When assessing a patient's airway, what is the first action you should take?

When assessing a patient's airway, the first action you should take is to feel for breathing. This step is critical because determining if the patient is breathing helps to quickly identify their condition and the urgency of care required. By feeling for breaths, you can assess if the patient has an adequate airway and is ventilating properly.

This action should come after checking for responsiveness, as that initial assessment ensures you are dealing with a patient who requires further evaluation. After confirming that the patient is unresponsive or in distress, feeling for breathing helps prioritize the necessary interventions. Should there be no breathing detected, immediate measures, such as providing rescue breaths or initiating advanced airway management, can be employed based on the guidelines for patient care.

In contrast, looking for obstructions, while important, is typically done after confirming the presence or absence of breathing. Listening for breathing sounds is also a secondary assessment that usually follows the initial feeling for breath activity. Thus, feeling for breathing serves as the foundational step in assessing the airway effectively.