Question

ambulance calls
the following case scenarios provide an opportunity to explore the concerns associated with patient management and to enhance critical - thinking skills. read each scenario and answer each question to the best of your ability.

1. you are dispatched to the scene of a bar fight. a 34 - year - old man has been stabbed in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen with a knife.

what organs might be affected by this wound?

1. you are dispatched to a one - vehicle motor vehicle crash, car versus telephone pole. you arrive to find an unrestrained driver who is complaining of chest pain. you notice the steering wheel is deformed.

based on this information, what anatomic structures are potentially injured?

Explanation:

1. In the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, the liver is the major organ and the gall - bladder is also present in this area, so they might be affected by the stab wound.
2. With a deformed steering wheel and a driver complaining of chest pain, the sternum (breastbone) can be fractured due to impact, the ribs can break, and the heart and lungs can be contused or injured from the force of impact.

Answer:

1. Liver, gall - bladder.
2. Sternum, ribs, heart, lungs.