Is This Scene Safe or Nah?
The very first thing you do when stepping out of the ambulance.
What is check scene safety?
Your first impression of the patient before touching them.
What is forming a general impression?
This acronym asks about what the patient is allergic to.
What is SAMPLE?
The three most basic vital signs every EMT student must know.
What are pulse, respirations, and blood pressure?
Stable patients are reassessed this often.
What is every 15 minutes?
You scan the scene to find out if your patient is sick, hurt, or… a mannequin again. Think 3 letters
What is determining the mechanism of injury or nature of illness?
The scale that tells you if your patient is awake, sleepy, confused, or taking a nap with their eyes open. (Think 4 letters)
What is AVPU?
The “O” in OPQRST asks about this—basically, “What were you doing when this all went down?”
What is onset?
Pink, pale, or blue? Sweaty, dry, or clammy? All of these describe this vital sign components.
What is skin signs?
Unstable patients are reassessed this often.
What is every 5 minutes?
This step tells you how many friends—or extra ambulances—you’re going to need.
What is determining if you need extra resources?
When the patient has noisy, gurgling, or absent breathing, this body system is priority #1.
What is airway?
When the patient says their chest pain feels “like an elephant sitting on it,” they’re giving you this part of OPQRST.
What is quality?
This exam checks the head-to-toe condition of trauma patients and may uncover hidden injuries.
This goes pretty quickly.
What is the rapid trauma assessment?
This is updated during reassessment and includes repeating vitals, checking interventions, and monitoring trends.
What is the ongoing assessment?
When you approach and the patient’s head is at a weird angle, this must be done immediately.
What is manual cervical spine stabilization?
This must be fixed immediately if it’s bright red, spurting, or turning your gloves into a Slip ’N Slide.
What is major external bleeding?
Medications, medical conditions, and recent hospital visits all fall under this letter of SAMPLE.
What is P – Past medical history
When pupils don’t match, it may indicate this serious medical or traumatic condition.
What is brain injury
When you administer oxygen or control bleeding, these need to be rechecked to make sure they’re still helping.
What are interventions?
While approaching a nighttime MVC on the freeway, you notice a mild chemical odor, a light breeze, and a truck placard you can’t quite read from a distance. Before committing yourself or your students, this is the FIRST action you should take.
Call for specialized help. Hazmat, Fire department.
After airway, breathing, and circulation, this step tells you how fast you need to move toward the ambulance.
What is determining patient priority?
his part of the history helps you determine whether the patient got better, worse, or stayed the same during the event.
What is P – Provocation/palliation?
Listening to lung sounds in all four chest quadrants helps you evaluate this life-sustaining system.
What is respiratory function?
A patient you assessed five minutes ago with normal breathing and warm, dry skin now has an increased respiratory rate, cool clammy skin, and delayed capillary refill. This trend in vital signs indicates your patient might have developed this.
What is hypo-perfusion or Shock