You can help the medical assistance team that will come by determining in advance the level of consciousness of a person when performing first aid. There are several things you can do to determine a person's level of consciousness or help stabilize someone who is unresponsive while waiting for medical assistance to arrive.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Determining the Awareness Level of Responsive People
Step 1. Find out how severe the event was
The first step in dealing with an event is to stop and pay attention to the situation. Pay attention to the source of the person's injury and determine if it is safe for you to approach. Don't let yourself approach a situation that is still dangerous for you. You can't help others if you've been the victim of the same accident yourself, and a medical aid team shouldn't have to save two people.
Step 2. Know the signs someone is starting to lose consciousness
The signs are:
- Talk nonsense
- Fast heartbeat
- Confusion
- Dizzy
- Head feels light
- Suddenly unable to respond coherently or even unable to respond at all
Step 3. Ask the person something
Several questions will give you important information about the person's condition. The questions you ask should be easy, but still require a little thought. Start by asking if the person is okay, to see if the person is responsive or not. If the person responds or even growls to show that he or she has not lost consciousness, try the following questions:
- What year is it now?
- What month is it now?
- What day is today?
- Who is our president?
- Do you know where you are?
- What happened?
- If the person answers clearly and coherently, he indicates a high level of consciousness.
- If the person responds but not with correct answers to some of the initial questions, then he or she is actually conscious, but exhibiting symptoms of an altered mental state, including confusion and disorientation.
Step 4. Call for medical help
If the person is conscious but shows signs of an altered mental state (such as not being able to answer easy questions), seek medical attention immediately.
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When you call for medical help, tell them the level of this patient on the AVPU scale:
- A - Alert and oriented (Aware and clear)
- V - Responds to Verbal stimuli
- P - Responds to Painful stimuli
- U - Unconscious/no response
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Even if the person responds coherently to all questions and shows no signs of an altered mental state, seek medical attention if the person:
- suffered another injury from the accident he had
- feel chest pain
- have a fast or irregular heartbeat
- report visual disturbances
- unable to move arms or thighs
Step 5. Ask follow-up questions
This is useful for finding answers to what the person did until he fainted or lost consciousness. The person may not be able to answer the following questions, depending on the level of consciousness and response. Ask:
- What happened?
- Are you taking certain medications?
- Do you have diabetes? Have you ever been in a diabetic coma?
- Do you take drugs or drink alcohol? (It's also a good idea to look for signs of injection in the arm/thigh or medication/alcohol bottles nearby.)
- Are you apoplexy?
- Do you have heart disease or have you had a heart attack?
- Did you have chest pain before passing out?
Step 6. Record all of the person's answers
The person's answers, whether logical or not, can help the medical assistance team determine the best course of action they can take. If necessary, write them all down, so you can provide this information to the medical assistance team. Write it down as it is said.
- For example, if the person gave illogical answers to all of your previous questions but told them he had an epileptic seizure, then he or she might answer the questions incorrectly for five to ten minutes after the epileptic phase begins. However, your records will be of use to the medical assistance team.
- Another example: if the person tells you they have diabetes, the medical assistance team can check their blood sugar level right away when you tell them.
Step 7. Keep the person talking to you
If he gives incoherent information to all of your questions, or he gives logical answers but looks like he's about to pass out, do what you can to keep the person talking to you. The medical assistance team will find it easier to check the situation if the person is conscious when they arrive. Have the person keep their eyes open, and ask more questions to keep them talking.
Step 8. Also identify other common reasons for unconsciousness
If you know or witness the person losing consciousness, you may be able to give the medical assistance team a clue as to why he or she lost consciousness. Common causes of loss of consciousness are:
- Running out of blood
- Severe head or chest injury
- Drug overdose
- drunk alcohol
- Car accident or other major accident
- Blood sugar problem
- Heart problems
- Low blood pressure (common in older people, but usually regains consciousness soon after)
- Dehydration
- Seizure
- stroke
- Hyperventilation
Step 9. Check for the presence of a medical condition bracelet or necklace on the person
People with special needs, such as people with diabetes, may wear this kind of bracelet or necklace to help the medical assistance team check the situation.
If any, immediately report to the medical assistance team
Step 10. Monitor the person until the medical assistance team arrives
That person needs to be watched all the time.
- If he remains semi-conscious, still breathing, and does not feel sick, continue to pay attention until the medical assistance team arrives.
- If he loses consciousness completely, the situation is more serious and you need to take a closer look at his condition and follow the steps below.
Part 2 of 3: Judging Unresponsive People
Step 1. Try to wake the person up with a loud noise
Shout, "Hi, are you okay?" while rocking her body. Maybe this was enough to wake the person up.
Step 2. Provide a painful stimulus
If the person is unresponsive to your question but you're not sure if he or she is unconscious and requires CPR, provide a painful stimulus to see if the person can respond consciously.
