Via practica 3–4/2013

Acute confusional states in prehospital conditions

The article deals with deals with conditions and diseases that can cause restlessness, agitation or sudden acute confusional state of the patient. Acute confusing condition (acute confusion) is a consequence of cognitive impairment, or of combination of factors, and it occurs relatively frequent in rescue practice and general practices. It is important to distinguish episodes of acute confusion that accompany less serious conditions from serious diseases where the patient‘s prognosis depends heavily on timely treatment (stroke, acute myocardial infarction, intracranial haemorrhage, hypoglycaemia). In general, the causes of acute confusing states can be divided into primary and secondary organic. In the text of is devoted particular attention to secondary causes with an emphasis on the assessment and management of acutely disturbed and restless patient in prehospital conditions, including symptomatic and causal therapy.

Keywords: acute confusing situation, acute confusion, primary and secondary causes.