Shock can have many different meanings. A movie’s plot twist could be shocking to some. Touching a live wire could result in a shock. You may be in shock as a result of the death of a loved one or as a result of trauma. Shock, in my opinion, is a terrifying term that predicts poor outcomes despite our best medical efforts.
Despite the best medical care in the best hospitals, mortality rates can range from 40% to 50%.
What will you do if your partner or family member is involved in an accident or suffers a heart attack and goes into shock?
The most important aspect of treating shock is learning to recognize it as soon as possible. The earlier the diagnosis, the sooner the treatment can begin.
What is shock?
To begin, shock is defined as a lack of blood and oxygen supply to the tissues. Tissues and cells starve as a result of a lack of these nutrients. When this happens, the tissues and organs stop working.
The greater the number of organ failures, the higher the mortality rate. The sooner the cells’ nutrients and function are restored, the better their chances of survival.
In order to minimize cell damage, the body has several mechanisms in place to compensate for the lack of tissue perfusion.
Although many organ systems are involved in compensatory mechanisms, the cardiovascular system is the process’s foundation.
A pump (the heart), pipes (the blood vessels), and fluid are required for the cardiovascular system to maintain its pressure in a closed loop (the blood).
In order to minimize cell damage, the body has several mechanisms in place to compensate for the lack of tissue perfusion. Even though many organ systems are involved in compensatory mechanisms, the cardiovascular system is the process’s foundation.
A pump (the heart), pipes (the blood vessels), and fluid are required for the cardiovascular system to maintain somewhat constant pressure in a closed loop (the blood). If any of these components fail, there is a loss of pressure in the system.
If the pressure loss is severe, the tissues and organs will not be nourished with the necessary components for proper organ and body function. Let’s dig a little deeper into this.
The pump output (cardiac output) and systemic vascular resistance control the pressure in the system (changes in vessel diameter or changes in blood viscosity).
The heart rate and stroke volume determine cardiac output (how much blood is pumped with each contraction of the heart). The formula is as follows:
Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) = Cardiac Output (CO) x Systemic Vascular Resistance (SVR)
Cardiac Output = Heart Rate (HR) x Stroke Volume (SV) Therefore, MAP = (HR x SV) x SVR
To increase systemic pressure, we must either increase heart rate, stroke volume, or systemic vascular resistance (or some combination of the three). When one of these components fails as a result of an…