Care of pacients intoxicaded by carbon monoxide

The topic of this thesis is the care of the patients intoxicated with carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide ranks first among random poisonings in Europe. Therefore it is a significant socio-economic problem. The thesis is divided into the theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes the physical features of carbon monoxide and the ways it reaches the human body. It also describes the anatomy of the respiratory tract, breathing physiology and pathophysiological processes in the human body that are caused by carbon monoxide. The thesis describes possible sources of carbon monoxide, clinical symptoms of poisoning, diagnosis and treatment methods. In the practical part, the research is conducted using a qualitative method - interviews. The practical part has two goals. The first goal is to map the level of paramedics' knowledge of carbon monoxide intoxication. The second goal is to find out if paramedics are able to provide patients poisoned by carbon monoxide with adequate care and also to find out what care is given to them. The research sample consists of two groups of respondents. The first group is paramedics working in pre-hospital emergency care and the other are nurses working in the intensive care unit. Research has shown that respondents have good knowledge of carbon monoxide poisoning. The greatest drawbacks were found in the knowledge of the pathophysiology of carbon monoxide poisoning. The most of the problems were related to these drawbacks. In a field of care have been discovered some facts, that could cause problems. For example, the fact that there is only one hyperbaric medicine center in the whole Moravia region or the lack of CO-oximeters in the paramedics' equipment