The Ice Hockey Injury by Phil Stephens

Part IV—The Emergency Room

“Having his doctor here has made my life easier,” said the ER physician. “It allows us to compare Rick’s present condition to his normal one. To help things along, I have written down the results of some of the tests we have completed so far. The chest x-ray will be here soon, but in the meantime let’s see what we can see.”

Rick's Test Results vs. normal values (where appropriate):
ECG=Normal (fast);
Heart Rate (b/m)=105 vs. 65;
Blood Pressure=85/55 vs. 110/65;
PO2=78 vs. 100;
PCO2=55 vs. 40;
Blood pH=7.1 vs. 7.4;
Hematocrit=48 vs. 45;
Blood volume (L)=3.2 vs. 5.1;
Abdomen=No swelling; upper left quadrant: pain, bruised, tender;
Respiration=Rapid, deep, has labored breathing and cough;
Urine=None available, patient has NOT urinated in last 6 hours

Questions

Do these results correlate with your initial diagnosis?
Why is Rick’s blood volume low?
Where did the blood go? Do you think that Rick could have lost so much blood from his cut mouth?
Do you wish to modify your list of possible diagnoses at this time? What new information did you use to modify that list?

Go to Part V—“The CAT Scan”

Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/hockey/hockey4.asp