GLOSSARY

Scene Survey

A check of the emergency scene for hazards that may harm you, the patient(s), and any bystanders.

Scope of Practice

The limits of your training.

Seizure

See Tonic-Clonic Seizures, Absence Seizures, and Postictal Phase.

Sign

Something you can see, hear, smell. Examples: blood, wheezing, or burnt flesh.

Sniffing Position

A slight tilt of an infant’s head used when performing an airway check on infants less than one year old.

Sputum

A mixture of saliva (spit) and mucous coughed up from the respiratory tract.

Status Epilepticus

A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than one seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes.

Sternum

Also known as the breast bone, located in the centre of the chest.

Stridor

Noisy, wheezy, whistling breathing that happens when air flow is blocked by a narrowed airway.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)

A condition where the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. If this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain and other vital organs.

Symptom

Something that the patient describes feeling. Examples: headache, chest pain, or dizziness.

Tonic-Clonic Seizures

Also known as grand mal seizures. A tonic-clonic seizure usually begins on both sides of the brain but can start on one side and spread to the whole brain. A person loses consciousness, their muscles stiffen, and jerking movements are seen.

Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs)

A stroke that lasts only a few minutes. It happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly blocked.

Triaging

Determining from Highest to Lowest Priority how urgent wounds and illnesses are and what order to treat the injured in.

Uppers

A slang term for a group of drugs called stimulants. This category of drugs increases blood pressure, breathing rate, and heart rate and causes the brain to flood with dopamine and norepinephrine (two neurotransmitters that produce feelings of euphoria/being high). Stimulants elevate mood, alertness, and focus while often reducing appetite.

Vein

A type of blood vessel that carries deoxygenated blood (blood without oxygen) back to the heart to pick up fresh oxygen and nutrients. This then gets sent out again by the arteries to feed our body’s tissues and cells. (See also Artery.)

Ventricular Fibrillation (V-fib)

Considered the most serious cardiac rhythm disturbance. Disordered electrical activity causes the heart’s lower chambers (ventricles) to quiver, or fibrillate, instead of beating normally.

Ventricular Tachycardia (VT)

A fast, abnormal heart rate. It starts in your heart’s lower chambers, called the ventricles. If VT lasts for more than a few seconds at a time, it can become life-threatening.

Vital Signs Absent (VSA)

When no vital signs are present.

Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB)

When an injury or illness happens on the job, WSIB helps provide wage-loss benefits, medical coverage, and support to help people get back to work. It is also a regulatory board.