keep in mind, Dr. Murphy is like on day #2 of the first year of his surgical rotation, yet he orders an OR, takes the patient to surgery, and is only interrupted by his attending when he’s about to make his first incision. Just no, no, no.

I think overall The Good Doctor has good intentions in looking at how people with special needs can operate in certain professions. However, don’t look at the first two episodes as any representation of good and accurate medical care.

There is always a way to maintain tension and conflict while still being medically accurate.

Author Question: Unconscious Teen Struck in Head by Baseball Bat

/ Jordyn Redwood / 1 Comment

Ari Asks:

Hello and thank you for this blog. It’s a brilliant resource and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to reach out to a professional in this setting.

I have two scenarios in a novel I’m writing that I could use your help with.

First, a teenage boy is struck in the head with a baseball bat. He is knocked unconscious and falls into a coma. When he arrives in the ER, I would like some compelling dialogue between the first responders to convey his condition, rather than just typing it out in the slug lines. What are some of the measures that nurses and/or doctors would take in responding to this injury? Also, what type of jargon or verbiage would make this scene convincing to someone in the field?

Second, is the scenario where the doctor informs the parents of the same boy about his condition. In what setting would he/she do this? Or for that matter, who would be the person to inform the parents to begin with?

Thank you for taking the time to help writers do your profession justice.

Jordyn Says:

Hi, Ari. Thanks for reaching out and all your compliments regarding the blog. I’m glad you’ve found it helpful.

Typically, when a patient arrives to the ER via EMS, they give a report on their patient when they get to the assigned room. In this case, it might be something like this:

“This is John Doe, age 17, struck in the head with a baseball bat at 1600 today. Pt with immediate LOC (loss of consciousness). Was unconscious upon our arrival. Responds only to pain. We started an IV, drew labs, and started normal saline TKO (to keep vein open). His Glasgow Coma Score is eight (this is bad). Vitals signs are as follows: Heart rate 100. BP 124/62. Respirations 16. Pulse ox 100% on 100% non-rebreather. Parents are here. No chronic illnesses. No drug allergies.” 

The ER team will place him on a monitor, assess the status of his IV, and do a thorough physical exam of the patient including an extensive neurological exam. I would follow the link above and do some reading on the Glasgow Coma Scale and how it’s scored.

A Glasgow coma score of eight or less will likely lead to the patient being intubated because there is concern that he would not be able to maintain his airway.

Taking into consideration this patient’s mechanism of injury and the fact that he is unconscious, he would receive an expedited CT scan of his brain to look for injury— likely bleeding in this case.

Past this, it would be hard for me to talk to you about all the things the medical team would say. It’s your scene. If it is a compelling scene in the novel, I’d have a medical person review it.

Keep in mind the POV character you’re writing the scene from. If it comes from a medical person’s perspective, then the use of technical terms, etc is more warranted because they should sound like they know what they’re talking about. If the scene is from a lay person’s POV— then you can write more generally about the medical things being done.

Who informs the parents about their son’s condition? These days, parents are generally not separated from their child, even in instances where the child has lost their heartbeat. The parents likely followed the ambulance and would be updated upon arrival in the patient’s room. A nurse or a doctor can update the parents and give them the medical plan of care as outlined by the physician.

Hope this helps and happy writing!

Author Question: Bullet Wound to the Chest

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Gwyn Asks:

I’m writing a scene in which a cop is injured during a confrontation with a suspect.  I’d like to tell you about the scenario I have in mind and hopefully you can tell me how realistic it is.

ammunition-2004236_1920Cop, mid-thirties, in excellent health and physical condition is shot with a low caliber bullet from about 10 feet away.  The bullet hits his chest, goes through the lung and exits out the back.  He’s got colleagues nearby who administer basic first aid and the EMTs get there within 5 minutes.  Say about 15 minute drive to the hospital.  They radioed ahead so the hospital is expecting them and has an OR ready.

First of all, what are the chances of survival?.  Second of all, assuming survival, what are the chances (best case scenario) of full recovery – to the point he can return to active duty.  How long would the recovery time be, how soon would he get out of the hospital, and what complications — pneumonia, blood clots, etc should the doctors be worried about?

Finally, if a full recovery is highly unlikely, are there little changes I can make to the scenario to make it more likely?

Jordyn Says:

Hi, Gwyn! Thanks so much for sending me your question.

In short, this is a survivable injury.

You don’t specify in your question whether this police officer is shot in the right or left chest. Right chest would probably be preferred as there are less vital structures on the right side of the chest then the left.

ambulance1You give your victim immediate first aid and EMS responds quickly. Keep in mind that you’re going to need a paramedic to respond to give more advanced field procedures. A basic EMT is limited in what they can do— CPR, wound dressings, assisting the patient with some of their own medication administration. Depending on the state, some EMTs can start IVs, so if your novel is set in a specific location then I would research this for that area. Assuming he has a paramedic respond then he’ll get an IV, IV fluids, oxygen, and possibly pain medications. Of course, a set of vital signs and cardiac monitoring.

In an urban setting, a drive time of fifteen minutes to the hospital seems a little long. If a rural setting then you’re probably fine but you might need to adjust there as needed.

