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1. Head injury with loss of consciousness
Assessment: Check to see if pupils react equally to light, have the
person grasp your hands, check gait (if the person walks straight).
Check for ear drainage.
Intervention: Arouse every two hours. Send to ER if vomiting, dizzy,
or disoriented to time, place, or person. Take to Blair Clinic
if these symptoms are absent but an evaluation is needed.
2. Seizures
Assessment: Keep track of the time that the seizures last.
Intervention: During seizures protect from injury, make sure airway
is open, roll onto side. Send to ER if this is the first seizure.
3.
Diabetic Student with medical problems
Assessment: The person may have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
if he/she exercised too much or had too little to eat. Signs and
symptoms
include: cool, moist skin, faintness, confusion, bluish pallor.
If the person has vomiting or diarrhea they may develop high blood
sugar,
i.e. hyperglycemia. Signs and symptoms include dry, flushed skin,
abdominal pain, deep acetone smelling breath, thirst, and increased
urination. Intervention: Give quick-acting sugar, e.g. juice or
pop for hypoglycemia. Call (9) 911 if losing consciousness.
4. Lacerations
Assessments and Interventions: If the laceration is 2 inches long
or does not close with sterile strips, send to Clinic or ER.
Check last tetanus date.
5. Burns
Assessment: Note color of skin and size of burn.
Intervention: Run cold water over burn for five minutes. If severe,
send to Clinic or ER.
6. Student with fever of 101 degrees F
or above
Assessment: Use thermometer from Hall Director’s first aid
box.
Intervention: Give Tylenol from RA first aid box. Take to Clinic
for treatment.
7. Eye injuries or foreign body in the eye
Assessment: Check vision, examine eye.
Intervention: Leave embedded object in the eye. An eye patch
may be obtained from Hall Director’s first aid box. Send to Clinic
or ER.
8. Drug Overdose
Assessment: If conscious, ask when, what drug, and how much was taken.
Also ask “Why?” to determine if it was an accidental
overdose, a cry for help, or a deliberate attempt at suicide.
Intervention: Call 911. Call the Dean of Students. Help the person
call someone he/she trusts to be with them. Stay until a trusted
family member, police, or campus security comes. Reassure him/her
that it was the right decision to tell you.
9. Asthma with difficulty
breathing
Assessment: Check rate and depth of respirations and if wheezing.
Look at color of lips and fingernails, check for weakness or dizziness.
Intervention: Clinic or ER, depending on severity.
10. Persistent
abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea
Assessment: Ask if blood is in stools or if the color is tar-like.
Take temperature. Look for signs of dehydration: sunken eyes, dry
mouth, tongue, and lips, no urine or a low amount that is dark
yellow, light headedness – especially when getting up quickly, dry
skin that does not spring back when pinched, dizziness, confusion,
weakness, increase in breathing and heart rate, and thirst.
Intervention: Encourage drinking 2 cups of clear fluids such as
water or Gatorade per hour. Try Imodium AD for diarrhea, and after
12 hours
try solid food. If symptoms persist, see a medical doctor. If there
is blood in the stools or signs of dehydration, see M.D.
11. Combination
of headache and stiff neck
Assessment: Ask the person to touch chin to chest. Take temperature.
Intervention: If this is quite painful send to a medical doctor,
as it could be early signs of meningitis. Meningitis is potentially
fatal and occurs in two forms; bacterial and viral. The viral form
is less severe and generally resolves without specific treatment.
Bacterial meningitis can cause permanent bran damage, hearing loss,
learning disabilities, limb amputations, kidney failure, or even
death. Two or more of these symptoms warrant a trip to the clinic
or ER: high fever, neck stiffness, fatigue, nausea, sensitivity
to light, vomiting, rash, severe headache. Without proper treatment,
the disease can lead to shock and death within hours of the first
symptoms. (A vaccine is available through Health Services.)
12.
Dislocation
or deformity of any joint or severe joint pain after injury, certain
sprains and strains
Assessment: Check if there is deformity and proper body alignment.
In case of sprains and strains, check color and pulse of extremity
and whether there is numbness and ability to move the extremity.
