Handover And Assessment First Aid Acronyms

Australian assessment and handover acronyms explained: SAMPLE, OPQRST, PQRST, AVPU, GCS, ISBAR, SBAR, MIST and IMIST-AMBO.

Australian handover and assessment guide

Handover And Assessment First Aid Acronyms

A practical Australian guide to assessment questions and structured handover acronyms like SAMPLE, OPQRST, AVPU, ISBAR, MIST and IMIST-AMBO.

Do not delay 000 while collecting a perfect history. Start urgent first aid actions first, then give a short, factual handover.
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Handover and assessment first aid acronyms visual guide

The Fast Answer

SAMPLE gathers the story, OPQRST and PQRST organise pain questions, AVPU and GCS describe responsiveness, and ISBAR, MIST and IMIST-AMBO make handover clearer.

SAMPLEOPQRSTAVPUISBARMISTIMIST-AMBO

Response And Primary Survey

Use these to describe responsiveness and organise immediate problems while staying within your training.

C

COWS

COWS First Aid: A Simple Response Check

COWS is a first aid response check that helps you work out whether a person can hear, open their eyes and respond.

 A

AVPU

AVPU First Aid: Alert, Voice, Pain, Unresponsive

AVPU is a quick way to describe a person’s level of responsiveness.

 G

GCS

GCS Meaning: Glasgow Coma Scale in First Aid Handover

GCS means Glasgow Coma Scale, a clinical score used to describe consciousness after illness or injury.

 L

LOC

LOC Meaning: Loss or Level of Consciousness

LOC usually means loss of consciousness or level of consciousness, depending on the context.

 D

DRSABCD

DRSABCD Meaning: The Australian First Aid Action Plan

The big emergency sequence: Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR and Defibrillation.

 A

ABCDE

ABCDE Meaning: Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability and Exposure

ABCDE is a structured assessment acronym used in emergency care to organise immediate problems by Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability and Exposure.

History And Symptom Questions

These help gather symptoms, medicines, allergies, timing and pain description without burying the urgent problem.

S

SAMPLE

SAMPLE First Aid History: The Questions Worth Asking

SAMPLE helps first aiders gather useful information while help is coming.

 O

OPQRST

OPQRST Meaning: Pain Assessment Questions in First Aid and Handover

OPQRST is a pain and symptom assessment acronym: Onset, Provocation, Quality, Region, Severity and Time.

 P

PQRST

PQRST Pain Assessment: A First Aid Question Framework

PQRST helps make pain questions specific enough to be useful.

Structured Handover

These acronyms help you pass clear information to 000, ambulance officers, nurses, workplace first aiders or supervisors.

I

ISBAR

ISBAR Meaning: A Safer Handover Framework

ISBAR means Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation: a structured way to hand over important information.

 S

SBAR

SBAR Meaning: Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation

SBAR is a communication acronym for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation.

 M

MIST

MIST Handover: Mechanism, Injuries, Signs and Treatment

MIST is a compact trauma handover format: Mechanism, Injuries, Signs and Treatment.

 I

IMIST-AMBO

IMIST-AMBO Meaning: Australian Ambulance Handover Acronym

IMIST-AMBO is an Australian ambulance-to-hospital handover acronym for clear, structured patient information.

A

Assessment & Handover (Clinical)

The original assessment-and-handover cluster hub.

 W

Workplace

Use handover acronyms with workplace incident and WHS language.

 H

Heart & Stroke

Connect OPQRST and SAMPLE with chest pain, stroke signs and collapse acronyms.
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This guide is educational and does not replace accredited first aid training, workplace procedures, professional medical advice, emergency operators or directions from ambulance officers.