Self Assessment 13

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

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

A rapid, thready pulse

You are caring for a hockey player who has been struck in the front of the neck by a hockey puck traveling at high speed. The player is sitting upright. He is drooling because it hurts to swallow, and he reports pain in his neck. Which of the following actions is most appropriate?

Allow the patient to remain upright, in a position of comfort, to protect the airway.

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

Apply direct pressure above and below the wound

You are caring for a pediatric patient who has a nosebleed and is reporting nausea from swallowing blood. What should you do?

Ask the patient to lean forward so the blood does not drain into the throat.

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

The five sections of the spinal column, in descending order, are the:

Cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal

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

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

You are caring for a patient who needs cervical spinal immobilization. Your unit has only one adult-sized commerciallymanufacturved cervical collar, and it breaks while you are sizing it. What should you do?

Create an improvised soft cervical collar by rolling up a blanket

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

Leaning him forward and pinching his nostrils together.

When activated, the sympathetic nervous system produces all of the following effects, EXCEPT:

Pupillary constriction

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

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

Spinal column injury

A 19-year-old male was playing collegiate football and was slow to get up following a hard tackle. He reports he felt dizzy after the tackle, which is why he was slow to rise. He denies having lost consciousness. He does not want transport to a hospital and instead wants to return to play. Which of the following is the most appropriate action?

Strongly encourage the patient to be transported to a hospital for further evaluation.

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

Suction her oropharynx

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

Superficial scalp lacerations

Which of the following statements regarding a basilar skull fracture is correct?

The absence of raccoon eyes or Battle sign does not rule it out

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.