2. Listening 1 track 25 page 82 Before you listen read the
script on page 134 and answer the following questions: a) Who is
the speaker? b) What happened to him? c) Whats a GTN spray? d) What
symptoms did the patient have? e) How long did the ambulance take
to arrive? f) Whats the prognosis? (see the dictionary for the
meaning of prognosis) Listen to a conversation between the patients
wife and Dr. Lawson
3. Vocabulary Hypokalaemia Thrombolysis Arrhythmia
Contraindications Diuretic Secure Venous Access Reperfuse Titrate
to effect Tolerate Line
4. Hypokalaemia Very low levels of Potassium.
5. Thrombolysis Thrombolysis, also known as thrombolytic
therapy, is a treatment to dissolve dangerous clots in blood
vessels, improve blood flow, and prevent damage to tissues and
organs.
6. Arrhythmia When the heartbeat is not in a normal
rhythm.
7. Contraindications Contraindication is the opposite of
indication. Just as an indication is a reason for using a medicine
or performing a procedure, a contraindication is a reason for NOT
using a medicine or NOT performing a procedure. Aspirin has an
indication and a Contraindication. It can be used if the patient
has mild-moderate pain. But if a patient also has symptoms like
gastric ulcer, dudenal ulcer etc., then Aspirin shouldnt be used.
Then it is a contraindication.
8. Diuretic Diuretics are called water pills. They remove salt
and water from the body.
9. Secure Venous Access When a patient is brought in the
hospital, usually nurses find his or her vein to give an injection
or an IV or removing blood for tests. This is called secure venous
access.
10. Reperfuse The restoration of blood flow to an organ or to
tissue. After a heart attack, an immediate goal is to quickly open
blocked arteries and reperfuse the heart muscles. Early reperfusion
minimizes the extent of heart muscle damage and preserves the
pumping function of the heart.
11. Titrate to effect incremental increase in drug dosage to a
level that provides the optimal effect. For example: A patient is
given a minimal dose of 500 mg. Then its increased to 1gram and
finally 2 grams to provide the effect.
12. Line To move to the next stage if something doesnt work.
Example - If the antibiotic doesnt work, our line will be
surgery.
13. Tolerate To have no side-effects to a medicine. Ahmed
should be given 500 mg of Tramadol. He can tolerate that. But it
shouldnt be titrated because beyond that dose there might be
contraindications.
14. Vocabulary Exercise 1 Match technical words with their
meanings 1) Thrombolysis 2) Arrhythmia 3) Contraindication 4)
Tolerate 5) Diuretics 6) Secure Venous Access 7) titrate to effect
8) Reperfuse 9) Line 10) Hypokalaemia