Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Automated external defibrillator (AED):
A portable electronic device that automatic-
ally diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and
ventricular tachycardia and is able to treat them with defibrillation, an electrical
shock that stops the arrhythmia and allows the heart to reestablish an effective
rhythm.
Avulsion:
An injury in which tissue is torn away or forcibly separated.
Bacteriostatic:
Stopping the multiplication and growth of bacteria.
Bleb:
A large blister.
Boil:
An abscess located in the skin and subcutaneous tissue.
Bronchi:
Air passages between the trachea and the smaller bronchioles.
Bronchioles:
Air passages between the bronchi and the alveoli, the smallest sac-like units
of the lung.
Bronchitis:
Inflammation of the bronchi and bronchioles, must often resulting from infec-
tion, but also caused by cold injuries or burns of the bronchial mucosa.
Cardiac:
Pertaining to the heart.
Cardiac output:
Volume of blood pumped by the heart over a specific period of time,
usually one minute.
Cardiogenic shock:
Shock resulting from the inability of the heart to pump blood; in the
wilderness the most common cause is probably tension pneumothorax.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR):
An emergency procedure consisting of external
cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration used to revive someone
whose heart has ceased functioning or who has stopped breathing.
Carrier:
A person who is immune to an infection but transmits it to others by carrying the
organisms within his or her body.
Catheter:
A tube introduced into an internal organ or structure; a urethral or urinary cath-
eter passed into the urinary bladder.
Central nervous system:
The brain and spinal cord.
Cerebral:
Pertaining to the brain.
Cervical:
Pertaining to the neck.
Cholera:
An infection characterized by watery diarrhea so profuse that death from dehyd-
ration can result in less than a day.
Chronic:
Appearing after or persisting for a relatively long time; opposite of acute.
Coma:
A state of total unconsciousness.
Comatose:
Totally unconscious.
Conjunctiva:
Thin membrane that covers the white, visible surface of the eye and the in-
ner surface of the eyelid.
Contusion:
A bruise.
Convulsion:
An intense, paroxysmal muscular contraction, commonly involving the en-
tire body.
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