emt study guide

During your assessment of a patient with blunt chest trauma, you note that the patient has shallow breathing and paradoxical movement of the left chest wall. You should:

Assist ventilations with a bag-valve mask.

The _______ is the best-protected part of the CNS controls the functions of the cardiac and respiratory systems

Brain stem

You are transporting a stable patient with a possible pneumothorax. The patient is receiving high-flow oxygen and has an oxygen saturation of 95%. During your reassessment, you find that the patient is now confused, hypotensive, and profusely diaphoretic. What is MOST likely causing this patient's deterioration?

Compression of the aorta and vena cava

It would be MOST approiate to preform a focused secondary assessment on a patient who:

Fainted and fell to the ground from a standing position

In which of the following situations would the EMT be the LEAST likely to immobilize a patient's spine?

No distracting injuries or evidence of intoxication.

A 50-year-old male was splashed in the eyes with radiator fluid when he was working on his car. During your assessment, he tells you that he wears soft contact lenses. You should:

carefully remove the contact lenses and then irrigate his eyes with saline.

Rapid deceleration of the head, such as when it impacts the windshield, causes:

compression injuries or bruising to the anterior portion of the brain and stretching or tearing to the posterior portion of the brain.

Following blunt trauma to the chest, an 18-year-old female presents with respiratory distress, shallow breathing, and cyanosis. Her blood pressure is 80/50 mm Hg and her pulse is 130 beats/min and thready. You should:

provide ventilation assistance with a bag valve mask.

Following a head injury, a 20-year-old female opens her eyes spontaneously, is confused, and obeys your commands to move her extremities. You should assign her a GCS score of:

14

A patient with a head injury presents with abnormal flexion of his extremities. What numeric value should you assign to him for motor response?

3

The cervical spine, comprised of ________ cervical vertebrae

7

A 37-year-old male was pinned between a flatbed truck and a loading dock. On exam, you find bruising to the chest, distended neck veins, bilaterally diminished breath sounds, and bilateral scleral hemorrhaging. You should

Aggressively manage his airway.

Following a stab wound to the left anterior chest, a 25-year-old male presents with a decreased level of consciousness and signs of shock. Which of the following additional assessment findings should increase your index of suspicion for a cardiac tamponade?

Engorged jugular veins

Following blunt trauma to the face, a 21-year-old male complains of a severe headache and decreased ability to move his eyes. This patient's clinical presentation is MOST consistent with:

a blowout fracture.

Common signs and symptoms of a serious head injury include all of the following, EXCEPT:

a rapid, thready pulse.

A reflex arc occurs when:

a sensory nerve detects an irritating stimulus and bypasses the brain by sending a direct message to the motor nerve.

While jogging, a 19-year-old male experienced an acute onset of shortness of breath and pleuritic chest pain. He is conscious and alert with stable vital signs. Your assessment reveals that he has diminished breath sounds over the left side of the chest. You should:

administer oxygen and transport to the hospital.

You are dispatched to a convenience store, where the clerk sustained a laceration to the side of his neck during a robbery attempt. During your assessment, you note bright red blood spurting from the laceration. You should:

apply direct pressure above and below the wound.

After your partner assumes manual in-line stabilization of the patient's head, you should:

assess distal neurovascular status in the extremities

A young female experienced a laceration to her left eyeball from flying glass when her boyfriend broke a soda bottle against a wall. There is moderate bleeding and the patient states that she cannot see out of the injured eye. You should:

avoid applying pressure to the globe when you are covering the eye.

A man jumped from the roof of his house and landed on his feet. He complains of pain to his heels, knees, and lower back. This mechanism of injury is an example of

axial loading

Abnormal variations in pupil size and reaction would MOST likely be observed in a patient with:

brain injury.

A 30-year-old female presents with redness, inflammation, and pain to her left eye. During your assessment, you note that she is having difficulty keeping her eyes open. You should suspect that she is experiencing:

conjunctivitis

A 40-year-old male was in his woodworking shop when he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his left eye. Your assessment reveals a small splinter of wood embedded in his cornea. You should

cover both of his eyes and transport to the hospital.

A 52-year-old unrestrained female struck the steering wheel with her face when her truck collided with another vehicle. She has obvious swelling to her face and several dislodged teeth. A visual exam of her mouth reveals minimal bleeding. She is conscious and alert with a blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg, a pulse of 110 beats/min, and respirations of 22 breaths/min with adequate tidal volume. You should:

fully immobilize her spine, attempt to locate the dislodged teeth, suction as needed, and transport.

