When a nursing exam asks what to do first, use the ABCs: Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Address whichever is compromised before anything else. This framework works on exams and in real patient care.
Let's talk about how to prioritize your patients on your nursing school exams as well as at clinicals. Use the ABCs airway, breathing and circulation. Is your patient's airway clear? Are they breathing, and is their blood circulating? If one of these three things isn't happening, it's bad news. So when you get a priority question on a nursing school exam, make sure that you consider the ABCs and solve for these three things first before you move on to anything else.
