[Recognizing patients in life-threatening emergencies or potentially serious conditions].

The identification of a vital distress belongs to necessary knowledge of any medical doctor. The clinical pictures can reach a level of complexity such as the expert is likely to ignore gravity and the immediate attitude to have. However the search for a vital distress starts from an initially simple clinical step and to the range all. The secondary objective is to engage the adequate therapeutic which will not have to be delayed by an approach diagnoses too complex. But the clinical situations can take a mask of potential gravity, represented by large traps of pathology (sepsis, internal bleedings, intoxications...). The admission in emergency service must bring the benefit of a stabilization in the emergency room. However the direct access in intensive care unit will be privileged for the serious identified situations and the multivisceral failures. This chain of "survival" of the vital distresses passes by a good knowledge of the role of each.