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Short Duration Of Action Potentials Essay

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Systemically, the patient,CJ is stable, his arm is very painful, to the crew, CJ’s injury is not life threatening however the pain is real and precautions need to be taken to stabilise the limb and to minimise nerve or soft tissue damage. Adequate pain relief is required. Nitrous Oxide,( commonly referred to as Entanox) provides analgesic properties suitable for fast and effective pain relief .

Pharmacodynamics Administration of N2O is painless, with a rapid onset and a short duration of action. The onset is approximately 1 to 5 minutes and the recovery time is 3 to 5minutes once the gas has been with-drawn.( Pasaron R., Burnweit C. ,Zerpa J., Malvezzi L.,Knight C., Shapiro T., Ramos-Irizarry C., Velis E.) Inhaled N2O gas molecules are absorbed into the blood stream from the lungs. As noted by Oglesbee, it provides sedation stabilizing the neurons in the brain to prevent action potentials.
N2O has low solubility in blood and is transported in solution without binding to proteins. It diffuses rapidly across the alveolar– arterial membrane and is excreted unchanged, mainly through the lungs. ( S C Faddy, S R Garlick) Nitrous oxide may increase pulse rate and have depressant effects on respiration.( BOC New Zealand data sheet.)
Refer to Figure three in Appendices for Pharmacodynamic

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