Primary Survey
Injured or critically ill players should be assessed and their treatment priorities established based on their injuries, vital/physiological signs and/or on the mechanism of injury. The player’s vital signs must be assessed quickly and efficiently with management consisting of a rapid primary survey including resuscitation of problems as they are identified and rapid re-evaluation.
This process constitutes of the ABCDEs of immediate care and identifies life threatening conditions by adhering to the following sequence.
- Catastrophic bleeding management
- Airway maintenance with C- spine protection
- Breathing with adequate ventilation
- Circulation with haemorrhage control
- Disability: neurological status
- Exposure & environment control
During the primary survey life threatening conditions should be identified and management commenced simultaneously. The assessment steps are presented sequentially in order of importance, for example a breathing problem should be managed before moving onto a circulation assessment. If there are a number of care providers these steps are frequently accomplished simultaneously