You are assessing a 59-year-old male and note that his pupils are unequal. He is conscious and alert. When obtaining his medical history, it is MOST pertinent to ask him if he:

has a history of eye surgeries.

In a patient with a head injury, hypertension, bradycardia, and Biot respirations indicate:

herniation of the brain stem.

The effectiveness of positive-pressure ventilations when treating a head-injured patient can ONLY be determined by

immediate reassessment following the intervention.

A 45-year-old male was working on his roof when he fell approximately 12′,landing on his feet. He is conscious and alert and complains of an ache in his lower back. He is breathing adequately and has stable vital signs. You should:

immobilize his spine and perform a focused secondary exam.

During your primary assessment of a semiconscious 30-year-old female with closed head trauma, you note that she has slow, irregular breathing and a slow, bounding pulse. As your partner maintains manual in-line stabilization of her head, you should:

instruct him to assist her ventilations while you perform a rapid assessment.

bleeding within the brain tissue itself is called

intracerebral hematoma

A tight-fitting motorcycle helmet should be left in place unless

it interferes with your assessment of the airway

You arrive at the scene of a major motor vehicle crash. The patient, a 50-year-old female, was removed from her vehicle prior to your arrival. Bystanders who removed her state that she was not wearing a seatbelt. The patient is unresponsive, tachycardic, and diaphoretic. Your assessment reveals bilaterally clear and equal breath sounds, a midline trachea, and collapsed jugular veins. You should be MOST suspicious that this patient has experienced a:

laceration of the aorta.

Following direct trauma to the upper part of the anterior neck, a young male presents with labored breathing, loss of voice, and subcutaneous emphysema in the soft tissues around his neck. You should suspect a(n):

laryngeal fracture.

A 29-year-old male has an anterior nosebleed after he was accidentally elbowed in the nose. His is conscious and alert with adequate breathing. The MOST appropriate care for this patient includes

leaning him forward and pinching his nostrils together.

A 44-year-old male sustained a laceration to his left ear during a minor car accident. Your assessment reveals minimal bleeding. Appropriate care for this injury includes:

padding between the ear and the scalp.

You have sealed the open chest wound of a 40-year-old male who was stabbed in the anterior chest. Your reassessment reveals that he is experiencing increasing respiratory distress and tachycardia, and is developing cyanosis. You should:

partially remove the dressing.

A 28 year old male was struck in the chest with a baseball bat during an altercation. He is conscious and alert and complains of severe chest pain. Your assessment reveals a large area of ecchymosis over the sternum and a rapid, irregular pulse. In addition to providing supplemental oxygen, you should:

prepare for immediate transport

A 6-year-old female was riding her bicycle and struck a clothesline with her throat. She is breathing, but with obvious difficulty. Your assessment reveals a crackling sensation in the soft tissues of her neck and facial cyanosis. In addition to the appropriate airway management, the intervention that will MOST likely improve her chance of survival is:

rapidly transporting her to the hospital.

The optic nerve endings are located within the:

retina

A patient who cannot remember the events that preceded his or her head injury is experiencing:

retrograde amnesia.

Significant trauma to the face should increase the EMT's index of suspicion for a(n):

spinal column injury.

A 30-year-old female was robbed and assaulted by a gang as she was leaving a nightclub. She has massive facial trauma and slow, gurgling respirations. As your partner manually stabilizes her head, you should:

suction her oropharynx

During your primary assessment of a 19-year-old unconscious male who experienced severe head trauma, you note that his respirations are rapid, irregular, and shallow. He has bloody secretions draining from his mouth and nose. You should:

suction his oropharynx for up to 15 seconds.

Common signs of a skull fracture include all of the following, EXCEPT

superficial scalp lacerations

A 4-year-old female has a peanut lodged in the external auditory canal of her right ear. You should:

transport her to the emergency department.

You are transporting an immobilized patient with severe facial trauma. As you are preparing to give your radio report to the hospital, the patient begins vomiting large amounts of blood. You should:

turn the backboard onto its side.

If you do not have the appropriate size cervical collar, you should:

use rolled towels to immobilize the patient's head.

A female patient with a suspected head injury has slow, shallow breathing. The MOST appropriate treatment for her includes:

ventilation assistance to maintain an ETCO2 of 30 to 35 mm Hg.

A 19-year-old male is unresponsive, apneic, and pulseless after being struck in the center of the chest with a softball. Based on the mechanism of injury, what MOST likely occurred?

ventricular fibrillation when the impact occurred during a critical portion of the cardiac cycle