by Ray Mickol

Created on: August 14, 2010

You, as a person giving first aid, have now completed your ABCs, airway, breathing and circulation. You have addressed the immediate lifesaving problems. Now is the time that you move on to your secondary survey. As with any first aid situation keep in mind, your own safety is important. Make sure the scene is safe and make sure you wear proper gear to protect yourself from blood or any other bodily fluids.

In a secondary survey, you will do a head to toe examination of the victim, looking for any signs or symptoms of injury or possible underlying medical conditions.  In this quick survey, you will gather as much information as you can about what led up to the event. You will also, if possible, find out from the victim or bystanders if the patient has any underlying medical conditions which could have caused the episode. This information, passed on to the professional rescuer upon their arrival is important. It will help the responder make a more advanced diagnosis of the patient’s present condition and also guide their treatment of the victim.

Begin your survey of the victim with the head. Look for any cuts, abrasions, swelling or discoloration. Look for bleeding from the mouth, nose and ears. Also, look for any clear fluid coming out of these areas especially the ears. This could be a sign of spinal injury. Check for discoloration behind the ears. This discoloration, or Battle’s sign, could be an indication of a severe head injury.

Next move your survey down to the neck area. Quickly scan for any bruising, swelling, discoloration, cuts or abrasions. Look for anything that seems amiss such as a shifting of the windpipe, known as tracheal deviation. The neck is also a good place to look for any medical alert tags. These are sometimes worn by people to help rescuers identify underlying medical conditions. Now is also a good time to obtain a pulse. Use your first two fingers and find the carotid pulse. Count the beats for thirty seconds and multiply by two. This will give you the heart rate.

The next area to look at is the chest area. Once again, you will look for any bruising, discoloration, cuts bruises or any penetrating wounds. Look for any abnormal rise and fall of the chest as the victim breaths. Make not of any pain or tenderness the patient might have.

The next area to move on to is the abdomen. Look for any injuries paying close attention to pain, tenderness, discoloration, rigidity, guarding of painful areas, or the presence of

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>