Intervention: Use RICE = Rest the injured area for 24-48 hours,
Ice packs to area15 minutes every hour for 48 hours, Compress with
Ace
Bandage, and Elevate the injured extremity to about the heart level.
Use crutches if it is difficult to bear weight. See M.D. if severe
pain exists, the toes develop a pale or blue color, there is absence
of a pulse in the foot, if little weight bearing progress has been
made after 72 hours, or if there is increased swelling.
13. Chest
pain lasting over 2 minutes
Assessment: Check pulse for rate and regularity. Ask on a scale
of 1 to 10 how severe the pain is and whether it radiates.
Intervention: Call (9) 911 if it does not appear to be muscular
in origin.
14. Any problems with level of awareness
Assessment: Check if the person knows place, date, time, and person.
Check for illness, injury, medical, and family history.
Intervention: Send to ER.
15. Severe throat or ear pain
Assessment: See if there is white exudates at back of the throat
and if tonsils are enlarged. Ask when throat or ear pain began.
Take temperature. Ask if their neck glands feel swollen.
Intervention: See a M.D. for severe pain and/or fever.
16. Tooth
knocked out
Intervention: If tooth is found, put back in socket or place
in milk. See a dentist.
17. Severe nosebleed
Assessment: Note how long it has lasted.
Intervention: Send to M.D. if it persists after pinching the
nose for 30 minutes or so.
18. Bites – human or animal
Assessment: Contain the animal or give description to Animal
Control. Ask about last tetanus shot. Clean and apply sterile
dressing.
Send to doctor for possible antibiotic. Be aware that a
human bite can
cause worse infections than an animal bite, so be sure
the person gets treated.
19. Sexual assault
Assessment: Note any physical harm and check emotional status.
Intervention: Tell the person not to douche, shower, clean nails,
or change clothes. Encourage filling out an incident report, seeking
counseling, and going to the ER for a rape kit. Be there to listen
and give support. Remain calm to avoid upsetting the victim further.
20.
Suicidal plans
It is important to assess immediate risk of death when talking
to someone who is suicidal. If intoxicated, tearful, or unclear
about
what has been ingested, take to ER or call (9) 911. If talking
about committing suicide and a means is available to do it, this
also requires
a trip to the ER or call (9) 911. For example, if the person is
holding a knife, sharp object, a gun, or if there is a lethal amount
of drugs,
call (9) 911. If a student talks about being suicidal but does
not have an immediate plan, he/she needs to see a counselor as
soon as
possible.
21. Depression
Assessment: Note tearfulness, mood swings, overwhelming sadness,
sleep disturbances, change in appetite and weight, difficulty
focusing, withdrawing from people and activities, and fears and
thoughts
of death.
Intervention: Encourage counseling.
22. Lice (head or pubic)
Assessment: Have the person take a comb and look for tiny black
dots, called nits, which cause itching.
Intervention: Use over-the-counter Rid as directed. Advise
washing sheets, combs, and brushes in hot water. Call Housekeeping
so
that they are alerted to do an especially thorough housekeeping
job.
23.
Urinary tract infection
Assessment: Note burning on urination, frequency and urgency.
Intervention: Send to Clinic, even if UTI is recurrent. Ask
them to drink 8-10 glasses of water plus cranberry juice daily.
24.
STD’s
(Sexually Transmitted Diseases), including AIDS
Assessment: Different STD’s have different symptoms, from visible
signs to pain to discharge. Some are asymptomatic (meaning no symptoms)
in the early stages.
Intervention: Various diagnostic and treatment centers are
available, e.g. the Blair Clinic, Charles Drew Health Center,
Northeastern
Nebraska Family Health Services in Fremont, Planned Parenthood,
and Douglas
County Health Department. The latter is one of the least expensive.
Call for hours and location.
25. Pregnancy
Assessment: Pregnancy tests are free in the Health Services
Office and are available at local pharmacies.
Intervention: The person may want to discuss options with the
college nurse or counselor on campus or, off campus, at places
such as
the Blair Clinic (gives options), Planned Parenthood (gives
options and
does abortions), AAA Pregnancy (opposed to abortion), or at
Lutheran Family Services and Catholic Charities in Omaha.
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