- The most commonly used form is "heartburn". Make a fist and then rub it on the person's solar plexus. If this person responds to the stimulus (pain), you can continue to monitor the person without CPR. The person's response to pain is a sign that he or she is currently fine. (However, if he doesn't respond to pain, you may need to give CPR.)
- If you're afraid to do this rubbing because you think the person has a chest injury from an accident, another method of checking the person's response to pain is to pinch the person's fingers or nape. This pinch should be very tight and applied directly to the muscle.
- If the person responds to your pain by rolling all parts of their body both in and out, this is a sign that the person has a spinal injury.
Step 3. Make sure the medical assistance team is called
You may have already done this, but especially if the person is not responding to pain, make sure an ambulance is on its way. Forward your call with the operator, or if someone else is nearby, give your phone to that person so you can continue to receive follow-up instructions.
Step 4. Notice if the person is breathing
If the person is unconscious but breathing, then you may not need to perform CPR, especially if no one around you is certified CPR.
- Watch the person's chest rise and fall continuously so you can be sure that he or she is still breathing.
- If you can't see the person's chest rising and falling, place your ear near their mouth or nose and look for breath sounds. While listening to the sound of breathing through the nose, also pay attention to the movement of the person's chest. This is the easiest way to pay attention to the state of a person's breathing.
- Note: if you think the person has a spinal cord injury but is still breathing, do not try to change position unless he or she is vomiting. If he vomits, move him to his side while keeping his neck and back in the same position.
- If you don't see any signs of a spinal cord injury, turn the person to their side, position their upper thighs so that the hips and knees are at 90 degrees (for stability), then slowly pull the head back to keep the airway open. This is known as the "recovery position" and is the safest position for a patient.
Step 5. Find the pulse
You can check the person's pulse at the bottom of the wrist on the thumb side or by gently feeling one side of the neck about 2.5 cm below the ear. Always check for a pulse on the same side of the neck as the side you are sitting on, to avoid the panic that might arise if the person gets up and your hands are directly above them.
- If there is no pulse, and especially if there are no signs of breathing, now is the time to start CPR, if trained. Otherwise, follow the instructions of the medical staff over the phone.
- If you accidentally hang up, call back for further instructions. They have been trained to give instructions to lay people by telephone.
Part 3 of 3: Caring for the Unconscious Until Medical Team Help Comes
Step 1. Ask if there is anyone around you who can perform CPR
A heart attack is one of the most common reasons for a person to faint for no other apparent reason such as a car accident. Giving CPR, if necessary, pending the arrival of the medical assistance team, can increase the person's chances of survival by 2x or 3x. Find out if anyone in your area has had CPR training and earned a certificate.
Step 2. Pay attention to the person's airway
If he's not breathing or has stopped breathing, your first step is to check his airway. Place one hand on his forehead, and the other under his jaw. With the hand on the forehead, pull the head back and open the jaw with the other hand. Watch for signs of chest heaving (signs of breathing). Place your ear over his mouth and feel his breath against your face.
- If you can see something blocking the person's airway easily, try removing it, but only if it's easy to remove. If the object gets stuck, don't try to remove it from the throat as you may be pushing it further.
- The airways need to be checked first because if there is a blockage (or closure as is often the case with choking victims), we can easily remove it, and when it is released, our problem is solved.
- But if there's nothing blocking, look for a pulse. If there is no pulse (or you are unsure whether or not there is), start chest compressions immediately.
- You should not use this method of opening the forehead and jaw for victims of skull, spine, and neck injuries. In these injured victims, use the jaw-opening method. Kneel at the top of the person's head, then place your hands on the left and right of his head. Place your middle and index fingers on the jawbone, then press gently to open the jaw.
Step 3. Perform chest compressions
Current CPR standards emphasize that chest compressions should have a ratio of 30 compressions per two breaths. Begin chest compressions by:
- Place your wrists on the person's breastbone, between the nipples;
- Place your other wrist on top of your wrist that is already on your chest;
- Position your body mass just above the already positioned hand;
- Press, quickly and deeply, about 5 cm into the chest;
- Let the chest rise again;
- Repeat 30 times;
- At this point, add 2 rescue breaths if you are trained in CPR. If not, continue compressions and ignore rescue breaths as they are not as important as chest compressions.
Step 4. Look again for signs of breathing (check the person again for breathing every two minutes)
You can stop performing CPR when the person is showing signs of breathing. Watch his chest rise and fall, then place your ear to his mouth to check his breathing.
Step 5. Continue CPR until the medical assistance team arrives
If the person continues to show no signs of breathing or consciousness, continue CPR (in a ratio of 2 breaths per 30 chest compressions) until a medical assistance team arrives.
