Spot the signs
- Rapid, weak heartbeat and rapid breathing.
- Pale, gray, cool, or moist (clammy) skin.
- Confusion, restlessness, irritability, or reduced responsiveness.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Excessive thirst.
Give care
- 1Call 911 — shock needs immediate medical treatment.
- 2Treat the cause you can see — for example, control severe bleeding with direct pressure.
- 3Lay the person down and prop the legs up slightly — unless that causes pain, you suspect a head/neck/spine or leg injury, or it makes breathing harder.
- 4Keep them warm — cover with a blanket or clothing, including head, hands, and feet; loosen tight clothing.
- 5Keep them still, calm, and reassured. Don't let them get up and move around.
- 6Do not give anything to eat or drink — it can cause vomiting or choking.
- 7Monitor breathing and responsiveness. If they vomit and no spinal injury is suspected, roll them onto one side to keep the airway clear.
- 8Begin CPR if the person shows no signs of life.
When to use it
- The follow-through after a hurry case. Once you've stopped serious bleeding, you watch for and treat shock.
- Any major trauma on a campout or trek — a bad fall, a deep wound, a serious burn — where injury, fear, and blood loss can tip a person into shock.
- A severely allergic or badly dehydrated person can also go into shock.
Common mistakes & safety
- Shock can develop even when the injury looks handled. Keep monitoring after you've controlled the obvious problem — signs can appear or worsen minutes later.
- Never give food or water to someone in shock or any seriously injured person who may need surgery — vomiting into an unprotected airway is a real danger.
- Don't elevate the legs if it hurts, if breathing worsens, or if you suspect a spine or leg fracture. A flat position is safer then.
- Keeping them warm is care, not comfort. Losing body heat makes shock worse — insulate from the ground too.
- You can't fix shock in the field. The most useful thing you do is call 911 early and treat the cause; everything else holds the line until EMS arrives.
Going deeper
- The old "shock position." First aid once routinely elevated the legs; current guidance makes leg elevation conditional — only if it doesn't cause pain or breathing trouble and no spine or leg injury is suspected.
- Shock is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Treating the underlying cause — bleeding, an allergic reaction — is what actually helps.
- Two meanings of the word. Feeling emotionally "shocked" (stunned) is an everyday sense; medical shock is a circulatory emergency.
Official source
Shock — American Red Cross →This is general first-aid information, not a substitute for hands-on training. Take a certified first-aid course; shock accompanies Scouting America's hurry cases.