ChartFlow Team
In a quest to make medications less scary for first responders, EMTs, and other basic life support providers, we’ve created free practice scenarios for you to use at home on your own or with friends/family who are willing to pretend to be patients. Just follow the scenario below, then log in to ChartFlow.io using a free student account to log what you would do in the "Patient Complaint and History" and the "Procedures and Interventions" sections. Then, come back to this page, scroll down, and check the scenario feedback at the bottom of the page.
Scenario 4
Scene:
You arrive on site to college housing. It’s the beginning of the school year and everyone is moving in. Inside the house is a group of teenagers surrounding an 18 year old black female leaning back on a couch. There’s a video game paused on the computer and everyone including the girl has a controller in their hand.
One of the teenagers who showed you inside says “we were just playing video games and she started acting weird and angry about how much the rest of us suck. I don’t know her that well, we just met today, so I thought she was just a jerk. But then she started to get pretty spacey and confused. We don’t know what to do. I don’t know if she does drugs, or has some sort of mental issue, or anything.”
The girl looks at you when you enter the room and although she seems very lethargic and doesn’t move to greet you, she tries to answer your questions about what is happening. At first glance you notice that she’s sweating even though the room is chilly. Her skin seems pale. She keeps looking around the room as if she’s distracted and says, “We were playing Call of Duty. I drank some orange juice this morning. It was the good kind with the pulp in it. I brought my video games out after unpacking. And I ate some oreos. The ones with the extra filling.”
When you ask if she has any preexisting medical conditions she tells you she has Type 1 diabetes. She took her insulin today normally. When asked if she ate, she said she thinks she ate enough and begins telling you about orange juice and oreos again. She seems to have a very difficult time focusing and trails off during conversation.
Another teenager in the room tells you that the girl is the only one who worked all day to unpack all her stuff and she was running up and down the stairs for several hours carrying boxes.
Patient Findings:
BP: 125/80
Pulse: 128 bpm
Respiratory Rate: 17 breaths per minute, equal and clear breath sounds on auscultation
Oxygen stats: 99%
LOC: Responds slowly but coherently in conversation. Tells you her name, day of the week, name of the house she’s in, and explains she was playing video games after unpacking when she started to get agitated and then tired.
Head-to-toe: Pupils equally responsive to light. No injuries, blood, or wounds present. Skin is pale but sweaty.
Known allergies: Bees
Known medical history: Type 1 diabetes, had her appendix removed when she was 9
Blood glucose reading: 54 mg/dL
Here’s how to access this scenario (Scenario #4) and other free patient scenarios in ChartFlow:
1. Go to ChartFlow.io2. Click to create a “New Student Account”
3. Enter Access Code:
77c3c26294
Make sure to enter the Access Code on the first page when you create an Account. If you miss this step, you’ll need to contact CharFlow’s support. Once you’ve created your account, you should see the following screen with activities available.
You can find our previous free patient scenarios here, here, and here.
For more study help, check out our book, BLS Provider Medication Guide that covers all BLS medications, med routes, dose, and standard uses.
Simulation solution below. Do not read until the activity is complete.
Scenario Solution
This patient has hypoglycemia. Although she took her normal insulin today, she did a lot of physical exercise while moving and may not have eaten enough to compensate. If available, take a blood glucose reading and give oral glucose after confirming the patient is alert and able to protect her airway. The following steps should be followed when giving oral glucose solutions:
- Squeeze tube directly into mouth or onto tongue depressor to spread against cheek or tongue.
- Repeat every 5-10 minutes if additional blood glucose readings still show low glucose levels.
-The ChartFlow Team