When you are in emergency situations your adrenaline is pumping, you might not have slept in more than a day and your dealing with a stress filled situation. You don't want to have to worry about not being able to remember what to do.

 For the above stated reason Medical Science has forever been trying to simplify the process of treating an emergency case. Because Medicine is so very complex it is extremely difficult to simplify it all. There is a lot of information offered here however it is all extremely basic and has been condensed to the best of our ability. With this in mind we offer you what follows.

 Medical Diagnosis is generally divided into two general topics: Medical and Trauma. The purpose of this report is to review only trauma and only the most basic life saving techniques.

To do this gently shake the persons shoulder and ask if they are okay. If they reply, quickly go through the next steps. If not take more time to establish the next steps are taken with great care.

Make sure the airway is open so that air can freely flow from the mouth or nose into the lungs. If the airway is blocked by a physiological barrier use a jaw thrust to open the airway. If this does not clear the airway use a scissor movement to open the jaw and see if something is inside. If you can see something inside gently swipe your finger in ones side and pull out toward the other side. Do not attempt to search for the object with your finger. Do not try to use your thumb and first finger to remove the object. If none of these work use an Abdominal or Chest thrust. Once the airway is clear move on to the next step.

If the patient is talking freely it is safe to assume they are breathing. If the person is not talking however Look at the chest, it will usually rise when someone is breathing. Listen for the breath and feel for the breath. You can do this by leaning over the patient and looking toward the chest. Once you have confirmed the person is breathing move on to the next step. If there is no breathing perform rescue breaths. Approximately one every five seconds in adults and about every three seconds for children.

There are many things you are looking for in circulation but we will only note some of the most important for emergency cases which are necessary to sustain life. Place your first two fingers of one hand on the radial pulse. Put two fingers of the second hand on the carotid pulse. If there is no pulse begin CPR. After one cycle of CPR check for bleeding. If there is more than one person available to check for bleeding do not stop CPR! To do this place your hands over every area of the body (don't forget the back). If there is bleeding from an extremity you can place a tourniquet two to five inches above the wound. This must be taken off by a doctor in 2 hours to save the extremity (careful not to put it over joints as that will defeat the purpose) If the bleeding is not on an extremity use a pressure dressing. There is much more that can be covered on circulation however if you have successfully stopped bleeding and are performing CPR you may move to the next step.

This is bringing the patient to wakefulness or stable vital signs. In cases of severe bleeding this may be accomplished by increasing blood volume. In cases of hypoglycemia this might be taken care of with a Glucose IV solution. In cases of hyperglycemia insulin might be given. In cases of severe dehydration a simple saline solution intravenously would work.

Inline stabilization is simply putting someone in a color and on a back board so that if their neck or back is broken the chances of compromising the Spinal Cord is greatly reduced.

The process of bringing the patient to a medical facility with greater resources. Up to this point you don't need to know much of anything else. Throughout your Trauma Assessment you should keep in the back of your mind that the patient needs to be transported as quickly as possible. For this reason the assessment should be done as quickly as possible, however do not let haste cause mistakes because in trauma missing something might mean someone dies. A time frame should be Assessment in 12 minutes or less and transport to a higher facility in less than an hour.