UNIT 1 LAB Diagnosing and

Treating a Jellyfish Sting

Mariam Salhien
UNIT 1 LAB

Diagnosing and Treating a Jellyfish Sting

For this lab, you will perform some light research about jellyfish and how to treat a jellyfish sting. You’ll then create a flowchart
describing both a diagnosis and sting-treatment guidelines with explanations of how each step interacts with the immune system
along the way.

First, to help you start your research, visit this site for a primer on jellyfish stings:

Home remedies for different types of jellyfish stings

For this exercise, there’s a complication: your patient might have been stung by a box jellyfish!

Box jellyfish stings: to vinegar or not

You’ll also need to learn a bit about nematocytes, also known as cnidocytes:

Wikipedia - Cnidocyte

You are encouraged to look up information on other sites to find more information, but be careful—there’s a lot of misinformation and
myths when it comes to any kind of medical issue. As a tip, if the site suggests urinating on the site of the sting, you can consider it
medically unsound! Also, while Wikipedia is a wonderful source for basic information about a subject, remember that it’s not a source
you can cite for making medical decisions in a traditional academic setting, even though it uses citations and many of the trappings
of evidence-based research. Consistently reputable sites include the Mayo clinic, drugs.com, medline plus, webmd, and most sites for
organizations that promote research for various health conditions, such as the American Heart Association, American Diabetes
Association, and so on.
Based on your research, you’ll create two flowchart-style diagrams:
● The first is a flowchart of the steps you would take if you were a medical professional performing intake on and diagnosing
the patient. Pretend that you have all the medical supplies found in a medical office with you even though you are on the
beach.
● The second is a flowchart detailing the steps you would take to treat the person. (Remember, they’re on land, with a tentacle
stuck to their leg.) Even though you’re on the beach, you can think about how you would interact with a patient as if they were
in a medical office.
In your answer, consider all of the basic technical skills you would use in the encounter, some of which you’ve learned about in the
first Anatomy and Physiology course. For example, think through the basic diagnosis:
● How would the allergic reaction to the sting present itself (how does the patient present, in other words)?
● What are the objective symptoms you would observe (including seeing the tentacle still stuck to the leg)?
● What are the subjective symptoms you would ask about (e.g., what is their level of pain)?
● Think about taking their temperature, measuring vital signs, skin assessment, etc., and what symptoms you might observe
that would indicate the patient’s response is particularly adverse or extreme (and remember, this could be a box jellyfish
whose sting is life-threatening). For example, what would it mean if your patient started displaying shortness of breath? As an
example, here is a resource you might use to track whether a reaction to a sting is life-threatening:
When is an allergic reaction an emergency?
For each step of the flowchart that deals with an immune system response, explain how your actions are related to what the immune
system is doing. For example, if your skin assessment detects redness, swelling, or heightened temperatures at the site of the injury,
what processes of the lymphatic and immune system are causing these symptoms? How do your treatments interact with the
immune system responses?
Some suggestions for sites that cover the technical medical side of dealing with stings include:
MayoClinic - How to treat jellyfish stings
Wikihow - How to treat jellyfish stings
Your submission for this lab will be the two flowcharts.
 Steps to avoid
Making sure 1st FlowChart On the steps of a Box Jellyfish sting These actions are
that the unhelpful or unproved:
The steps you would take if you were a medical
Scraping out stingers
patient is professional performing intake on and diagnosing the
Rinsing with seawater
comfortable patient. Pretend that you have all the medical supplies
Rinsing with human
so that the yes found in a medical office with you even though you are No urine
on the beach.
patient is not Rinsing with fresh
moved in water
order to avoid Applying meat
tenderizer
anymore
Applying alcohol,
injuries. ethanol or ammonia
Medical tools have been prepared and sanitized in order to
Rubbing with a towel
perform and diagnosed the patient on which jellyfish the patient
Applying pressure
was stung by.
bandages

