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To understand illness, we first need to understand the body in health.
To understand illness, we first need to understand the body in health.
The human body is both complex and diverse with several distinct systems that work closely together to allow us to live our life in work, rest and play. The body is made up of trillions and trillions of cells and medical scientists can not be more precise than this as the cells in the body are constantly changing.
For your role we will only require you to have a very basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology and a small insight is provided on the following modules are general introductions to:
Skeletal system in health and illness
Respiratory system in health and illness
Circulatory system in health and illness
Nervous system in health and illness
These sections are simply to provide some background knowledge and will be expanded upon throughout your course
The Skeletal System
The Skeletal System
The skeleton is made up of 206 bones that vary in shape and form but one common feature is that they may fracture as a result of injury.
Other injuries such as a dislocation may also occur if the joint is put under excessive force.
Functions of the Skeleton
Functions of the Skeleton
Support for the soft tissues of the body, giving shape and form. To provide a point of attachment for the skeletal muscles.
Protection of the vital organs such as the brain, heart and lungs.
Movement is facilitated by the bones and joints of the skeleton which act as levers to the muscles that are attached.
Mineral storage in the bones which are distributed to other parts of the body when needed.
Blood cells that are red and carry oxygen and some white cells that help fight infection are produced in the marrow of certain bones.
Injuires
Injuires
Types of injury likely to cause fractures to bones are
Direct force which cause damage to that particular area
or
Indirect force when during a fall a person lands on an outstretched arm and dislocates/fractures the shoulder joint.
You will cover different types of injury to the skeletal system and their treatment in greater details throughout the classroom course
The Respiratory System
The Respiratory System
The Respiratory system has four principle functions:
Extract oxygen from the atmosphere and transfer it to the bloodstream in the lungs
Excrete water vapour, carbon dioxide and other waste gases
Maintain the normal acid-based content of the blood
Ventilation of the lungs.
All parts of the body consume oxygen, and produce carbon dioxide as a waste product.
To cover this need, respiration takes place internally (at the cellular level) and externally (ventilation/breathing).
Ventilation involves the inhalation of atmospheric air which contains approximately 20-21% oxygen into the lungs via the nose and mouth through branching passageways into the right and left lungs, and the exhalation of carbon dioxide reversed through the same route comprising approximately 4-5% within exhaled air.
The key function of the lungs is to bring air and blood into intimate contact within the alveolar air sacs so that oxygen can enter the blood and carbon dioxide may leave.
At rest, humans breathe at a rate of approximately 12 to 20 times per minute, bringing in approximately 500ml (1 pint) with each breath.
Exercise and certain diseases such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis may result in a marked increase of breathing rate and effort.
The Circulatory System
The Circulatory System
The human circulatory system basically resembles a simple closed plumbing network consisting of a pump (heart), tubes (arteries and veins) and fluid (blood that carries oxygen)
The heart is a hollow organ that lies between the lungs and is often compared in size with the owner’s fist. It has two upper chambers (atrium) that receive blood and two larger lower chambers (ventricles) with one responsible for pumping blood to the lungs the other to the rest of the body. This pumping action of the heart causes it to beat approx 60-100 times per minute or 100,000 times a day sending the blood through an average 60-70,000 miles of blood vessels.
The arteries carry oxygenated blood from the left side of the heart, under pressure, to the whole of the body, whilst the veins carry deoxygenated blood from all areas of the body back to the right side of the heart to be pumped back to the lungs for waste disposal and reoxygenation.
Many problems can occur with the heart including:
Heart attack
Angina
Conduction system failure
Left Ventricular Failure
Infection
Injury
The Nervous System
The Nervous System
The adult brain is made up of approximately 100 thousand billion neurons (or brain cells) and is one of the largest and arguably most important organs of the human body.
A complex computer, our brain is the centre that:
Stores information
Controls emotion
Manages our intellect
Our brain can also excite, be creative and direct our behaviour toward others. The brain is made up of several key areas but the area we need to be aware of is the autonomic (automatic) part of our brain stem.
Our brain and brain stem communicates with other parts of the body via electrical signal transmitted down the spinal column and into individual nerves into connective tissue. Some of the important functions of our brainstem
Regulates both the rate and force of our heart beat
Regulation of the diameter of our blood vessels to govern our blood pressure
Coughing
Swallowing
Sneezing
Vomiting
The nervous system is an incredibly complex area and during your classroom course, the tutor will guide you through the relevant features in health as well as illnesses that may affect the casualty including:
Head Injuries
Stroke
Epiliepsy/Seizures
Febrile Convulsions
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