SAMPLE with AMS

bunkie

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Alright, we were told (by one guy) if the PT is altered, we can't ascertain a proper SAMPLE. Then today I got marked off for not doing a SAMPLE while I was on c-spine with my PT who was altered and A&Ox1. He said he crashed to avoid running over big foot. ( :lol: I love this guys imagination, he was my combative pt two nights before for hot dogs and black tacos) (The other guy) Stated that core memory is still retained so those SAMPLE things may be able to be answered and to ask them. So which is it, ask or not? My PT went on and on about big foot while I was just asking him simple questions.
 

Aidey

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When a student the instructors want to make sure you know all the assessment methods/techniques. They can't evaluate you if you skip something, which is why as a student you have to say everything out loud. If you wouldn't do something for some reason, you still have to say out loud what it is and why you aren't doing it.

For example, if you have a patient that is totally unconscious don't just ignore the SAMPLE hx, say something like "we are unable to get a SAMPLE hx from the patient at this time, but we could talk to family and see if they can answer the questions, or we could look for medications."

Does that make sense?
 

Shishkabob

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ALWAYS when with an AMS pt in a scenario, ask if there is any family, friends, or bystanders around to answer questions such as SAMPLE.
 
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bunkie

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ALWAYS when with an AMS pt in a scenario, ask if there is any family, friends, or bystanders around to answer questions such as SAMPLE.

We did, there weren't.
(ETA: Team lead stated we'd ask a sample if he was a&o but we weren't going to because he was so altered)
 
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JPINFV

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Stated that core memory is still retained so those SAMPLE things may be able to be answered and to ask them.

He does have a point. If the patient is alert, you don't lose anything if you ask him if he has any allergies. The thing is that you should also document in cases like this that the patient is a poor historian due to AMS. Just take anything he tells you with a grain of salt.
 
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bunkie

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He does have a point. If the patient is alert, you don't lose anything if you ask him if he has any allergies. The thing is that you should also document in cases like this that the patient is a poor historian due to AMS. Just take anything he tells you with a grain of salt.

K. *nods* Cool. I'll just ask anyway when we do scenarios again.

Thanks guys. :)
 

RyanMidd

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I`ve been on both sides of the scenarios, and when MARKING, a student who exhausts every single protocol at their disposal can be tiresome. But I would never penalize a student for vocalizing too many of their actions. Maybe I`d just tell them `Okay, so you`re going to visualize AND feel each body part during your assessment. Understood. You can leave that out from now on`.

On the student side, however, let me put it this way: Have you ever lost marks for vocalizing a part of your assessment that may be difficult? Time isn`t very restrictive as long as you work briskly, so I`ll use every tool at my disposal until told otherwise.
 
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