Failed practical

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jjh1001

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Well I am feeling pretty dumb today after failing my EMT-I practical. I would have been ok with it had i failed my intubation or iv or even assessment, but i failed my random basic skill: The Seated Immobilization.

Finally after talking to the exam cordinator afterwords he tipped me off that i failed because i did not lift up on the device to check it was secure to the patient. So I will be retesting this one skill again hopefully pretty soon.
 
I take it taht you were probably nervous this time around. jsut do as you did with your basic practicals and read over your sheets carefully.
 
80% of the people that tested with me failed that one too, we got it for our random... one of the candidates forgot to strap the pt.'s head in... so don't feel bad for not lifting it up, it could have been worse ^_^
 
Study up, and keep going over it. Practice. I'm sure you'll get it on the second round. Good luck to you! Let us know how it goes!
 
jjh1001 said:
Well I am feeling pretty dumb today after failing my EMT-I practical. I would have been ok with it had i failed my intubation or iv or even assessment, but i failed my random basic skill: The Seated Immobilization.

Finally after talking to the exam cordinator afterwords he tipped me off that i failed because i did not lift up on the device to check it was secure to the patient. So I will be retesting this one skill again hopefully pretty soon.
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That's a ridiculous reason to fail. I guess I don't remember that being one of the critical fail points of that station. So is that the only one you have to retake?
 
What kind of device were you using KED or shortboard? I don't remember lifting the device even being a step let alone a fail point for me. We used the KED and just had to be sure that the device fitted close to the PT's body and was tight enough to be secure. This was checked visually and by feeling the tension in the straps.

It does sound like a stupid thing to fail for, especially if the device was secure and you had verified this another way.
 
Isn't one of the points verbalize moving the patient onto a long spine board? Myabe that was the failure point but I don't think it was...
 
Do you just gently tug it, seems like doing alot of pulling on it could cause some injuries. They don't seem to immobilized with you pulling/tugging to check to see if its secure. Then again I'm not a EMT, but just wondered.
 
Yes that is the only portion I have to retake, and from what the testing guy told me after I failed was that I could not say that the device was secure because I did not put my hands on it and check... From the way I read the skill sheets there is not an actual "point" for that, but it is a critical fail if the device is not secure.. Oh well I'm just waiting for my letter to authorize me to take it again so hopefully it comes pretty soon.
 
Also I should have known they were picky about the KED because when I originally got there to the test there were about 5 paramedic students back to retest on it.
 
I'll probably catch a bunch of crap for this, but here goes.

I'm against bls skills verification on the als exam. for a few reasons. my emt school has already verified that i have been trained in these skill. the state had examined me and verified that i am confident and licensed me to practice these skills on a daily basis. furthermore, most employers have a practical skill assessment prior to employment. well "what if it has been a few years since you got your ticket, how can they be sure your still competent" you say? good question, but at least in Massachusetts, its fundamentally flawed. every two years during our required 24hr bls refresher, we are required to demonstrate that we are still competent.

now don't get me wrong, I'm without a doubt one of the many "bls before als" folks and aspiring medics should certainly be competent in their bls skills. but with all you have to remember for your exam, i think its unfair to test somebody on a skill they are already licensed/certified to perform.
 
jjh1001 said:
Well I am feeling pretty dumb today after failing my EMT-I practical. I would have been ok with it had i failed my intubation or iv or even assessment, but i failed my random basic skill: The Seated Immobilization.

Finally after talking to the exam cordinator afterwords he tipped me off that i failed because i did not lift up on the device to check it was secure to the patient. So I will be retesting this one skill again hopefully pretty soon.
Click to expand...

Don't let it get you down brother. Study what you missed, and then study what you didn't. The key is to learn what you missed and how to correct it, but not to forget what you didn't miss by focusing too much on the failure. Keep your head in the game, you've got this.
 
jjh1001 said:
Well I am feeling pretty dumb today after failing my EMT-I practical. I would have been o.k. with it had i failed my intubation or iv or even assessment, but i failed my random basic skill: The Seated Immobilization.

Finally after talking to the exam coordinator afterwards he tipped me off that i failed because i did not lift up on the device to check it was secure to the patient. So I will be retesting this one skill again hopefully pretty soon.
Click to expand...



I myself recently took the I85 Practicals and failed my rapid trauma assessment station. Unfortunately, the examiner never informed me of anything I missed. I went over and over the skill sheet and I can not figure out what exactly I missed. I may have taken my practical at the same place you did.
 
fma08 said:
80% of the people that tested with me failed that one too, we got it for our random... one of the candidates forgot to strap the pt.'s head in... so don't feel bad for not lifting it up, it could have been worse ^_^
Click to expand...

