Upon finding a 19-year-old female with slow and shallow respirations, what is your immediate course of action?

In situations where a patient displays slow and shallow respirations, it indicates a potential respiratory compromise or failure. The immediate priority in such cases is to ensure the patient receives adequate ventilation. Administering ventilatory assistance is crucial to support the patient’s breathing, especially if they are unable to maintain adequate oxygenation and carbon dioxide exchange on their own.

Providing ventilatory assistance can involve techniques such as bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation. This intervention helps to effectively deliver breaths to the patient, ensuring that they receive enough oxygen and that carbon dioxide is effectively expelled, which is vital in preventing further deterioration of their condition.

While obtaining vital signs, applying oxygen, or stabilizing limbs may be necessary components of patient care, they do not address the immediate life-threatening issue of inadequate breathing. Ventilatory support takes precedence in this scenario to stabilize the patient's respiratory status as quickly as possible.