Do I ask sample or OPQRST first?

Whether you ask SAMPLE or OPQRST first in EMS assessment depends on your training, protocol, and the patient presentation, but generally most protocols teach to ask OPQRST first for the current complaint, then SAMPLE for broader history. OPQRST is a mnemonic for evaluating pain or symptoms and stands for Onset, Provocation or Palliation, Quality, Radiation, Severity, and Time. It helps you understand the chief complaint in detail. SAMPLE covers broader medical history. In a typical secondary assessment, you would first get the chief complaint and then use OPQRST to get a detailed description of that complaint, such as when pain started, what makes it better or worse, what it feels like, where it radiates, how severe it is, and how long it has lasted. After you have detailed the current problem, you then ask SAMPLE to get context like allergies, medications, past history, last intake, and events leading up. Some instructors teach to intermix them naturally in conversation rather than rigidly one then the other. For a medical patient with chest pain, you might do OPQRST first to understand the pain, then SAMPLE. For trauma, you might get SAMPLE while assessing. Most EMT textbooks teach OPQRST first for symptom analysis, then SAMPLE for history.