The OPQRST mnemonic is used primarily to assess which aspect of a patient?

• A. Head Injury
• B. Pain
• C. Blood Pressure
• D. Respiratory Rate

Answer: (B)

OPQRST is a structured approach for understanding a patient’s pain. It guides you to ask about Onset, Provocation or Palliation, Quality, Region or Radiation, Severity, and Timing. This framework helps you describe the pain clearly and consistently, which informs treatment decisions (like whether analgesia is needed) and lets you monitor how the pain changes in response to care. The focus is on the patient’s subjective experience of pain, a central part of many EMS assessments. Other aspects like head injuries are evaluated with neurologic checks and injury mechanisms, while blood pressure and respiratory rate are vital signs measured with separate procedures rather than through this pain-focused history.