The Features of Patients' Consciousness in a Situation of Vital Risk (Essay Sample)

THE FEATURES OF PATIENTS' CONSCIOUSNESS IN A SITUATION OF VITAL RISK
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In philosophy, consciousness is an important research topic that continues to attract even more interest. While the debate on the nature of consciousness still rages on, practitioners have focused primarily on analyzing the features of patients in situations of consciousness vital risks. Disorders of consciousness result mainly from acute brain injury and include minimally-conscious state, coma, and vegetative state. One concern many practitioners have is the detection of the behavioral signs in the patients especially the vital signs. Apparently, it has proved pretty difficult to analyze these signs, thus leaving the practitioners somewhat frustrated. In light of these findings, this paper describes the features of patients' consciousness in a situation of vital risk.
Discordant temperature values can help in identifying patients' consciousness in a situation of vital risk. In measuring a patient’s temperature, a medical practitioner places an oral thermometer under a patient’s tongue after which the thermometer provides a digital reading. If there is discordant between the values of the digital thermometer and the patient’s clinical condition, the consciousness is in a situation of vital risk. For instance, if the reading shows a patient to be suffering from a fever, but the clinical condition suggests differently, it is a vital case. Therefore, this feature offers a remedy to the health practitioners that have been grappling with this dilemma for some time now.[1. David Gamez, "The Measurement Of Consciousness: A Framework For The Scientific Study Of Consciousness", Frontiers in Psychology 5 (2014).]
In addition to the above feature, respiratory rate is an important characteristic when handling such a situation. Typically, clinicians record respirations by breaths per minute. In analyzing this feature, it is recommended that one counts respirations for 30 seconds then multiplies by 2 after which findings are recorded1. Also, it is imperative to conduct this exercise surreptitiously to avoid altering of the rate by the patient. Failure to prevent this altering might lead to miscounting, thus leading to erroneous readings. Observing the rise and fall trends of the patient’s gown can assist in preventing altering. The normal respirations ought to be a minimum of 12 with 20 being the maximum. Thus, anything lower or higher than these rates would indicate a vital risk in such patients.[2. Dhananjay Pal, "The Relationship Between Consciousness And Vital Living Force Through The Consciousness Model", AJMP 3, no. 1 (2014): 1.]
Also, the results obtained from the measurement of the pulse can help in assessing the patient. Pulse can be measured in either femoral or carotid artery through palpating the radial impulse. The physician has to feel the two arteries first and then double the sensory input. Also, a clinician places the tips of both the middle and the index fingers near a patient’s wrist after which light pushing is initiated dep...