One of my class mates tried to put the collar on backwards..... :wacko:
 
I've noticed a huge discrepancy in testing just here in Virginia. Granted, I was only testing BLS, but here's my story thus far:

My first test, I scored a 95% on the written, aced the medical, and failed my trauma station. Why? We ran out of time. Why did we run out of time? Well, it was because my partner didn't show, so the person I got paired with didn't know that a pediatric cervical collar would probably not be big enough for a guy who was 6'4" (even after I told him several times to just grab the other collar), and also didn't know how to do a proper sling to splint his arm (I ended up having him take stabilization so I could do it for him.) We went over by 44 seconds.

So, I got my national cert, and just planned on retesting with my partner, who tested later and failed the same segment. Well, he flaked twice more on me for retesting, so I finally decided to take it upon myself to retest alone, with another random partner.

During her medial practical (I was a blind assist) she tried to give nitro to a woman that didn't have any of her own (BLS, I remind you) and forgot half of SAMPLE. She passed.

During my trauma scenario, I was so nervous about not having done a test scenario in months (been working off my national until then) and having just witnessed this boob try to test, I myself forgot to check the patient's A&O, and she again forgot SAMPLE even after I told her and didn't realize it until I was done.

I too passed.

So really, I think it depends on the person you get as a tester, and how anal retentive he/she is about certain things.

/long rambling story end
 
Our class failed it also. They had a restless teenage girl as the programmed patient who kept sliding up and down and moving her legs (I doubt this would happen in the field) where I had to re-assess the straps several times. I got the re-evaluating device part, but I missed the device movement which was a critical. I retest tonight. This time the straps will be tight -- except any straps that may inhibit chest rise.
 
KEVD18 said:
I'll probably catch a bunch of crap for this, but here goes.

I'm against bls skills verification on the als exam. for a few reasons. my emt school has already verified that i have been trained in these skill. the state had examined me and verified that i am confident and licensed me to practice these skills on a daily basis. furthermore, most employers have a practical skill assessment prior to employment. well "what if it has been a few years since you got your ticket, how can they be sure your still competent" you say? good question, but at least in Massachusetts, its fundamentally flawed. every two years during our required 24hr bls refresher, we are required to demonstrate that we are still competent.

now don't get me wrong, I'm without a doubt one of the many "bls before als" folks and aspiring medics should certainly be competent in their bls skills. but with all you have to remember for your exam, i think its unfair to test somebody on a skill they are already licensed/certified to perform.
Click to expand...

The reason BLS skills is tested that it was found out over 80% of the Paramedic candidate applicants failed the "basic skills". The same reason a large majority of the Intermediate and Paramedic written test is composed of Basic type questions. Again, there were never real stringent enforcement of testing Basic level. Remember, NREMT itself does NOT have practical testing for basics, rather they allow the state to mandate whom can test and accept that. Another reason, that the NREMT tests BLS skills. In reality the first time NREMT has tested you upon your basic skills....

You guys are fortunate. In my era all skill had to be re-tested on each level each time, there were no "random" stations as well mega code was that. It was not unusual to have a mega code station last at the least 30 minutes in duration.

Although, I am not a fan of the Basic vs. ALS descriptions, I am a fan of knowing all the skills necessary to perform patient care, as well as having an above knowledge in those specific area. One can NOT be a good practitioner of medicine only knowing part...

R/r 911
 
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When I took my EMT-I practical KED was the "most failed" station. Out of 18 students there were only 4 of us that made it through the first time. The only reason I passed was because it was one of my later stations and I had alread heard from others to be merciless when it came to tightening the straps.

I also support retesting of each skill at every level. My ambulance squad does skills testing, as part of our continuing education requirement, every six months. It is set up just like a certification exam only we test each other. There are so many skills that are rarely used that I would hate to suddenly need to use one and not be able to do it properly.
 
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fenris911 said:
Our class failed it also. They had a restless teenage girl as the programmed patient who kept sliding up and down and moving her legs (I doubt this would happen in the field) where I had to re-assess the straps several times. I got the re-evaluating device part, but I missed the device movement which was a critical. I retest tonight. This time the straps will be tight -- except any straps that may inhibit chest rise.
Click to expand...

I disagree, trauma patients can be especially uncooperative and difficult. I've yet to see a real life situation where the patient present no challenges to imobilization (unless they were unresponsive).
 
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