History taking, scene assessment and primary survey

Question 1

What does the acronym SCENE stand for?

Answer 1

Safety - dynamic risk assessment
Cause - MOI
Environment - conditions, access, egress
Number - how many patients?
Extra - resources needed

Question 2

What does AVPU stand for?

Answer 2

Alert - do they appear alert?
Voice - do they respond if you call out to them?
Pain - so they respond to pain stimuli (trapezius muscle squeeze)?
Unresponsive - if they fail all of the above they are unresponsive

Question 3

What is the PAT?

Answer 3

Patient assessment triangle:
- AVPU
- General appearance
- Colour
- Work of breathing

Question 4

What does a primary survey consist of?

Answer 4

Check for the following in this order and treat accordingly before moving to next stage:
- Catastrophic haemorrhage
- Airway
- Breathing
- Circulation
- Disability
- Exposure / environment

Question 5

What is the procedure for catastrophic haemorrhage in the head and / or torso?

Answer 5

Apply direct pressure
Compression bandage
Wound packing

Question 6

What is the procedure for catastrophic haemorrhage in the limbs?

Answer 6

Tourniquet

Question 7

Name the 6 pieces of airway management equipment you may need to use

Answer 7

• OPA - oropharyngeal airway
• NPA - Nasopharyngeal airway
• Suction
• LMA - Laryngeal mask airway (i-gel)
• ETI - endotracheal intubation
• Needle / surgical cricothyrotomy (cric)

Question 8

What must be considered when trying to manage / maintain a persons’ airway?

Answer 8

Jaw thrust or chin lift due to trauma to cervical spine?

Question 9

Once established that a patient is unresponsive, how long must you perform a breathing and carotid pulse check for?

Answer 9

10 seconds, both must be done simultaneously

Question 10

When checking breathing, what you must consider if the patient is breathing?

Answer 10

At what rate are they breathing? Is it adequate?