Pragmatic differential diagnostics of acute shortness of breath in the prehospital emergency care - personal algorithm (READY protocol)
2020
Abstract
Acute shortness of breath is a severe subjective symptom that accounts for approximately one-tenth of all indications of medical emergency services dispatches. The common approach to differential diagnostics targeted to determine the nosological unit is often complicated.
Therefore, pre-hospital management must reflect real possibilities and must be a compromise of the time spent at the field and realistic diagnostic accuracy in close relation to the subsequent treatment we can safely provide. The author presents a pragmatic algorithm for the pre-hospital management of patients with acute shortness of breath based on a simple assessment of respiratory sounds with the possible implementation of Point-of-Care ultrasound.