After a focused physical assessment of a responsive medical patient, which sequence should you obtain?

• A. S/SAMPLE
• B. OPQRST
• C. S/SAMPLE only
• D. S/SAMPLE followed by OPQRST

Answer: (D)

In a focused assessment of a responsive patient, you want to gather background context before zeroing in on the current symptom. Start with S/SAMPLE to collect essential information: Signs and Symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Past medical history, Last oral intake, and Events leading up to the incident. This background helps you identify conditions or factors that could change interpretation or treatment, such as an allergy that would affect medication choices or a history that raises suspicion for a particular diagnosis. After you have this context, move to OPQRST to characterize the presenting symptom in a structured way: Onset, Provocation, Quality, Region or Radiation, Severity, and Time. This approach gives a clear picture of how the symptom started, what makes it better or worse, its nature and location, how severe it is, and how it’s evolved, which is critical for triage, monitoring, and decisions about care. Doing S/SAMPLE first and then OPQRST ensures you gather both the background and the focused symptom data, rather than missing important context or rushing the symptom assessment.