Chapter 40

Level _____ hazardous materials would cause irritation on contact but only mild residual injury, even without treatment.

1

Which of the following patients should be assigned an immediate (red tag) category?

22-year-old male with blunt abdominal trauma, tachycardia, pallor, and diaphoresis

The JumpSTART triage system is intended to be used for children younger than _____ years or who appear to weigh less than _____.

8, 100 lb

According to the START triage system, what should you do if a patient is found to have a respiratory rate of 24 breaths/min?

Assess for bilateral radial pulses.

You are approaching an overturned tanker truck to assess the driver, who appears to be unconscious. As you get closer to the vehicle, you note the smell of noxious fumes and find that you are in the midst of a vapor cloud. What should you do?

Exit the area immediately and gather information for the HazMat team.

Which of the following questions is of LEAST pertinence when the EMT is determining whether or not to declare a mass-casualty incident and activate the ICS?

How many paramedics are able to respond to the scene and provide advanced care?

Which of the following statements regarding communications at a disaster or mass-casualty incident is correct?

If possible, use face-to-face communications to minimize radio traffic.

Which of the following statements regarding transport of patients from a mass-casualty incident or disaster site is correct?

Immediate-priority patients should be transported two at a time.

Which of the following statements regarding storage containers and hazardous materials is correct?

In most cases, there is no correlation between the color of the container and the possible contents.

Your work uniform is an example of what level of protection?

Level D protection

According to the START triage system, what should you do if you encounter an unresponsive patient who is not breathing?

Open the airway and reassess breathing status.

A tour bus has overturned, resulting in numerous patients. When you arrive, you are immediately assigned to assist in the triage process. Patient 1 is a middle-aged male with respiratory distress, chest pain, and a closed deformity to his right forearm. Patient 2 is a young female who is conscious and alert, but has bilateral femur fractures and numerous abrasions to her arms and face. Patient 3 is an older woman who complains of abdominal pain and has a history of cardiovascular disease. Patient 4 is unresponsive, is not breathing, has a weak carotid pulse, and has a grossly deformed skull. What triage categories should you assign to these patients?

Patient 1, immediate (red); Patient 2, delayed (yellow); Patient 3, immediate (red); Patient 4, expectant (black)

Which of the following statements regarding hazardous materials is correct?

Some substances are not hazardous by themselves, but become toxic when mixed with another chemical.

Which of the following statements regarding the unified command system is correct?

Under the unified command system, plans are drawn up in advance by all cooperating agencies that assume a shared responsibility for decision making.

You are triaging four patients who were involved in a head-on motor vehicle crash. Which of the following patients should be assigned the highest (red) triage category?

a 49-year-old female with diabetes and difficulty breathing

Interoperability, an important feature of the NIMS, refers to the ability of:

agencies of different types or from different jurisdictions to communicate with each other.

Which of the following MOST accurately describes a mass-casualty incident?

an incident that greatly taxes or depletes a system's available resources

According to the JumpSTART triage system, if a pediatric patient has a respiratory rate of 40 breaths/min, you should:

assess for a distal pulse.

You and your partner arrive at the scene where a truck has crashed into a small building, injuring eight people. You immediately request additional ambulances and begin the triage process. The first patient that you triage is a young female who is unconscious and apneic. She has an open head injury and her pulse is weak and thready. You should:

assign her a low priority and continue triaging

Following proper decontamination, a 30-year-old male is brought to you. He is semiconscious and has rapid, shallow respirations. A quick visual assessment reveals no obvious bleeding. You should:

begin some form of positive-pressure ventilation.

Upon arriving at the scene of a possible hazardous materials (HazMat) incident involving several patients, you should:

carefully assess the situation.

Historically, the weak point at most major incidents has been:

communication.

A carboy is a container that would MOST likely be used to store and transport:

corrosives

A 49-year-old man has been removed from his overturned tanker, which was carrying a hazardous material. The tank ruptured and he was exposed to the material. When rescue personnel bring him to the decontamination area, they note that he is unconscious and has slow, shallow breathing. They should:

cut away all of the patient's clothing and do a rapid rinse to remove as much of the contaminating matter as they can.