A bullet passing through the chest is likely going to puncture and deflate the lung. This character will need a chest tube to get the air out of his chest and reinflate the lung. A chest tube can be placed in the ER. This patient would get a CT scan of his chest. If the medical team isn’t worried about any other injuries than this patient may not even need to go to the OR.

A patient with a chest tube will need to be admitted into the hospital. How long it takes the lung to reinflate depends on the size of the pneumothorax or the degree to which the lung has collapsed. Generally, a patient’s chest tube is connected to a drainage box that uses suction to help the lung reinflate. Patients with this type of injury will get daily (or every other day) chest x-rays to see how the lung is expanding. After the lung is fully expanded, the suction is stopped, but the box remains in place. This is generally referred to as placing the chest tube to water seal.

If the lung stays expanded to water seal for one to two days then the medical team would feel good about removing the chest tube. Then the patient would be observed for another one to two days to make sure the lung stayed reexpanded.

Pending any complications, you’re looking at a hospitalization of 4-7 days. Pneumonia is probably your more likely complication. Having a tube in your chest hurts. Because of this, patients don’t want to take deep breaths. This can lead to the smaller air sacs in the lung staying collapsed and trapping bacteria which could lead to pneumonia.

If you add a complication like pneumonia, then you’re easily adding another one to two weeks that he’s out of commission.

If you just stick with a “simple” collapsed lung I would say he’d be out of work for about two weeks. He won’t be physically 100% of what he was before the injury but he should feel back to his physical baseline in about a month.

I would say he can work, but he’s going to have some physical limitations. It would be up to his department what his physical capacity needs to be before he can return to work. Half days at a desk job is not unreasonable for a few weeks.

He’d likely become short of breath during any exertional activity (like running after a bad guy). However, considering his physical shape, he should bounce back fairly quickly.

A nice overview can be found here.

Hope this helps and good luck with your novel!

Author Question: Car versus Pedestrian

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Alex Asks:

My character suffers the following injuries. I want the injuries to be severe enough that they require immediate surgery, but also that he recovers after about a month in the hospital and a stay in rehab.

carpedistrian1. Character is standing in the road, tries to run but is hit by the car front on.  Body smashes into the windscreen, sending him up into the air.

2. Hits his head on the pavement on landing and suffers broken bones as a result.

3. He blacks out from the impact and wakes up several hours later. In this instance, would he be able to survive for several hours with the kinds of injuries he could have?

4. Possible injuries I thought he could have included: bleeding on the brain, broken leg/s and/or arms, fractured ribs which could cause a puncture to one of his lungs.

5. As a result he suffers from retrograde amnesia when he wakes up at the scene because of the injuries to his brain. Cannot remember his name/where he is or other events in his memory. Again here I am not sure what kind of specific head trauma could cause this.

6. After surgery to the brain, he is put into an induced coma to monitor the swelling. He will eventually wake up from this about a month later.

Jordyn Says:

The accident you describe would include some very serious injuries— perhaps not even survivable. It’s not just the injuries the character suffers getting thrown from the impact onto the pavement, but also the injuries he suffers from getting hit by the car. An impact that is so violent that it throws someone into the air would also likely shatter the windshield indicating to EMS responders that there was a lot of violent energy associated with this collision— which means bad things for the patient.

My first opinion is if you want this character to wake up in a few hours would be that he doesn’t fall directly on his head after he’s thrown into the air from the first impact. Overall, for your scenario, you might want to lessen the violence of this crash if you want him up in a few hours. It wouldn’t be surprising for this patient to require surgery to fix broken bones and/or internal bleeding.

A pedestrian surviving this crash is not impossible but it is more on the improbable side. This patient will have a lengthy hospital stay. May not wake up for days or months— not just hours. What you outline is a high speed impact to a pedestrian.

To answer some of your medical questions— surgery may be required for the bleeding on the brain depending on its location. All patients who have a brain bleed do not necessarily go to surgery. A punctured lung will require a chest tube to be placed which further complicates your patient’s medical picture. This patient would be placed on a breathing machine for sure to stabilize him until all these injuries could be sorted out.

Could a patient with a significant brain bleed be conscious at the scene after the accident? Yes. There is a specific type of brain bleed that fits this scenario called an epidural bleed. It does have a characteristic lucid period before the patient becomes unconscious again. It does require surgery to correct. If no surgical intervention is done then the patient will likely die. Honestly, as a writer, you have a lot of leeway in regards to what to do with amnesia. Any type of traumatic brain injury (and this certainly qualifies) could cause amnesia.

Medically induced comas are used frequently in medicine as a way to help control brain swelling. However, the medicines are not used forever. Peak brain swelling usually occurs 48-72 hours after the injury. After this time has passed, the medical team will evaluate when to decrease the medications keeping the patient in the coma. Keep in mind, even after these medications are discontinued, the patient may never wake up. Further studies would need to be done to determine the extent of the damage to his brain. These changes will evolve over time becoming more stable the more time that goes on.

My recommendation would be to lessen the severity of the crash. The car hits him, he hit the windshield, breaks it and then falls to the ground. This alone could cause a femur fracture and brain injury for which he could suffer amnesia and require surgery. If it’s an epidural bleed then he gets surgery, perhaps with some swelling and therefore the medically induced coma, but wakes up in a month. The leg is set in surgery with pinning or a rod. I think just having these two things is enough for your scenario.

All the rest might prove too complicating.