You are dispatched to a residential neighborhood for a patient who fell in a snowbank roughly two hours ago. You arrive on scene and find a 65 Y/O female lying supine in a snowbank on the sidewalk. You are unable to detect a pulse or respirations, but the patient moves to verbal stimuli.

Vital Signs

• Pulse: Undetectable
• Respirations: Undetectable
• Blood pressure: 94/58 mmHg
• Eyes: 6 mm
• LOC: Verbal stimuli
• Lung sounds: Clear bilaterally
• Skin: Pale, cold and waxy

Quiz

If you cannot detect a pulse or respirations for a hypothermic patient, but they are able to move, you should:

Discussion

Use the comment system below to explain how you would handle this scenario.