What should a flight attendant prioritize when dealing with medical emergencies?

In a medical emergency, the primary focus of a flight attendant should be to ensure the safety of all passengers. This includes assessing the situation, providing assistance to the passenger in distress, and ensuring that the surrounding area remains safe and secure. Safety is paramount in any emergency, as it helps prevent further complications or escalations.

Ensuring the safety of all passengers encompasses a variety of actions such as alerting other crew members, managing the environment around the affected individual to avoid chaos, and maintaining calm among other passengers. This foundational priority aligns with the flight attendant's responsibilities to protect the wellbeing of everyone on board.

While following emergency protocols is also critical, these protocols are designed to facilitate safety. Therefore, ensuring the safety of all passengers can be viewed as an overarching priority that includes adherence to established procedures. Other tasks, such as reporting to the cockpit or checking boarding passes, would not take precedence during a medical crisis, as the immediate health and safety of the individual in need, as well as surrounding passengers, must come first.