Patients may lose consciousness and fall because of several reasons such as syncope, seizure, stroke, or cardiac arrest.
A. Syncope/Fainting
With syncope the patient has a pulse, does not stop breath¬ing, and has no shaking of the limbs. Simply keeping the head down, preferably with the individual lying flat, and raising the legs up in the air above the patient’s hips will cause blood to flow from the legs. In about one minute the individual will recover completely.
B. Seizure/Epilepsy
During a seizure the patient’s limbs exhibit jerky, move¬ments, the limbs get rigid, or there is a combination of rigidity and jerking of one or more limbs. The patient is breathing, but saliva and foam bubble from the mouth. Some individuals pass urine or stool. Recovery is typical.
C. Stroke
During a stroke, circulation to part of the brain is cut off because of a blood clot in an artery in the brain. Strokes usually occur in individuals over age 60. It is rare for the patient to fall suddenly to the floor without some warning. The patient will have a pulse and breathing will be present. There is no reason to do CPR because the heartbeat, circulation, and respirations have not stopped.
D. Cardiac Arrest
During cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating completely and is at a standstill (asystole) in about 25% of individuals. In about 60–75%, cardiac arrest is due to ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation can be treated by an electrical shock, which defibrillates the heart and replaces the ventricular fibrillation with a normal heartbeat.

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