Once you decide to respond, then what? This lesson covers what we call the primary assessment of the patient.

ABCDE

Some problems are so serious they could kill your patient quickly. That’s why the first thing you want to do is find and (if possible) treat any immediate deadly threats. We use the letters ABCDE to remember what these threats are and the order in which we typically need to find, stop, and fix them.

A — Airway – Is air able to get into the patient’s lungs, or is something blocking the way?
B — Breathing – Is the patient breathing?
C — Circulation – Does the pati...