How to Assess Consciousness During First Aid

Video Transcript

"You know, one of the things that can be scary is a diminished level of consciousness in an individual that we are witnessing, as a bystander. Hi, I'm Captain Joe Bruni and what I'm going to talk about is how to asses the level of consciousness in a patient or a victim of an accident or injury. Level of consciousness is based on a scale, known as AVPU. The A standing for Alert. Ask the person their name, do they know where they are, do they know what day of the week it is, do they know the President of the United States. If they can answer these questions adequately, they would receive an A on the AVPU scale, that they are alert and oriented. If they do not respond to those questions but they respond to verbal stimuli, by moving when you try to determine their level of consciousness, that would give them a V, on the scale, for Verbal. If they don't respond to verbal, the next step would be to asses the level of consciousness using painful stimuli, rubbing the breast bone with the knuckles, rolling the nail bed, with something like a ball point pen or pencil, causing pain, to see if the person responds to painful stimuli. If they do, they would receive a P, on the scale. If the person does not respond to any type of the above aforementioned, types of stimuli, they would be classified as Unconscious and receive a U, on the scale. When responding medical professionals arrives at the scene, you can already tell them the level of consciousness by following the simple steps of the AVPU scale. I'm Captain Joe Bruni, stay safe and we'll see you next time."