Can someone give me a rough outline of a protocol for assessing questionable patients

[CrazyFLBean]

I was reading another post were it was more of a vent about "stupid" nurses. Well, I feel stupid because I don't know what I'm doing and no one at my work cares to explain things to me. I had a "questionable" patient claming he was having a heart attack last night and just looked like a deer in headlights not knowing how/what to assess. The day before, I had a 94 yr old lady fall on her way to the bathroom and again, didn't know what to look for (aside from the obvious bleeding, skin tears ect)...

Can someone list some impt things to ask and look for that I can print out and put in my pocket for emergencies like this? I'm trying to better myself so I don't seem like a fool. Our supervisor doesn't get called over. We are the ones who make the decision to send them out.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I'd like to know these things as well. I work in a hospital clinic and don't practice these things because we have RNs that assess. Also, the med-surg units have the RNs that will actually do the assessments. Now, if they do them correctly or not is a different story.

The Nursing Spectrum sells a drug guide for nurses that has algorithms (I know I spelled this word incorrectly) that sort of map out what to do in different situations that may be helpful. Not a great deal of information but a few to get you going. Also, be kind to yourself. If you are new, don't be so hard on yourself to know everything at once. It takes time and experience. I have been an LPN for a year and still don't know much. But, when I compare how I functioned last year versus now, there is much improvement.