You and your partner are the first to arrive at the scene of a motor vehicle accident. As you approach the scene, you can see multiple patients, some walking and others who are still in their vehicles. You should:

declare a mass-casualty incident and request additional resources.

Which of the following is NOT a role of the EMT at the scene of a HazMat incident?

decontamination

The process of removing or neutralizing and properly disposing of a hazardous material is called:

decontamination.

During a motor vehicle collision involving multiple patients, the IC would MOST likely:

designate a safety officer, but retain other command functions.

The purpose of the incident command system (ICS) is to:

ensure responder and public safety, achieve incident management goals, and ensure the effective use of resources.

As the first-arriving senior EMT at the scene of an incident, you should perform a scene size-up and then:

establish command.

Which of the following duties or responsibilities does NOT fall within the realm of the medical branch of the ICS?

extrication

Injuries or conditions that would be classified as first priority (red tag; immediate) include all of the following, EXCEPT:

fractures of multiple long bones.

Placards and labels on a storage container are intended to:

give a general idea of the hazard inside that particular container.

A supervisor who has more than seven people reporting to him or her:

has exceeded an effective span of control and should divide tasks and delegate the supervision of some tasks to another person.

According to the JumpSTART triage system, if a pediatric patient is not breathing, you should:

immediately check for a pulse.

General principles for approaching a potential HazMat incident include:

maintaining a safe distance and viewing the scene with binoculars.

The FIRST step in the START triage system is to:

move all walking patients to a designated area.

Unlike a mass-casualty incident, a natural disaster

often requires personnel to remain on scene for several days.

At a very large incident, the __________ section is responsible for managing the tactical operations usually handled by the IC on routine EMS calls.

operations

The development of an incident action plan is the responsibility of the:

planning section

The function of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is to:

prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents.

Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of the treatment supervisor?

primary assessment

If an incident increases in scope and complexity, the IC should consider:

relinquishing command to someone with more experience.

You have a critically injured patient in the back of your ambulance, ready to be transported. There are other injured patients at the scene and it will be approximately 10 minutes before other ambulances will arrive. Law enforcement personnel are at the scene. You should:

remain at the scene until at least one other ambulance arrives

During a HazMat incident, you are working in the treatment area. As patients are removed from the danger zone, you should:

remain where you are and have the patients brought to you

A Level 4 hazardous material:

requires specialized gear designed for protection against that particular hazard.

Which of your senses can be safely used to identify a HazMat incident?

sight and sound

The __________ area is where incoming ambulances meet and await further instructions at the scene of a mass-casualty incident.

staging

A critical function of the safety officer is to:

stop an emergency operation whenever a rescuer is in danger.

You are triaging patients at the scene of a multiple vehicle crash when you encounter a young male who is unresponsive and is not breathing. After you open his airway, he begins to breathe at a rapid rate. According to the START triage system, you should:

tag him as immediate (red), place him in the recovery position, and move to the next patient.

After recognizing that an incident involves a hazardous material, you should contact the hazardous materials team and then:

take measures to ensure the safety of yourself and others.

The reference used as a base for your initial actions at a HazMat incident is/are:

the Emergency Response Guidebook.

After primary triage, the triage supervisor should communicate all of the following information to the medical branch officer, EXCEPT:

the recommended transport destination for each patient.

A patient in respiratory arrest at the scene of a mass-casualty incident would typically be classified as a fourth priority (black tag; expectant) patient, unless:

there are enough resources to provide care for him or her.

The ____________ supervisor is responsible for notifying area hospitals and determining their availability and capabilities.

transportation

Command functions under the ICS include all of the following, EXCEPT:

triage officer.

According to the START triage system, which of the following patients should be triaged as an immediate priority (red tag)?

unresponsive with a respiratory rate of 34 breaths/min

The MOST appropriate location to park your ambulance at a HazMat incident is:

upwind at least 100′ from the incident.

A patient who has experienced a back injury, with or without spinal cord damage, would be triaged with a __________ tag during a mass-casualty incident.

yellow

Burn patients without airway compromise and patients with multiple bone or joint injuries should be marked with a __________ triage at a mass-casualty incident.

yellow