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Elisa, Healthcare Worker rescues Patient with Heimlich Maneuver, but is suspended and then fired. It’s a health procedure.
Elisa Cardone is 42 years old and for 8 years agoUs. He recently saved a Patient from suffocation thanks to Heimlich’s Maneuver learned during a BLSD course. Suspended and dismissed because it is a procedure for the exclusive use of health workers and not of Healthcare Workers. He had to alert Doctor and Nurses, but chose to act instinctively and to intervene.
The patient was saved, but he suffered the inclination of a coast and various bruises in the diaphragmatic area. Relatives have filed a complaint with the health directorate of RSA that Elisa worked for. Hence a disciplinary repentance was born, which led first to the suspension without pay, then to the actual dismissal for just cause.
The relatives of the rescued patient have forwarded a specific note of compensation for damages to the insurance of the structure and have feared the possibility of reporting the OSS to the judiciary for abuse of the health profession.
In fact, the OSS has only a technical role and cannot independently choose to perform any maneuvers that can endanger the safety or life of the client. There Heimlich maneuver it is among those forbidden to Social Workers, which must adhere to their dispositions Profile.
What is the Heimlich Maneuver.
The Heimlich maneuver is a first aid technique for removing an airway obstruction, which is an effective measure to quickly resolve many suffocation cases.
The procedure is named after the American doctor Henry Heimlich, who first described it in 1974.
The maneuver can and must also be practiced by people without medical training, but in this case it is always recommended to also call the emergency room without hesitation (in Italy 118 or 112, in Switzerland 144 or 112), possibly sharing the tasks among several people: while the most suitable person will immediately practice the Heimlich maneuver, others will immediately take care of the emergency call.
If the rescuer is alone with the victim, he will first practice Heimlich’s maneuver, then call 911 and then repeat the maneuver as needed.
Execution of the Heimlich maneuver.
In short, a person performs the Heimlich maneuver by using his hands and arms to exert a series of rapid and deep pressures on the victim’s abdominal area below the Sternum and above the navel, directing the push upwards so as to compress the diaphragm.
This causes compression of the lungs, thus exerting a pneumatic push on the object that obstructs the trachea, so as to cause its expulsion.
In essence this represents a powerful and artificial cough. (Since the choking victim has an airway obstruction, failing to fill her lungs, she doesn’t even have a chance to cough vigorously on her own.)
The first signs and symptoms of suffocation:
- The person desperately brings his hands to his throat (universal sign of suffocation).
- The person cannot speak and has difficult breathing, which often produces a high-pitched noise.
- The person has a very weak cough and cannot fill his lungs to cough with energy
- The person’s face turns blue (cyanotic) due to lack of oxygen (anoxia).
- The person loses consciousness.
On a person standing or sitting.
The person practicing the Heimlich maneuver stands behind the injured person, talking to him and explaining that he is about to perform an emergency maneuver, but at the same time acting decisively.
He surrounds her with his arms around his hips, under his arms.
One hand is folded with the clenched fist and is positioned with the part of the thumb flattened against the abdomen in the area between the breastbone and the navel.
The other hand grasps the fist and causes a series of rapid and deep thrusts upwards until the object that obstructs the airways is expelled. The thrusts must never compress or tighten the rib cage, but only the soft part of the abdomen.
The new guidelines of the European Resuscitation Council foresee that 5 subdiaphragmatic compressions and 5 dorsal blows between the shoulder blades are alternated.
On themselves.
You can also practice Heimlich’s maneuver on yourself, using the same technique: one hand is closed into a fist and placed against your abdomen while the other grabs it and pushes it upwards with a series of pushes until you the airways are cleared.
Another effective self-rescue technique is to lean with the upper part of the abdomen against a fixed object (for example a back of a sofa or a chair) and repeatedly pushing with your body downwards until the compressions facilitate expulsion. obstruction.
On an unconscious person.
If the patient is unconscious, in addition to immediately alerting the rescue, it is necessary to lay him supine (lying on his back) on a rigid surface (floor or table).
Hyperextend the head and check the oral cavity: if the foreign body is not visible and cannot be removed, two mouth-to-mouth insufflations must be performed.
If the air passage is still obstructed, the external chest compressions (CTE) are carried out.
After 30 compressions the oral cavity is checked again; if the situation is still unchanged, everything is repeated (2 insufflations, 30 compressions) until breathing is restored or help arrives.
On a newborn baby.
If the newborn is conscious, 5 interscapular strokes are applied alternating with 5 chest compressions on the same point where the external cardiac massage is practiced (just below the intermammillary line). Heimlich’s maneuver as such is not performed on an infant.
When the infant becomes unconscious, he is placed supine on a rigid surface and in addition to immediately alerting the rescue (in Italy with a phone call to 118 or 112, in Switzerland 144 or 112), the rescuer aligns the head, discovers the chest, performs 5 ventilations rescue, aligning the head in a neutral position each time.
Once the 5 ventilations have been carried out, if no other evaluations occur, cardiopulmonary resuscitation begins and will continue with the resuscitation protocol for the first minute, then contacting by telephone and updating the emergency services. Then it absolutely continues until the victim is cleared, or until the arrival of the advanced rescue or until the rescuer’s physical exhaustion.
After clearing the airways.
After clearing the airways, by expelling the object or the liquids that obstructed them, it is still possible, especially if the victim has lost consciousness, that breathing does not resume spontaneously. Continuing the Heimlich maneuver does not restore breathing. In this case, since cardio-circulatory arrest is possible, artificial respiration or cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be used as needed.
The support of the Doctor or Nurse is always useful and necessary after the Heimlich maneuver:
- if the person can breathe again: a medical check-up is necessary to exclude any possible secondary trauma or residual minor obstructions;
- if the person is not breathing: an emergency call is essential which the rescuer will make – if he is alone with the injured person – not before the end of the first insufflation and compression cycle.
Read also:
Young Nurse saves patient from suffocation: recalled in direction and reported by relatives.
BLSD: 10 things to do for proper Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
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