Premergency First Aid, CPR and AED Manual

2 PREmergency Scene Management

Unresponsive – There is no response to stimuli, whether spontaneous, verbal, or physical. You can determine if a patient is awake and alert by checking their eye opening . As you approach the patient introduce yourself and ask for permission to help. While determining consent, this is also the first step in determining the patient’s LOC. A patient whose eyes are open (or that open upon your approach) and follows the environment around them is said to be spontaneous and aware. A patient that is not awake and alert when you approach, but who is aroused and opens their eyes in response to your voice or physical touch, is responding to Verbal/Physical stimuli. A patient that does not respond is said to have No Response or unresponsive.

You then determine a patient’s orientation through their best verbal response by asking a series of questions that tests comprehension, memory, and thinking ability. The most common test evaluates the patient’s ability to remember four things:

Person – Their name. Spell their name. Place – Their current location. Time – The current day of the week, month, year. Event – What happened. The MOI/NOI.

These questions are not selected at random. They evaluate both long term memory (Person and Place) and short term memory (Time and Event). A patient that answers these questions is said to be alert and orientated.

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