Part of Lesson Plan: Determining Unresponsiveness

Activity Overview / Details

Working in healthcare you never know what to expect. Finding patients unconscious, having a patient collapse in front of you, or even losing consciousness during a procedure are all possibilities. Before performing CPR it is imperative that you first determine whether or not a patient is actually unconscious, asleep, or fainted due to anxiety, intense pain, or some other temporary physiological reason.

When asking the patient if he or she is okay, get close to their ear and use a loud voice. This is because they are more likely to respond since hearing is the ability left in tact and functional the longest after trauma or injury.

There are very clear and important steps to take to determine unresponsiveness. Explain that when assessing for breathing they must look, listen and feel. They are placing their cheek to the victim’s face looking toward the chest. They will look for rise and fall of the chest, listen for air moving in the chest cavity, and to see if they feel the victim’s breath on their cheek.