REx-PN Management of Care: Establishing Priorities
A structured guide to assessment priority: immediate threats, changes from baseline, escalation and reassessment.
- Look for an immediate threat and new deterioration before routine tasks.
- Use ABCDE as an assessment structure, not a shortcut that ignores the scenario.
- Escalation, reassessment and documentation belong in the same care sequence.
Sources checked 6 October 2026.
What is a prioritisation question asking?
First identify the task: assess first, act first, report first or arrange routine care. They are different decisions. Read the time course, current observations and change from the client's baseline. An acute change can be more urgent than a familiar diagnosis. Do not rank clients by diagnosis name alone.
How does ABCDE organise assessment?
Resuscitation Council UK's framework checks airway, breathing, circulation, disability and exposure to identify immediate threats and reassess the response. Use the observations in the scenario to determine urgency. A reassuring number in one area does not cancel deterioration elsewhere. Follow the local escalation process and seek appropriate help when a threat is identified.
What else changes the priority?
Consider instability, unexpected findings, recent procedures, available assessment data and the consequences of delay. Use current evidence rather than a memorised rule that every actual problem outranks every potential one. If the task asks for assessment, choose the client requiring that assessment rather than jumping to an unsupported intervention.
What comes after identifying the priority?
Communicate the concern promptly, use the service's escalation route, reassess and record the observations, action, response and follow-up. A structured handover carries the concern and next action to the receiving clinician. This guide introduces the test plan's Establishing Priorities content; it does not contain recalled exam items or claim to reproduce the exam.