NREMT Paramedic

Answer: C - The primary assessment, exam or survey occurs as you approach your patient, introduce yourself and make first contact; it serves the purpose of identifying immediate needs for treatment. You will stabilize the cervical spine in trauma patients, but not in medical patients. As you approach you will assess their circulatory and breathing status by skin color and tone, level of responsiveness by noticing whether their eyes are open and whether they track your approach and whether and how they speak to you. You will notice rise and fall of the chest or its absence, and you will notice their ability to move independently and major bleeding or disfigurement. While these steps are often stated sequentially as D-A-B-C or simply A-B-C, you will in fact assess these factors simultaneously and cues you use to assess one of these qualities will serve to give you information about the others as well. In testing situations, always voice in order the cues you are assessing and what information they give you in proper sequence.