RESUMO
Coma is an acute failure of neuronal systems governing arousal and awareness and represents a medical emergency. When encountering a comatose patient, the clinician must have an organized approach to detect easily remediable causes, prevent ongoing neurologic injury, and determine a hierarchical plan for diagnostic tests, treatments, and neuromonitoring. Coma was chosen as an Emergency Neurological Life Support protocol because timely medical and surgical interventions can be life-saving, and the initial work-up of such patients is critical to establishing a correct diagnosis.
Assuntos
Protocolos Clínicos , Coma/diagnóstico , Coma/terapia , Cuidados Críticos/métodos , Serviços Médicos de Emergência/métodos , Cuidados para Prolongar a Vida/métodos , Neurologia/métodos , Guias de Prática Clínica como Assunto , Protocolos Clínicos/normas , Cuidados Críticos/normas , Serviços Médicos de Emergência/normas , Humanos , Cuidados para Prolongar a Vida/normas , Neurologia/normasRESUMO
Coma is an acute failure of neuronal systems governing arousal and awareness and represents a medical emergency. When encountering a comatose patient, the clinician must have an organized approach to detect easily remediable causes, prevent ongoing neurologic injury, and determine a hierarchical plan for diagnostic tests, treatments, and neuromonitoring. Coma was chosen as an Emergency Neurological Life Support protocol because timely medical and surgical interventions can be life-saving, and the initial work-up of such patients is critical to establishing a correct diagnosis.
