Acute Medicine | Unconscious Patient 03 Knowledge A
Dealing with the Unconscious Patient
Session Overview
Description
This session focuses on a practical approach to managing an unconscious patient.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:
- Adopt a structured approach to managing the unconscious patient
- Identify important clinical diagnostic clues
Coma is a state of:
• Total unawareness of both self and external surroundings
• No meaningful response to external stimuli
Consciousness relies on the integrity of the bilateral cerebral hemispheres and reticular activating system in the brainstem [1].
Coma results from impairment of both cerebral hemispheres and/or the ascending reticular activating system.
Severity varies from a state of coma to varying degrees of altered consciousness. Terms such as 'stupor' and 'drowsiness' are best avoided.
'Persistent vegetative state' refers to a comatose state in which there is sparing of brainstem and diencephalon function with preserved autonomic and motor reflexes and sleep-wake cycles. The term 'minimally conscious state' is used if some awareness is preserved.
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