# mock drill problems



## dcemt (May 20, 2011)

I'm sweating the upcoming medical/trauma assessment ...upcoming...
the "instructors" set up a mock drill to prepare us for this and my drill was HORRIBLE !!! 
the drill : I walk into a room with 3 patients :
 1 with 3 GSW's, 
1 sucking chest wound, 
1 agonal respirations (white powder all over chest)

*problem 1*: I see a total of 6 people in the room : my 1st question is "Are the 3 instructors there as patients or preceptors?" the answer given :"I dont know, You have to find out!"
I brush this off as the instructor F'ing with us and went with the obvious 3 patients
*Problem 2*: my partner is handling the patient with breathing problems, I am handling the 1st patient I get to ...I am doing my head to toe of the patient and get to the shoulders and chest and legs: I ask if I feel anything ? the preceptor says" no " ...I find the card that the patient has with his information on it (small dry erase board with the patients vitals on it)and it reads " 3 gunshots , 2 to the chest , one in the leg" (I just asked this question......grrrr....)
*Problem 3*: I am leaving the gunshot patient with no resp. or BP to check the 3rd patient who is laying behind me I get about 1/2 way there and the instructor tells me to go back to my last patient and bombards me with questions, I try to answer all of them to the best of my ability and finally I get to head back to my 2nd patient at that time the instructor tells me "oh dont worry about him you took so long with the 1st patient that he died and you COULD have saved him..." 
Now I would have been there in time had the instructor not given me the 3rd degree about the gunshot patient .....I kind of feel if they are going to bomb you with questions then the mock time should kind of be put on pause...

What worries me is that now I have my medical and trauma assessments coming up and if the same thing is going to happen then I dont stand a chance of passing ....

Am I being crazy ? Has anybody else run into anything like this before ?
What can I do if following the checklist from line 1 to the end is what I am graded on but if i do it that way the instructor finds fault in what I am doing?????

AM I just being crazy here or did I miss something???
Let me say in closing I am not a close minded person by any means I took this class to LEARN and I am open to everything that anybody has to share , be it advise or experiences..
thank you for your help in advance


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## AmeriMedic21 (May 21, 2011)

man, your instructors seemed like they were giving you a pretty hard time, we did those scenarios in my class, but only when we had enough time to screw around. Usually we practiced state boards. But my advice would be:

BSI/ Scene safety, you are dealing with a gun show patient, did you asses the scene for hazards? maybe the assailant is still on scene, i would have requested law enforcement and withdrawn from the scene. If they told you that law enforcement was on scene, and the scene was safe, then move through the rest of your scene size up. Due to the Number of patients, and the lack of techs, i would have immediately called for additional resources, 2 techs to manage 3 patients is tough, you needed some extra hands. So i would have managed the ABCs as best as i could, while waiting for assistance. The one thing that was drilled into me, was Safety, and ABCs. Hope this helps, i am literally a fresh EMT-B student, so if someone else has more to add, or correct me of please do. And as far as your state boards, depending where you live, im almost certain they wouldnt throw that huge of a curveball at ya.

Thanks Much,
Ryan


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## nemedic (May 21, 2011)

AmeriMedic21 said:


> man, your instructors seemed like they were giving you a pretty hard time, we did those scenarios in my class, but only when we had enough time to screw around. Usually we practiced state boards. But my advice would be:
> 
> BSI/ Scene safety, you are dealing with a gun show patient, did you asses the scene for hazards? maybe the assailant is still on scene, i would have requested law enforcement and withdrawn from the scene. If they told you that law enforcement was on scene, and the scene was safe, then move through the rest of your scene size up. Due to the Number of patients, and the lack of techs, i would have immediately called for additional resources, 2 techs to manage 3 patients is tough, you needed some extra hands. So i would have managed the ABCs as best as i could, while waiting for assistance. The one thing that was drilled into me, was Safety, and ABCs. Hope this helps, i am literally a fresh EMT-B student, so if someone else has more to add, or correct me of please do. And as far as your state boards, depending where you live, im almost certain they wouldnt throw that huge of a curveball at ya.
> 
> ...



pretty much what i would do. request those with guns of their own, as well as extra hands...... if extra help is delayed, then the name of the game is "who can i realistically keep alive till the hospital?
h34r:


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## Chief Complaint (May 21, 2011)

I would just chalk it up to your instructors giving you a hard time.  Ive never heard of there being more than 1 patient for a trauma or medical station at registry.


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## Symbolic (May 21, 2011)

Yeah man, It sounds like your instructors were setting you up for failure considering your just learning the assessment process. We never did anything remotely as involved as that In Basic (whether or not that's a good or bad thing is up to you). I wouldn't let it bother you.


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## phideux (May 21, 2011)

Scene management. First was the scene safe? If so call for additional resources, 3 patients, and the 2 of you. You are outnumbered by patients. Then Triage, no more than 30 seconds on each patient, tag them Black, Red, yellow, or green. Then treat the red guy first. 
If you are taking the NR test, you will only have one patient


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## dcemt (May 21, 2011)

*..*

thank you all for the answers 
and yes rest assured the first thing was 
ppe 
scene safety 
and call for ALS 
the Law way "on scene"

I wasnt worried about "those" basics , that part a got 
it was just the other parts that bothered me 
i mean not even telling me if  you are part of the scene or just there as a preceptor....come on, that is just being a ****

phideux that was one of my points I did a 30 sec assessment of the "gunshot" pnt and when I tried to go to another pnt the instructor pulled me back and then told I spent too much time with the person HE told me to spend time with ?!?!

OK I was just checking to see if I really messed up or if it was as it seemed like to me a very hard almost impossible to pass situation

thanks for the help guys/girls 
the help was appreciated


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## mycrofft (May 21, 2011)

*Enactments are best for making or breaking self assurance.*

Very hard to make and run a training sim that either tests the trainees, or teaches them something. I have the personal feeling most people who put on intricate scenarios are attached to the dramatic.

Look the preceptor in the eye and firmly ask things like "are you a simulated bystander or victim?", or "Is law enforcement on the way?" or other unapparent but essential data. Follow your order of actions (safe arrival, scene survey and safety, call for backup prn, start triage and treatment, prepare for transport) and if they pull that distraction stunt again, look them once more in the eye and say "I have other patients to tend to"...in other words, play with them.


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## dcemt (May 21, 2011)

*thanks eveyone*

mycofft
i'll give it a shot .......the 1st thing that hit my mind during the drill was to walk up to him and put my fingers on him neck and say "do I feel a pulse?"
but I am trying to not come across as an smarta$$ or give them any other reason to "find" a way for me not to be able to test 

we are kind of a rural county and we still have "clicks"(the in crowd) out here and with me just recently moving to the area I was trying not to stir up anything  or be any more of an outcast....


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## dcemt (May 26, 2011)

*...*

going for the medical and trauma practical tonight 
hope for the best 
prepare for the worst 
cross fingers and toes
I think i might need it .......hoping for better direction from the instructor 

let you know


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