What does SAMPLE mean in first aid?

Answer 1

SAMPLE is a mnemonic to help you remember the things you should check for when performing a secondary survey. The aim of this is to find out the history of what has happened. Once you have begun treatment for initial injuries such as no breathing, severe bleeding etc you need to find out the following:

Signs and Symptoms - what clues does the casualty show of what might be wrong. For example swelling around the ankle may indicate a fracture (among other things)
Allergies - is the casualty allergic to anything. Remove anything which is causing an allergic reaction.
Medication - is the casualty on any medication? how long for? have they taken it recently?
Past medical history - has this hap-penned before? it may be a repeat problem
Last meal - useful to tell the ambulance crew in case an anaesthetic is needed later
Event history - what caused the injury/accident? sometimes called the mechanism of injury

All of this may help you work out what is wrong and it will be useful to tell the ambulance crew all of this when they arrive (so keep a note)

For an unconscious casualty, this may be difficult but there may be clues such as a medical bracelet/medication in handbag.

If you need any further information, try searching for "secondary survey"