Every patient that I am ever in the back of an ambulance with gets a full set of vitals and the most thorough assessment that I, as an EMT, can perform (providing for patient modesty when it doesn't interfere with patient care). Altogether, I check blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, SpO2, mental status and orientation, skin temp, skin color, skin moisture, pupils, checks for JVD, tracheal deviation, and equal chest rise and fall, auscultation of lung sounds, palpation of the abdomen, assessment of PMS, cap refill, and check for pedal edema. Anything of note, right down to lacerations less than a centimeter in length, is documented. Altogether, I do this at least three times in your typical call: once upon first patient contact, again upon our departure from wherever we picked the patient up, and then every fifteen minutes (for stable patients) until a final assessment just before arrival at the facility. The only difference between my treatment during a BLS 911 and my treatment during a BLS IFT is that on a 911 I call the hospital and give a report.
