Question

You are the triage nurse in the emergency department (ed) when a grandfather carries his 4-year-old grandson into the ed. the child is not breathing, and the grandfather states the boy was stung by a bee just outside the ed where they were waiting for the mother to get off work. what characteristics of anaphylactic shock would lead you to believe this is what is happening to the patient?

Answer 1

The correct answer is rapid onset of respiratory distress.
When a person is exposed to a substance to which he/she is allergic, the immune system reacts by releasing specific chemicals. This constitutes an anaphylactic shock. Symptoms of an anaphylactic shock include rapid onset of hypertension, of neurologic compensation and of cardiac arrest. In this case, the grandson is not breathing, therefore this consists a rapid onset of respiratory distress.