\n\t\t\t\tS: Signs and symptoms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Signs are what you can see: pallor, sweating, rapid breathing, swelling, an irregular pulse, blue or grey lips. Symptoms are what the patient tells you: pain, nausea, dizziness, numbness, tingling, shortness of breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask specific, open questions. \u201cWhere is the pain?\u201d \u201cDescribe it. Is it sharp, dull, crushing, burning?\u201d \u201cDoes it move anywhere else?\u201d \u201cOn a scale of 1 to 10, how bad?\u201d \u201cWhen did it start? Was it sudden, or did it build up?\u201d Closed yes\/no questions get you less. The patient\u2019s own words are often the most useful information you can pass on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A: Allergies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you have any allergies?\u201d Check for a Medic Alert bracelet or necklace; some people carry an Anaphylaxis Action Plan in their wallet. Allergies matter because the patient may need medication at the hospital and an allergy is a contraindication for many drugs. They also matter because the current emergency might itself be an allergic reaction (anaphylaxis to a wasp sting at a depot, latex in a glove, food eaten at smoko).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M: Medications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Ask what medications they take, what they\u2019re for, and when they last took them. Prescription medications tell you about existing conditions: a worker on warfarin or other anticoagulants will bleed differently from someone who isn\u2019t. Someone on insulin or metformin is diabetic. Beta-blockers, statins, blood pressure medication all point to cardiovascular history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask about over-the-counter medication and supplements too, including recreational drugs if it seems relevant. People are often reluctant to mention drugs in front of an employer; reassure them you\u2019re asking so the paramedics have the full picture, not to get them in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P: Past medical history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n \u201cHas this ever happened before?\u201d \u201cAny major operations or illnesses?\u201d \u201cAny conditions a paramedic should know about?\u201d Past medical history puts current symptoms in context. Chest pain in a 28-year-old with no cardiac history is different from chest pain in a 58-year-old who had a stent fitted two years ago. Headache in someone with a known migraine pattern is different from a sudden first-time headache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
L: Last meal and drink<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Ask what they last ate and drank, and when. The medical reasons are practical. If surgery is needed, the anaesthetist needs to know about a recent meal because of aspiration risk. If a diabetic patient feels strange and hasn\u2019t eaten, hypoglycaemia is the likely cause. If they\u2019ve consumed alcohol, certain drugs interact with that. If they\u2019ve eaten something unusual, food poisoning or allergic reaction comes onto the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
E: Events leading to the incident<\/h2>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat were you doing just before this started?\u201d Events tell you the trigger and timeline. For an injury, this is usually obvious. For medical conditions, it can be revealing. Was the patient exerting themselves? Had they just stood up suddenly? Were they exposed to fumes, chemicals, heat, or cold? Did they hit their head earlier in the day and not think much of it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A workplace scenario<\/h2>\n\n\n\n A truck driver on a meal break in the cab radio dispatcher to say he doesn\u2019t feel right. By the time the depot supervisor reaches him he\u2019s sitting on the cab step, sweating, looking grey, breathing fast. He\u2019s conscious. You\u2019ve done your DRSABCD: scene safe, alert and confused, breathing okay. Now you sit down beside him and run SAMPLE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Signs and symptoms: he\u2019s shaky, sweating, says he feels \u201cwobbly\u201d and a bit confused. No chest pain. No shortness of breath beyond mild anxiety. Skin is cool and damp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allergies: none he\u2019s aware of. No Medic Alert visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medications: he takes metformin and Lantus for type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past medical history: type 2 diabetes for about 10 years. No heart problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last meal: he had breakfast at 5am. It\u2019s now 12:30pm. He took his usual morning insulin. He hasn\u2019t had lunch yet because the run took longer than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Events: he\u2019s been driving for six hours, just pulled into a rest area, and felt the symptoms come on in the last 10 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That picture points strongly to hypoglycaemia: a diabetic patient who took insulin, missed a meal, and is now sweaty, shaky and confused. You give him something sweet (he\u2019s conscious and can swallow), you call 111, and you have a clear, structured handover ready when the paramedics arrive. Without SAMPLE, you might still have stumbled into the right answer, but you\u2019d be guessing. With it, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Write it down<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Under pressure, people forget things they\u2019ve just been told. Either jot the information down yourself, or have a bystander do it for you. Date, time, what the patient said, vital signs (pulse rate, breathing rate, AVPU), and any changes over time. Hand the paramedics a piece of paper with the SAMPLE history on it and you\u2019ve given them a real head start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAMPLE is an acronym for the six pieces of information that matter most when you\u2019re assessing a conscious patient: Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Past medical history, Last meal and drink, and Events leading to the incident. Take a SAMPLE…<\/span><\/p>\nRead more ›<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[393],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-aid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42502,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42500\/revisions\/42502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingtests.co.nz\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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