Patient Assessment
Patient assessment is the process an EMT or paramedic follows to evaluate an injured or ill patient. The process includes a scene size-up, which is the identification and mitigation of risks, a primary assessment to find and fix life threats and a secondary assessment to perform a focused history and physical exam of the patient. Each step is an opportunity to collect information that will guide treatment and inform a transport decision. In the EMS1 Patient Assessment topic find the latest news about patient assessment and top resources to improve your patient assessment skills.
How advanced techniques like delayed-sequence intubation and NIPPV mitigate adverse outcomes in physiologically difficult airways
Where capnography can guide treatment in complex medical scenarios
Your willingness to provide pain management is a reflection of your ability to empathize with the patient
In the real world it is impossible for a scene to be 100% safe; therefore we must constantly assess risk
Carmel Fire Department is first in state to purchase ‘exciting technology’
The Podmedic highlights three of his favorite products from EMS Today 2015
They filed a complaint with Rural/Metro, saying EMT got angry when asked to transport a man to the hospital and sat in the ambulance until his partner brought him back into the home
Jon Puryear presented an engaging and hands-on session that stressed understanding normal waveforms to recognize what’s abnormal
Wisconsin EMS Association speaker uses interactive and case-based learning to help EMS providers understand causes of abdominal pain
EMS providers need to understand anchoring, a type of cognitive bias, to prevent errors in prehospital patient assessment and care
The CO leak in a Wis. movie theater caused one woman to have a seizure and another to collapse
Careful assessment is important for EMS since alcohol poisoning kills six people in the U.S. each day; most deaths occur among middle-aged adults
Arrowhead EMS conference attendees sought out the best EMS products to improve patient care and enhance provider safety
You respond to a call for a cook that burned himself on a flat top grill; what are your first treatment steps
Sheriff’s officer alleges paramedic and ER doctor refused proper care to an intoxicated and injured man, saying he needed to “sleep it off”
4 Los Angeles police officers and 1 firefighter treated for CO exposure
Is EMS becoming too technical when it comes to patient care?
Md. medics transport 1 patient to hyperbaric unit for CO poisoning treatment
Once a patient is in the exam room, they can appear very different than the person EMS responded to on the street
Aberdeen fire and rescue looks for improvements with 15-lead ECG, invasive blood pressure monitoring, mechanical CPR, and impedance threshold devices
You respond to a female teenager complaining of headache, nausea, vomiting and dizziness; what is your “must not miss” diagnosis?
A brother and sister are recovering after the gas from a generator permeated the trailer where they were living
Medics donned PPE before carrying the feverish girls from their home; the scare reassured responders they’re equipped to manage the disease
The medic spent 41 minutes with the sick girl and believed her symptoms “of a mundane nature”
You respond to a man with shallow respirations and a weak pulse; what is your ‘must not miss’ diagnosis?
A flight photographer’s PR assignment quickly changes as he captures the response to a serious medical call
Luckily, EMS arrived behind firefighters to a call for difficulty breathing and evacuated the building when their carbon monoxide monitors went off
The rain was so heavy EMTs had to wade through ankle-deep water to find a man in cardiac arrest; Jessica Galvin sized up the situation and treated him on the scene
