Chapter 32: Environmental Emergencies

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering cold- and heat-related emergencies, submersion and diving injuries, high-altitude illnesses, lightning injuries, and toxic bites and stings from Chapter 32.

Homeostasis

The state of balance in which all bodily systems operate and function at their best.

Conduction

The direct transfer of heat from a part of the body to a colder object through physical contact.

Convection

The loss or transfer of body heat to circulating air passing over the body surface.

Evaporation

The conversion of a liquid to a gas, providing natural cooling to the body through sweating.

Radiation

The transfer of heat from the body directly into the surrounding environment via radiant energy.

Respiration (Heat Loss)

The loss of body heat resulting from exhaling warm air from the lungs into the atmosphere and inhaling cooler air.

Hypothermia

A condition in which core body temperature falls below $95^\circ\text{F}\,(35^\circ\text{C})$, compromising temperature regulation, organ function, and mental status.

Mild Hypothermia

Hypothermia characterized by a core temperature between $89.8^\circ\text{F}\,(32.1^\circ\text{C})$ and $95^\circ\text{F}\,(35^\circ\text{C})$, active shivering, alert mental status, and rapid pulse and breathing.

Moderate Hypothermia

Hypothermia with a core body temperature between $82.5^\circ\text{F}$ and $89.7^\circ\text{F}\,(28.1^\circ\text{C}\text{ to }32^\circ\text{C})$, cessation of shivering, decreased muscular activity, muscle stiffness, and progression toward coma.

Severe Hypothermia

Hypothermia where core temperature falls below $82.4^\circ\text{F}\,(28^\circ\text{C})$ (and profound hypothermia below $75.2^\circ\text{F}\,[24^\circ\text{C}]$), leading to unresponsiveness, slow or undetectable pulses, cardiac dysrhythmias, and cardiac arrest.

Frostnip

A local cold injury occurring after prolonged exposure where the skin freezes but deeper tissues remain unaffected; typically painless and commonly affects the ears, nose, and fingers.

Immersion Foot (Trench Foot)

A localized injury caused by prolonged exposure to cold water, characterized by pale, cool, wrinkled skin with loss of sensation.

Frostbite

The most serious local cold injury in which body tissues are physically frozen and damaged, potentially leading to gangrene and requiring surgical removal of dead tissue.

Hyperthermia

An abnormally elevated core body temperature of $101^\circ\text{F}\,(38.3^\circ\text{C})$ or higher occurring when the body is overwhelmed by environmental heat or metabolic production.

Heat Cramps

Painful, involuntary muscle spasms occurring after vigorous exercise, usually localized to the abdominal or leg muscles.

Heat Exhaustion

The most common heat illness, caused by hypovolemia from excessive water and electrolyte loss; manifests with dizziness, nausea, headache, normal vital signs, and cold, clammy skin with ashen pallor.

Heatstroke

The least common but most severe heat emergency where body cooling mechanisms fail entirely, leading to hot skin, rapid core temperature rise, altered mental status, seizures, and death if untreated.

Cold-Water Immersion

The primary rapid cooling method indicated for heatstroke on scene, which should be continued until the core body temperature drops below $102.2^\circ\text{F}\,(39^\circ\text{C})$.

Drowning

The process of experiencing respiratory impairment caused by submersion or immersion in liquid.

Diving Reflex

A physiological protective response triggered by cold-water submersion that causes immediate bradycardia and reduces metabolic rate to prolong oxygen supply to vital organs.

Air Embolism (Diving)

The most dangerous and common scuba ascent emergency, where expanding air ruptures alveolar tissue and sends air bubbles into blood vessels as water pressure decreases.

Decompression Sickness ("The Bends")

An ascent emergency where nitrogen bubbles obstruct blood vessels following rapid ascent or prolonged deep dives, causing severe joint or abdominal pain.

Hyperbaric Chamber

A specialized recompression chamber utilized to treat decompression sickness and air embolism by shrinking gas bubbles and restoring normal blood supply to tissues.

Dysbarism Injuries

Injuries caused by a pressure differential between ambient atmospheric pressure and the total gas pressure within body cavities.

Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)

An altitude illness caused by diminished oxygen at higher elevations (often $\ge 9200\,\text{ft}$), presenting with headache, light-headedness, fatigue, nausea, and disturbed sleep.

High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE)

An altitude illness in which fluid collects in alveolar spaces, severely impairing gas exchange and causing shortness of breath, lung crackles, cyanosis, and pink frothy sputum.

High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE)

A life-threatening complication of mountain sickness characterized by severe cerebral vasodilation, constant throbbing headache, ataxia, confusion, and loss of consciousness.

Splash Effect

An indirect lightning injury occurring when lightning strikes an object and a portion of the electrical discharge jumps or arcs onto a nearby person.

Reverse Triage

A mass-casualty triage system used specifically after lightning strikes where patients in cardiac or respiratory arrest are prioritized first for resuscitation.

Black Widow Spider

A venomous spider measuring roughly 2 inches across, characterized by a shiny black body and a bright red-orange hourglass marking on its abdomen, whose neurotoxin causes agonizing muscle spasms.

Brown Recluse Spider

A dull brown venomous spider about 1 inch long with a characteristic violin-shaped mark on its back, whose cytotoxic venom produces severe local tissue necrosis and ulceration.

Stinger Removal Technique

The recommended method for managing a retained insect stinger by gently scraping the skin surface with a stiff, flat object like a credit card to avoid expressing additional venom.

Pit Viper

A venomous snake family—comprising rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths—distinguished by triangular flat heads, vertical slit pupils, fangs, and heat-sensing pits between each nostril and eye.

Coral Snake

A small venomous snake identified by bright red, yellow, and black bands encircling its body, which envenomates via a chewing motion and introduces a neurotoxin causing progressive paralysis.

Centruroides sculpturatus

The venomous bark scorpion species of the southwestern United States whose sting can induce systemic complications such as circulatory collapse, severe muscle contractions, excess salivation, and convulsions.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

A tick-borne illness manifesting 7 to 10 days post-bite with fever, headache, nausea, weakness, cardiorespiratory collapse, and paralysis.

Lyme Disease

A tick-borne systemic infectious illness characterized by fever, joint pain and swelling, flulike symptoms, and frequently an expanding circular bull's-eye rash.

Coelenterates

Marine invertebrates including jellyfish, Portuguese man-of-war, and sea anemones that cause painful envenomations via specialized stinging cells known as nematocysts.