The ambulance doctor

In case of an accident or a sudden severe illness we usually make calls to the First Aid Station that is on duty all day round.

The First Aid Station has many ambulances that are equipped with everything necessary for giving first aid and making a diagnosis. The ambulances carry artificial respiration apparatuses, different medicines, such as pain-killers, tonics and other preparations, dressings, first aid instruments, such as pincers, scalpels, syringes and others; sets of splints and stretchers. There are special ambulances equipped with everything necessary for reanimation of the organism. All ambulances are radio equipped. This enables the doctor to send the necessary information to the hospital, so that the hospital can prepare beforehand all the necessary instruments for an urgent operation, a blood transfusion or anything else.

The ambulance doctor must have a deep knowledge of emergency surgery, toxicology, emergency therapy, obstetrics and gynaecology, because he must always do his best to make a correct diagnosis quickly and to give the patient a proper aid on the spot.

Once a call was made to the First Aid Station. It turned out that a man had been run over by a car. The man was badly injured, he had an open bleeding wound in his leg, his arm was fractured, there were many injuries, abrasions and bruises on his face and forehead. The man was moaning with pain. Then he lost his consciousness.

First the ambulance doctor tried to arrest profuse arterial bleeding; he elevated the injured extremity carefully and applied a tourniquet to it. He also applied a sterile gauze dressing on the man’s face to prevent contamination. The doctor examined the arm and applied a splint to it. The injection of morphine and camphor was given and the man recovered his consciousness, but he complained of nausea.

The stretcher-bearers laid the patient down on the stretcher and 15 minutes later the patient was brought to the hospital by an ambulance car.

The next patient was suffering from a severe, squeezing pain in the substernal area. The patient had had such pain before, but it had been relieved by nitroglycerin. Besides, the pain radiated to the left shoulder and arm. The examination suggested myocardial infarction. The thromboembolic team took the electrocardiogram, made his blood analysis and determined the prothrombin time that confirmed the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. The patient was given the injection of promidole and atropine after which the pain considerably subsided. The patient was transported to the hospital without delay.

Respiratory system

The Respiratory system is a network of organs and passages through which air is taken into the lungs and carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged within the body.

Air enters the respiratory system through the mouth and nose where it is warmed and moistened . Then the air is filtered by coarse hairs that line the nostrils and trap large dust particles. Smaller particles are trapped in a sticky fluid (mucus) produced by the cells lining the passage between the nose and the mouth. This mucus is moved away by the beating of hair-like projections (cilia).

Then air travels through the throat (pharynx), voicebox (larynx) and the windpipe (trachea). At the entry to the windpipe is the flap, the epiglottis, which prevents choking when food is swallowed. The windpipe divides into two tubes (bronchi) and one bronchus enters each lung. Windpipe and bronchi are stiffened by ring of cartilage. Within each lung the bronchi split into smaller bronchi and then into many bronchioles. The bronchioles branch through the lungs and lead into air sacs (alveoli) of the lung tissue. Gases are exchanged in the air sacs. Each air sac is meshed with small blood vessels (capillaries) which carry carbon dioxide and water from the heart. Oxygen breathed in passes into the blood and carbon dioxide and water vapor are released into the air sacs to be breathed out. Then the blood, rich in oxygen, flows into the pulmonary vein and back to the heart for distribution. The lungs are housed in a bony cage made up of the ribs, breastbone and backbone. The floor of the cage is formed by a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm. When a person breathes in the diaphragm is pulled downward, the ribcage is pulled up and out by contraction of the muscles between the ribs, and air rushes in. When a person breathes out, the diaphragm and rib muscles relax and the chest subsides.

Respiration takes place 10 to 15 times a minute and is controlled by the respiratory center, a collection of cells in the brain. The cells in the respiratory center are extremely sensitive to carbon dioxide concentrations. When the carbon dioxide reaches a certain level, massages are sent from the respiratory center to the diaphragm and rib muscles that trigger contraction. As the lungs expand during inhalation, stretch receptors send signals back to the respiratory center. The center instructs the muscles of ribs and diaphragm to relax and exhaling takes place.

Respiration is not a quiet process. The presence of many dust particles in the nose can trigger sneezing. Irritation or too much mucus in the windpipe and bronchi cause coughing.