Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You continue to care for Ruby yourself.
You are familiar with ectopic pregnancies. You believe that you are trained
to be able to explain the condition to Ruby and monitor the situation.
However, this might not be the best idea. An ectopic is a high-risk emergency
situation that in some cases can cause the mother's Fallopian tubes to rupture.
Because of this risk, surgery is often required. Surgery is beyond the scope
of a physician assistant.
"It's a surgical emergency," says physician assistant Ian Jones. "The
PA's job in this is to obtain the history and get the diagnostics -- that
is, to make the diagnosis, to make the appropriate lifesaving resuscitations
and refer [it] to the appropriate surgical response."
The proper response can depend on where you're located, says Jones. "If
you're in a small town you call a surgeon," says Jones. "If you're in a big
city, you call whoever's on call for gynecology or obstetrics. It depends.
You have to know what resources you have. If you are in a small town and there
are no surgeons, then you need to determine whether the patient should go
by air to the big city or to a local community hospital. Those are the type
of decisions you would have to make -- it depends on where you are and what
you're doing."