SOAP Note - First Aid Accident Report and Patient Assessment Form

Suggestion - Print the .pdf files below and keep them in your First Aid kit.  Use them to assist in the management of an injury while on a hike or climb.  These forms and the information below is provided by the Mazamas First Aid committee.

SOAP Note form
Patient Assessment Form (PAS)

What is a SOAP note?
It’s essentially a standardized way to store medical information, which can assist your patient assessment, decision making and treatment in a backcountry medical emergency.

Subjective:  Information about the subject (patient). Items like age, name, etc. along with “subjective” information that someone tells you, e.g. “I have been out in the wind for three hours and I am feeling really cold.”

Objective:  Information that you gain with your own observations, e.g. altered level on responsiveness, shivering, vital signs, etc.

Assessment:  What you think is wrong with the patient - “the patient has mild hypothermia.”

Plan:  What you are going to do about it - “replace wet clothes with dry, provide insulation, provide sugar to fuel shivering.”

For a more complete look at SOAP notes and a whole lot more, check out the the Mazamas Mountaineering First Aid (MFA) class.  More on Mazamas First Aid classes