OPERATIONS Flashcards
A 50-year-old man was found unresponsive in his greenhouse; an empty container of pesticide is found lying next to him. His respirations are severely labored, his pulse is slow and weak, he is incontinent of urine, and he is producing copious oral secretions. After removing the patient from the greenhouse, you should:
Remove his clothing, suction his oropharynx, assist his ventilations with a bag-valve-mask, apply the cardiac monitor, establish vascular access, and administer 2 to 4 mg of atropine sulfate.
A 29-year-old male was exposed to a dry powder chemical. He is conscious and alert, but is restless and in intense pain. You should:
Remove his clothing, brush the chemical off his skin, and then irrigate his skin with copious amounts of water.
Which of the following patients could you legally treat and transport without his or her consent?
A 17-year-old conscious male who has a closed fractured femur
At the scene of a motor vehicle accident, you note that the driver, a young woman, is lying next to her car and has agonal gasps and no palpable pulse. Other than a closed tibial fracture, she has no other obvious trauma. She is wearing a bracelet that identifies her as an organ donor. How should you manage this situation?
Begin aggressive treatment and transport immediately.
How does a unified incident command system differ from a single incident command system?
In a unified incident command system, plans are made in advance by all agencies that assume a shared responsibility for decision making
You are caring for a middle-aged female with acute chest pain. She is conscious and alert to person, place, time, and event. You have administered aspirin and obtained a 12-lead ECG tracing. As your partner is retrieving the ambulance stretcher, she states that she does not want to be transported by EMS and would prefer that her husband take her to the hospital. You should:
Ask her why she does not want to be transported by EMS.
You and your team have been attempting to resuscitate a 68-year-old male in cardiac arrest for the past 20 minutes. The patient’s initial cardiac rhythm was asystole, which has remained unchanged despite four doses of epinephrine, high-quality CPR, proper airway management, and a thorough assessment for potentially reversible causes. The patient’s wife tells you that her husband does not have a living will. You should:
Advise the wife that her husband is dead and that further resuscitative efforts will not change the outcome.
Which of the following actions demonstrates a paramedic’s knowledge of crime scene preservation?
Advising a law enforcement officer after moving a coffee table to access a critically injured patient
Your assessment of a 33-year-old man with generalized weakness and nausea reveals a blood glucose level of 39 mg/dL. The patient is conscious and alert to person, place, time, and event. As you are preparing the IV equipment and dextrose, the patient tells you that he will not allow you to start an IV on him or give him any drugs; he will only allow you to transport him to the hospital. You should:
Advise him that if you don’t give him glucose, his condition could potentially deteriorate and he could die.
While assisting in the delivery of a baby, you note that a loop of the umbilical cord is protruding from the vagina, just ahead of the presenting part of the fetus. As your partner applies oxygen to the mother, you should:
Elevate her hips, instruct her to pant with each contraction, and gently push the baby back up into the vagina.
Which of the following creates a secure loop at the working end of a rope, which can be used to attach the end of the rope to a fixed object or a piece of equipment?
Figure eight on a bite
You are assessing the 12-lead ECG of a man who presents with chest discomfort. The ECG reveals a normal sinus rhythm without evidence of ischemia, injury, or infarct. The patient tells you that he saw his cardiologist 2 weeks ago, was told that he had a heart attack in the past, and then asks you if you agree. You should:
Advise the patient that he should seek consultation from his cardiologist.
The paramedic is preparing to start an IV line on a 39-year-old patient who is HIV positive and complains of abdominal pain. What personal protective equipment is recommended?
Gloves and protective eyewear
You are using 12-lead ECGs obtained in the field to review with your colleagues. Which of the following information would be the MOST important to remove from each ECG?
Ecg identification number
Which of the following clinical presentations is MOST consistent with exposure to a chemical nerve agent?
Excessive tearing, hypersalivation, bradycardia, and miosis
Which of the following victim or bystander reactions would MOST likely escalate the stress associated with a mass-casualty incident?
Blind panic
The ambulance begins to hydroplane while transporting a patient on a wet roadway. The vehicle operator should:
Take his/her foot of the gas and gradually slow down.
A woman called 9-1-1 when she saw her neighbor, a middle-aged man, pass out in his front yard. When you arrive at the scene, you find the patient sitting in a chair on his porch. He is conscious, appears alert, and has a small laceration to his forehead. The neighbor tells your partner that the man was unresponsive for about 2 minutes. You should:
Introduce yourself and ask the patient what happened.
