You are responding with your paramedic partner to the scene of a one vehicle crash with unknown injuries. An engine company with extrication capabilities has been dispatched with you. You are the first on scene and find the vehicle below. There are four patients in the vehicle and the next available paramedic ambulance is 10 minutes away. Based on your current available resources, triage the following patients in the order of highest to lowest priority.      Patient #1 (Driver) – No purposeful movements, agonal breaths after airway is opened, weak peripheral pulse, no major hemorrhage. Significant head/facial trauma noted.  Patient #2 (Front seat passenger) –  Extremely anxious but able to follow commands, breathing spontaneously at a rate of 24 per minute, peripheral pulse strong and rapid, no major hemorrhage. Closed fractures noted to extremities.   Patient #3 (Driver’s side rear passenger) – No purposeful movements, spontaneously breathing at a rate of 20 per minute, peripheral pulse weak and rapid, significant hemorrhage noted to the left upper arm. Head/facial injuries noted as well as open humerus fracture.  Patient #4 (Passenger’s side rear passenger) – Making purposeful movement, breathing spontaneously at a rate of 18 per minute, peripheral pulse present and strong, no major hemorrhage. Complaining of neck and lower back pain. 

You are dispatched to a residence for an “ill person.” Upon arrival, you enter the residence and find the patient, a 72-year-old woman, lying on the couch; she is responsive to pain only. Her son, who arrived shortly before you, tells you that her air conditioner went out, and that he came over to her house to pick her up and found her in her present condition. He further tells you that his mother has diabetes, hypertension, and congestive heart failure. Assessment of the patient reveals that her skin is flushed, hot, and dry; her pulse is rapid and weak; and her blood pressure is low. After moving the patient to the ambulance and applying high-flow oxygen, you should next:

When assessing a trauma patient, it is most important to:

A blood pressure of 110/68 mm Hg in the presence of clinical signs of a tension pneumothorax:

Which of the following clinical findings would you expect to encounter in a patient with heat exhaustion?

When caring for a patient with an open chest wound, you should:

You have just completed spinal immobilization of a hemodynamically stable patient with a possible spinal injury. Prior to moving the patient to the ambulance, it is most important to:

In drowning victims, positive end-expiratory pressure is used to:

A skier wiped out while skiing down a large hill. He is conscious and alert and complains of being very cold; he also complains of neck stiffness and numbness and tingling in all of his extremities. A quick assessment reveals that his airway is patent and his breathing is adequate. You should:

Which of the following statements regarding a nondisplaced fracture is correct?