How do Maslow's hierarchy and ABCs help in prioritizing care?

• A. They ignore life-threatening issues
• B. They add safety later
• C. They help identify life-threatening issues first - ABCs take priority, then safety, then other needs
• D. They focus only on psychological needs

Answer: (C)

Prioritizing care with these frameworks starts with saving the patient’s life. The ABCs—Airway, Breathing, Circulation—guide you to identify and fix life-threatening problems first, so you don’t move on to anything else until the patient is stabilized. Maslow’s hierarchy then helps you organize the next steps after basic survival is secured: ensure safety and address basic physiological needs, and only after those are established turn to higher-level needs such as psychosocial support, education, and recovery planning. In practice, this means you act to secure the airway and breathing, control circulation, and manage immediate dangers before addressing safety and any other needs. So the best answer is that they help identify life-threatening issues first—ABCs take priority, then safety, then other needs.