Primary and Secondary Survey Flashcards
When do you call EMS?
- Unconsciousness.
- Breathing problems.
- Chest or abdominal pain or pressure.
- No pulse.
- Severe bleeding.
- Vomiting or passing blood.
- Suspected poisonings.
- Seizures.
- Suspectes head or spine injury.
- Suspected broken bones.
What are the primary components for managing an emergency situation?
- Safe response to an emergency scene.
- Scene survey, safety and management.
- Primary survey.
- Secondary survey.
- Treatment, motoring and ongoing casualty care.
What are some potential hazards?
- Hostile persons.
- Fire.
- Wire.
- Gas.
- Glass.
- Unstable vehicle.
- Water or ice.
- Confined space.
- Unstable structure of ground.
What do you ask yourself when doing a scene survey?
- Is the area safe?
- If not safe, can you make it safe?
- The number of casualties?
- Method of Injury?
- Identify yourself and ask if the casualty wants help.
What are the steps in a primary survey?
- Consider C-spine stabilization.
- Establish level of consciousness (alert, voice, pain, unconsciousness).
- Consider activation of EMS.
- Initiate ABC’s.
How do you assess the ABC’s?
Airway: open (head tilt chin lift or jaw thrust), inspect (look inside mouth), clean ( manually or suction) and secure (OPA or NPA).
Breathing: look, listen and feel.
Circulation: check pulse (radial and carotid), quality (rate, rhythm, strength and skin colour & temperature).
What is the rapid body survey?
An assessment done in 30 seconds or less. Looking for severe external bleeding, signs of internal bleeding or potential fracture deformity.
What are the steps in a secondary survey?
- History.
- Complete set of vital signs.
- Head to toe evaluation.
- Treatment of all injuries or illnesses.
What does SAMPLE stand for when taking casualty history?
- Symptoms.
- Allergies.
- Medication.
- Past medical history.
- Last meal/ doctors visit.
- Events lading up to the injury.
When finding out the casualties symptoms what does OPPQRST stand for?
- Onset (when did symptoms begin).
- Provokes (does anything make it worse).
- Palliates (does anything make it better).
- Quality (describe the pain).
- Radiates (does the pain go elsewhere).
- Severity (how bad is the pain).
- Treatment (has anything been done).
What vital signs need to be taken?
- Skin condition (temperature and if moist or dry).
- Heart rate (rate, rhythm and strength; 60 bpm).
- Respiratory rate (rate, rhythm and volume).
- Blood pressure (120/80 mmHg).
- Pupils (equal, round and responsive to light).
- Capillary refills (returns in less than 2-3 seconds).
What are the blood pressure estimations when palpating a pulse?
- Radial: 80 mmHg systolic.
- Femoral: 70 mmHg systolic.
- Carotid: 60 mmHg systolic.
What are the components of the Glasgow coma scale?
- Eye opening: spontaneous (4), to loud noise (3), to pain (2), none (1).
- Verbal response: oriented (5), confused (4), inappropriate words (3), in-comprehensive sounds (2), none (1).
- Motor response: obeys (6), localizes (5), withdraws (4), fetal position (3), extension posturing (2), none (1).
The lower the score the more severe the issue is.
How do you treat the injuries or illnesses?
- Monitoring and ongoing casualty care.
- Treat injuries in order of priority.
- Consider treating for shock.
- Prepare for transport if necessary.
What is shock?
A lack of tissue perfusion (oxygenation) that leads to anaerobic metabolism.
