Initial assessment and treatment with the Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach
Open accessAbstract
The Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach is applicable in all clinical emergencies for immediate assessment and treatment. The approach is widely accepted by experts in emergency medicine and likely improves outcomes by helping health care professionals focusing on the most life-threatening clinical problems. In an acute setting, high-quality ABCDE skills among all treating team members can save valuable time and improve team performance. Dissemination of knowledge and skills related to the ABCDE approach are therefore needed. This paper offers a practical "how-to" description of the ABCDE approach.
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- Authors
- Thim, T., Krarup, Grove, Rohde, & Lofgren
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University Hospital (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Thim, Troels
- ORCID
- Thim, Troels
- Venue
- International Journal of General Medicine
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-01
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 117
- ISSN
- 1178-7074 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3273374
- OpenAlex
- W1978762809
- Semantic Scholar
- 200a4d6e54a38883992bf85312936967a471f767
- Cited by
- 341
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 7.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of General Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Trauma and Emergency Care Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency Medicine Education and Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation
- Keywords
- ABCDE approach, emergency assessment, medical emergencies, airway management, breathing assessment, circulation assessment, disability assessment, exposure assessment
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