Management of Hemorrhagic Shock for pre-hospital providers

A common misconception among prehospital providers is that hemorrhagic shock is a low blood pressure. Hemorrhagic shock is a shock state that presents after a significant amount of a patient's blood volume has been lost. So much so, that the vital organ systems begin to fail and the patient is at significant risk of death if not treated appropriately, aggressively, and in a timely manner.

There are four classes of hemorrhagic shock, and the worse the physiologic picture is for the patient, the higher the class of shock. (See Table 1.)

Table 1: Classes of Hemorrhagic Shock