Yes
Yes

Making sure that the Yes By given the patient oral

wound area is numb so
that the patient does not
feel any pain or
discomfort.
medication incase a rash or other
Making sure that the patient is in a calmful state and skin reaction due to delayed
being able to perform the treatment on the patient hypersensitivity may be treated
without having the patient being scared and being in with oral antihistamines or
a fearful state. corticosteroids.
 Steps to avoid
2nd FlowChart Detainling the steps of treating a Box Jellyfish sting These actions are
unhelpful or unproved:
Detailing the steps you would take to treat the person. Scraping out stingers
Use salt (Remember, they’re on land, with a tentacle stuck to their Rinsing with seawater
water or leg.) Even though you’re on the beach, you can think Rinsing with human
No about how you would interact with a patient as if they No
vinegar on urine
were in a medical office.
the wound. Rinsing with fresh
water
Applying meat
First-aid care tenderizer
Most jellyfish stings can be treated as follows: Applying alcohol,
1. Carefully pluck visible tentacles with a fine tweezers. ethanol or ammonia
2. Soak the skin in hot water. Use water that's 110 to 113 F Rubbing with a towel
(43 to 45 C). If a thermometer isn't available, test the water Applying pressure
on an uninjured person's hand or elbow — it should feel bandages
hot, not scalding. Keep the affected skin immersed or in a
Yes hot shower for 20 to 45 minutes.
Eye flushing. A jellyfish Yes
sting occurring on or
near an eye requires Oral medicine. A rash or other
Yes
immediate medical care skin reaction due to delayed
for pain control and a Emergency care. Someone having a severe hypersensitivity may be treated
good eye flushing. You reaction to a jellyfish sting may need with oral antihistamines or
will likely be seen by a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), life support or, corticosteroids. You may also be
doctor specializing in if the sting is from a box jellyfish, antivenin given oral pain medicine.
eye care medication.
(ophthalmologist).
 In your answer, consider all of the basic technical skills you would use in the encounter, some of which you’ve learned about in the first
Anatomy and Physiology course. For example, think through the basic diagnosis:

● How would the allergic reaction to the sting present itself (how does the patient present, in other words)?
The allergic reaction to the jellyfish sting to be present is by cough, difficulty or irregular breathing, wheezing, itchy throat or mouth, and difficulty swallowing,
nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, Itchiness, red bumps or welts on the skin (hives), and skin redness, dizziness, lightheadedness, heart
palpitations, chest discomfort or tightness, mental confusion, weakness, lower blood pressure, rapid pulse, loss of consciousness, and fainting, are the most
common symptoms for allergies to be presented.

● What are the objective symptoms you would observe (including seeing the tentacle still stuck to the leg)?
The objective symptoms that i would observe such as seeing the tentacle still stuck to the leg is by following the steps, if being stung at a beach or an ocean,
start by pouring salt water on the part of the body that was just stung. Avoid using fresh water. Use medical tweezers to remove any visible tentacles seen in
your skin. Either use vinegar or rubbing alcohol to the wound area to stop the burning feeling and to allow the toxins to be released. After the vinegar has
been poured onto the wound, apply shaving cream or a baking soda and sea water solution on to the wound and allow it to dry than scarpe off the mixture
using a credit card. In order to reduce the pain, calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream is used, and using a ice pack or hot water to ease the pain and
swelling.

● What are the subjective symptoms you would ask about (e.g., what is their level of pain)?
The subjective symptoms that i would ask about would be, What is the patient’s his or her level of pain?, Does the patient need any more pain medication?,
Does the pain move around?, Does the patient’s feel the pain elsewhere?, and What makes your pain feel better?, etc.

● Think about taking their temperature, measuring vital signs, skin assessment, etc., and what symptoms you might observe that would indicate the
patient’s response is particularly adverse or extreme (and remember, this could be a box jellyfish whose sting is life-threatening). For example, what
would it mean if your patient started displaying shortness of breath? As an example, here is a resource you might use to track whether a reaction to
a sting is life-threatening:

The patient’s temperature results, measuring vital signs results, skin assessment results, etc can be abnormally high after being stung by a jellyfish. The
symptoms that i might observe that would indicate the patient’s response is particularly adverse or extreme depending on the type of jellyfish can lead to a
life-threatening situations. Such as, this would mean that the patient started to display shortness of breath, which can cause the patient to lose consciousness
or death.
WORK CITED LINKS:

● Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2020, June 16). Jellyfish Stings. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 16, 2022,
from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/jellyfish-stings/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353290
● Warner, J., Upham, B., Lee, K., Kritz, F., Editors, E. H., Hall, K., Natale, N., Marks, J. L., & Stewart, K. (n.d.). When is an allergic
reaction an emergency? EverydayHealth.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from
https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/anaphylaxis-severe-allergy-guide/allergic-reaction-emergency/
● Jlapum, St-Amant, O., Hughes, M., Petrie, P., Morrell, S., & Mistry, S. (2019, July 1). The PQRSTU assessment. The Complete
Subjective Health Assessment. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/healthassessment/chapter/the-pqrstu-assessment/