Conscious Casualty Assessment

Pain - Is subjective, it is what the casualty states it is. Never doubt it exists.

Quality – Maybe agonising

Get the casualty to describe pain and compare with worst pain they have previously experienced, say toothache.
Scale 1 - 10. Zero is no pain.

Pain report only has meaning if the baseline is established. Face-lines are often used to monitor change.

Referred - anywhere else in body

Ask, if it is relieved by movement or drugs. It only hurts when I cough!

Site - identify and mark on monitoring diagram

Locate by touch; check severity up and down bone, compare sides, pen, determine whether superficial or deep.

Time - ask when the pain started

Onset could be a few minutes/hours. It stopped. It came back. Frequency. Comes on with exercise.

Casualty appearance record Draw injury site and add time, this allows the medical services to find exact injury site if the limb is badly swollen by the time they arrive.

Also redraw after a treatment or specified timescale as again the swelling or rash may be accelerating or slowing.