Chapter 33

Question 1

Which portions of the spine are the most vulnerable to injury?

Answer 1

cervical and lumbar

Question 2

Which of the following is the opening at the base of the skull?

Answer 2

Foramen magnum

Question 3

Which of the following injuries is considered an indirect brain injury?

Answer 3

concussion

Question 4

What is another name for the zygomatic bone?

Answer 4

malar

Question 5

Which of the following is a potential complication of hyperventilating a patient with a brain injury?

Answer 5

decreased blood flow to the brain

Question 6

Which of the following signs is least likely to indicate a traumatic brain injury?

Answer 6

low blood pressure

Question 7

Your patient is a 30-year-old construction worker who fell from scaffolding and has been impaled through the right orbit by a 36-inch piece of concrete reinforcement bar. The patient responds to verbal stimuli and appears to have multiple other injuries. Which of the following is the best course of action?

Answer 7

firmly stabilize the reinforcement bar in place so that the rescue crew can cut it short.

Question 8

The bony bumps you feel along the center of a person’s back are known as which of the following?

Answer 8

spinous process

Question 9

Your patient is a 16-year-old male who was ejected from an all-terrain vehicle and struck his head on a large rock. He was not wearing a helmet. He is unresponsive with shallow, irregular respirations; a blood pressure of 170/110 mmHg; and a heart rate of 50 beats per minute. Which of the following interventions would be most appropriate?

Answer 9

Insert an oropharyngeal airway and ventilate via bag-valve mask at 10 to 12 breaths per minute.

Question 10

Your patient is a 27-year-old male who has been involved in a motorcycle collision in which he was not wearing a helmet. He does not respond when you speak to him, but he makes incomprehensible sounds when you press your knuckles on his sternum. Which of the following best describes his level of consciousness?

Answer 10

painful

Question 11

Which of the following is not used to calculate a patient’s GCS?

Answer 11

work of breathing

Question 12

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a neurological assessment that looks at which of the following?

Answer 12

eye opening, verbal response, and motor response

Question 13

While assessing a patient with a laceration to the neck, the EMT must be aware that which of the following conditions may develop?

Answer 13

air embolus

Question 14

You are treating a 35-year-old male patient who has been involved in a motorcycle incident. The patient is unresponsive with a blood pressure of 60/40, a pulse of 66 beats per minute, and respirations of 18 breaths per minute. The patient’s skin is flushed and warm. The patient’s presentation is most likely caused by which of the following?

Answer 14

neurogenic shock

Question 15

Messages from the body to the brain are carried by which of the following types of nerves?

Answer 15

sensory

Question 16

Which of the following is the underlying cause of neurogenic shock?

Answer 16

failure of the nervous system to control the diameter of blood vessels

Question 17

Which of the following may result from the application of a cervical collar that is too large for the patient?

Answer 17

hyperextension of the neck

Question 18

Your patient is a 38-year-old male driver of a vehicle that left the roadway and struck a bus stop shelter and a tree. He is sitting in the driver’s seat and conscious and alert, he has some abrasions on his forehead, his skin is warm and dry, and he has a strong radial pulse and no difficulty breathing. After applying a cervical collar, which of the following actions represents the most appropriate way for removing the patient from the vehicle?

Answer 18

place a long spine board under the patient’s buttocks and carefully lower the patient to the board in a supine position

Question 19

Your 38-year-old male patient has been injured in an assault. He has several facial lacerations and a large knot on his head. Bystanders say that he was thrown over a large table and landed on his head and shoulder. As part of your scene size-up and primary assessment, you should:

Answer 19

immobilize his cervical spine

Question 20

To which of the following sections of the spine are the ribs attached?

Answer 20

thoracic