EMT Airway, Respiration, and Ventilation Ch. 9-10

Which patient should be assigned a red tag?

• 22 year old with blunt abdominal trauma, tachycardia, palor and diaphoresis

• 29 year old with back injury and numbness and tingling in extremities

• 31 year old with open fracture of forearm and minimal external bleeding

• 36 year old with open brain injury, agonal breathing, slow pulse

Signs and symptoms of exposure to a nerve agent include:

• Dry mouth, dilated pupils and headache

• Salivation, pinpoint pupils and diarrhea

• HTN and severe pulmonary edema

• Tachycardia, flushed skin and unequal pupils

You are dispatched to a building explosion. As you arrive you see people fleeing and screaming that everyone is passing out. You should:

• Carefully assess the situation and ensure your safety

• Assist with evacuation and begin triaging

• Notify dispatch and state that a terrorist attack occurred

• Contact the FBI immediately to report the situation

If it is necessary to remove a multi-lumen airway in the field you should:

• Hyperventilate prior to removing the device

• Place the patient in a sitting position with neck flexed

• Turn patient onto their side and have suction ready

• Intubate the patients trachea after removal of the device.

You have a critically injured patient in the back of your ambulance and are ready to transport. There are other injured victims and it will be 10 minutes before a second EMS unit arrives. Police are on scene. You should:

• Transport the patient to a trauma center

• Direct police to monitor the patients as you transport

• Remain at the scene until another ambulance arrives

• Assign the least critical patient to care for the other victims.

During a HazMat event 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

• Quickly decon the patients and begin assessment

• Perform a rapid assessment and then have them deconed

• Get the patient from the decon area and begin treatment.

Following decon of a victim you find 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

• Ask a firefighter what the patient was exposed to

• Administer 100% oxygen via NRB

• Perform a rapid assessment to locate critical injuries

As the first unit to arrive at the scene of an incident you should perform a scene size up and then:

• Establish Command

• Begin the triage process

• Call for additional resources

• Quickly identify the walking wounded

CPAP is beneficial for which patient?

• 50 year old with severe shortness of breath unable to follow simple commands

• 58 year old with mild shortness of breath following lower lobe pneumonia

• 60 year old with emphysema, moderate shortness of breath and systolic BP of 78

• 62 year old with severe respiratory distress history of CHF and rhonchi in the lungs

You are on scene of a search and rescue. You hear over the radio that they have found the person. You should:

• Let the hospital know that they will be getting this patient

• Remain at the ambulance and have the victim brought to you

• Ask the IC if you can go over and see what is going on

• Locate the victim and start care while your partner stays with the ambulance