ABCs
You arrive at the scene of a high school track meet and find a runner sitting on the bench, clutching their throat, unable to speak or cough, and turning slightly blue. What is your immediate priority, and what life-saving intervention must you perform?
What is airway and what are abdominal thrusts (the Heimlich maneuver)?
You walk up to a patient who looks up at you as you approach, makes direct eye contact, and immediately asks, "What are you guys doing here?" Using the AVPU scale, what is this patient's mental status level?
What is Alert? (A&O times 4)
You and your partner arrive first at the scene of a motor vehicle collision on a busy highway. Glass is shattered all over the road, and oncoming traffic is zooming past at high speeds without slowing down. Before you even approach the wrecked vehicle or look at a patient, what is your absolute first priority as an EMS responder?
What is ensuring scene safety?
This two-word rule states that before doing anything else, responders must ensure that they, their crew, and bystanders are not in danger.
What is scene safety?
You respond to the campus woodshop where a student has lacerated their forearm on a power tool. Bright red blood is spurting rhythmically from the wound, and the student is beginning to look pale and anxious. Following the "C" (Circulation) step of your primary assessment, what is the most appropriate primary action to stop.
What is applying direct pressure and/or a tourniquet?
You find a student slumped over a desk. Their eyes are closed, and they do not notice you approach. However, the moment you speak loudly and ask, "Are you okay?", their eyes flutter open, they look at you, and they mumble a response before closing their eyes again. Which letter of the AVPU scale best describes this patient's response?
What is Verbal?
You respond to the school chemistry lab where a student accidentally mixed chemicals, creating a strange colored cloud and a strong, choking odor. Students are coughing in the hallway. What should you do regarding scene safety, and where should you position your crew?
What is staying out, evacuating people, and waiting for HAZMAT?
This high-pitched, whistling sound heard during breathing usually indicates a lower airway constriction or obstruction,commonly heard in asthma patients.
What is wheezing?
You are treating an unresponsive trauma patient who was thrown from a bicycle. Their respirations are slow and gurgling at 6 breaths/min, and you notice vomitus and blood pooling in their oropharynx. What is the correct sequence of actions regarding the airway, and what tool must you use first?
What is suctioning the airway, inserting an OPA, and using a Bag-Valve-Mask (BVM)?
Your patient does not respond when you talk to them or shake their shoulder. To check their mental status, you apply a safe, standardized painful stimulus (such as a trapezius squeeze or a sternal rub), causing them to groan and pull their arm away. Based on this reaction, how is the patient classified on the AVPU scale?
What is Pain?
You are assessing a patient who was kicked in the chest during a soccer game. They are complaining of severe left-flank pain, their skin is pale and cool, and their vital signs show a rapid pulse of 120 and a dropping blood pressure. Based on their clinical presentation, are they a "load and go" (emergent transport) or "stay and play" (stable) patient, and why?
What is a "load and go" patient because they are in shock?
This specific mass-casualty and transport term refers to the systematic sorting of patients based on the severity of their injuries to prioritize treatment and evacuation.
What is triage?
You arrive at a car crash involving a teenage driver. The patient is unconscious, breathing shallowly at 34 breaths/min with absent breath sounds on the right side of the chest, and has a weak, rapid radial pulse of 130 bpm. Their skin is cool,pale, and clammy. Which specific life-threatening chest injury is suggested by the physical findings, and how does it directly impair both the B and C of your ABCs?
What is tension pneumothorax? And what is the air compresses the lungs preventing breathing and the lack of oxygen prevents the oxygenation of blood throughout the body (circulatory- hypotension)
You respond to an unresponsive student. You shout their name, shake their shoulders, and even apply a firm painful stimulus, but they completely fail to move, groan, or open their eyes at all. What is the final category of the AVPU scale for this patient, and what is your immediate next step?
What is Unresponsive, and what is checking for a pulse and breathing
A student falls 15 feet from a treehouse, landing on their back on hard packed dirt. They are complaining of severe back pain and numbness in their legs. Beyond providing manual spine motion restriction and spinal precautions, what is your transport decision regarding urgency and mode of transport?
What is a rapid, lights-and-sirens transport to a trauma center?
This critical state occurs when the cardiovascular system fails to circulate enough oxygenated blood to the vital organs,often described in EMS as inadequate tissue perfusion.
What is shock?
You are evaluating an unresponsive 14-year-old who was pulled from a neighborhood pool. You note that the patient is cyanotic (blue lips and nail beds), completely limp, and has a very slow, gasping heart rate / pulse of 40 bpm. According to standard resuscitation protocols, what is your immediate priority when managing the ABCs for a pulseless or severely bradycardic adolescent secondary to hypoxia?
What is starting CPR?
You are monitoring a high school athlete who took a hard hit to the head on the football field. Initially, he was fully Alertand answered all orientation questions correctly. Ten minutes later, he no longer responds to your voice or questions, but when you apply a painful stimulus (a trapezius squeeze), he grimaces and swats your hand away. According to the AVPU scale, how has his mental status changed, and what critical clinical trend does this rapid downward shift indicate regarding his intracranial status?
What is From alert to pain.
You respond for a high schooler having a severe asthma attack. Initially, they are sitting upright, talking in short sentences, and you decide on non-emergent (cold- no alarms) transport. Halfway down the block, the patient suddenly goes limp,stops speaking, turns cyanotic, and their respiratory rate drops to 4 breaths/min. What critical action must you immediately take regarding your transport mode and ongoing assessment?
What is upgrading to lights and sirens and starting bag-valve-mask ventilations?
This term describes the abnormal, high-pitched crowing sound heard on inspiration that indicates a severe upper airway obstruction, often caused by swelling or a foreign body in the larynx or trachea.
What is stridor?