Emergency response: Asking the patient

This is second in a series of articles on what to do when you encounter an injured person and you want to help them.

After you have introduced yourself and asked the right questions, you can start asking more detailed questions.

Ask the following questions:

• Medications
  What they take? When was the last time they took it? Do they want someone to go get it for them?
• Past
- Last oral intake. Ask for everything, not just meals. - Events. What lead up to the action. Even though ou asked AO, it's worth asking a second time, because sometimes more details. 




If in pain, ask the following questions:

• Onset. Ask about events leading up to the injury or trauma. 
• Provocation. "What makes your pain better or worse?" Ask both ends, not just one.
• Quality. "Describe your pain with adjectives." But don't suggest adjectives, they'll say yes to everything
• Radiation. "Where do you hurt? Where else?" Sometimes, patients tell you the most painful one and forget the others. Intensity of pain does not indicate severity. Don't ask, "Do you hurt anywhere else?
• Severity. Ask for an intensity of 1-10. 10 is the worst pain you can imagine. Don't just hear what they say, but also how they say. Sometimes they wanna act macho.

For the next article in this series, see Assessing the Patient.