Emergency response: Assessing the patient

This is the 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 assessing the patient.

Look for the following:

• Signs and symptoms
  Signs are things you can see; symptoms are what they tell you.
Note: You don't really demand, "What are your signs and symptoms?" Instead, observe. Don't get lost with medical history.
• Allergies
  Even when people say they haven't ingested their allergen, don't discount it, because sometimes things are accidentally mixed in. 
Manage their airway, keep them sitting up, keep them relaxed so their heart rate doesn't go up.
• Check vital signs.
• Do head-to-toe-assessment.
• Ask assessment questions. 

When checking for vital signs periodically, so you can track how it is changing across time. Do the the following. 

• Check for respiration every 12-20 minutes. The pulse should be within 60-90 per minute, unless they were just exerting effort. 
• Check for blood pressure every 15 minutes, but every five minutes for unstable patients.  The pressure should be 120/80 systolic over diastolic. 
• Check for skin signs. It should be pink, warm, and dry.