There is no emergency medical "system" in the U.S. There are several thousand systems, each with it's own practices and procedures. So there is no definitive, single, established, standard protocol or methodology for obtaining patient data in the pre-hospital environment.

But, on this subject, there is a body of professional knowledge and practical wisdom that has been accumulated and validated over and over by hard won experience. Have you noticed a certain uniformity of opinion and lack of disagreement here, as to the "best way to clue EMTs to medical facts," among all the people who have actual hands-on experience in the field? That, my friend, is the collective voice of the real world sharing it's wisdom with you.

We aren't trying to tell you what to do; we're just telling you what works for us.

Jeff
paramedic/firefighter, 30 years experience