Chapter 17 - Neurologic Emergencies

You are dispatched to a residence for a 66-year-old male who, according to family members, has suffered a massive stroke. Your primary assessment reveals that the patient is unresponsive, apneic, and pulseless. You should:

Initiate CPR and attach an AED as soon as possible.

When caring for a patient with documented hypoglycemia, you should be MOST alert for:

A seizure

Which of the following MOST accurately describes a simple partial seizure?

A seizure that begins in one extremity

Febrile seizures:

Are usually begin but should be evaluated

When assessing for arm drift of a patient with a suspected stroke, you should:

Ask the patient to close his or her eyes during the assessment.

The most basic functions of the body, such as breathing, blood pressure, and swallowing, are controlled by the:

Brain Stem

Interruption of cerebral blood flow may result from all of the following, EXCEPT:

Cerebral vasodilation

A patient whose speech is slurred and difficult to understand is experiencing:

Dysarthria

During the primary assessment of a semiconscious 70-year-old female, you should:

Ensure a patent airway and support ventilation as needed

The spinal cord exits the cranium through the:

Foramen magnum

A patient who is possibly experiencing a stroke is NOT eligible for thrombolytic (fibrinolytic) therapy if he or she:

Has bleeding within the brain

Individuals with chronic alcoholism are predisposed to intracranial bleeding and hypoglycemia secondary to abnormalities in the:

Liver

You arrive at a local grocery store approximately 5 minutes after a 21-year-old female stopped seizing. She is confused and disoriented; she keeps asking you what happened and tells you that she is thirsty. Her brother, who witnessed the seizure, tells you that she takes valproate (Depakote) for her seizures, but has not taken it in a few days. He also tells you that she has diabetes. In addition to administering oxygen, you should:

Monitor her airway and breathing status and assess her blood glucose level

Which of the following is a metabolic cause of a seizure?

Poisoning

You are assessing the arm drift component of the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale on a 60-year-old woman. When she holds both of her arms out in front of her and closes her eyes, both of her arms immediately fall to her sides. You should:

Repeat the arm drift test, but move the patient's arms into position yourself

You are caring for a 70-year-old female with signs and symptoms of an acute stroke. She is conscious, has secretions in her mouth, is breathing at a normal rate with adequate depth, and has an oxygen saturation of 96%. You should:

Suction her oropharynx and transport immediately

The left cerebral hemisphere controls:

The right side of the body

You respond to a residence for a child who is having a seizure. Upon arrival at the scene, you enter the residence and find the mother holding her child, a 2-year-old male. The child is conscious and crying. According to the mother, the child had been running a high fever and then experienced a seizure that lasted approximately 3 minutes. You should:

Transport the child to the hospital and reassure the mother en route.

When you are obtaining medical history from the family of a suspected stroke patient, it is MOST important to determine:

When the patient last appeared normal

You arrive at the residence of a 33-year-old woman who is experiencing a generalized (tonic-clonic) seizure. She has a small amount of vomitus draining from the side of her mouth. After protecting her from further injury, you should:

maintain her airway with manual head positioning, suction her airway to remove the vomitus, insert a nasopharyngeal airway, and administer high-flow oxygen