Pneumothorax Research Paper

With the amount of calls we receive as an EMS professional, we are most often given the vague “chest pain” call. Even though, the early form of paramedics were created to battle the myocardial infarction that plague the general population, most often than not, the “chest pain” we receive is not MI related. It is imperative that we are aware of the different causes of chest pain that are presented to us. Some are caused by air trapping between the spaces of the lungs and some could also be caused by emotional events or significant stressors in the patient’s life. This text will go over four types of disease processes that can inflict the feeling of chest pain to the patients we receive. First of the four disease processes that we will go over is a pneumothorax. What is a pneumothorax? It is a partial or complete accumulation of air in the pleural space (AMLS). In layman terms, there is limited space between the lungs and the chest wall inhibiting the lungs to expand. If there is air or blood …show more content…
This can occur following a variety of emotional stressors such as grief (such as death of a loved one), fear, extreme anger and surprise. As listed by Hopkins Medicine, symptoms are often similar to those of a heart attack such as: chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, weakness, palpitations (the sensation of heart pounding). Stress cardiomyopathy uses adrenaline and other hormones to temporarily stun heart cells (Hopkins Medicine). While the signs and symptoms presented sounds closely similar to a myocardial infarction, it does not present the same mortality rate of an MI. Aforementioned prior, stress cardiomyopathy produce a low mortality rate. Most patients make a full

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