Help

[EMTJosh9]

I'm a brand new EMT and whenever we get a call I can't take lead .. The patient assessments we learned in class just don't seem to apply.. I'm confused , Are you supposed to stick with what you learned in class and do the exact TEXTBOOK patient assessment? Or do you just have to go through the bumps and be nervous for a while until you find a way that works for you ? I did very well in class .. But it just doesn't seem to even be similar at all when i watch experienced people ..

Thanks .

 

[COmedic17]

Relevancy. If someone is calling because they dropped a weight on their toe, you don't need to ask when their last oral intake was.

National Registry is very cut and dry but there's a little wiggle room in the field.

with that being said, there's a lot of differences in the field as well. If you come upon a pt with altered LOC and they appear to be on narcotics- check their back. People who aren't supossed to have dilaudid or fentanyl patches but managed to get some like to hide those on their back and under their arm pits - from experience. Most healthcare facility's will put them on their front or side.


It's just something you gotta get used to in time.

 

[Ewok Jerky]

A patient assessment us pretty straightforward. Yeah you don't need to ask every body about their last oral intake, but to say "The patient assessments we learned in class just don't seem to apply" seems odd.

I think you are just getting flustered from being nervous. Keep at it, remember the assessment we teach it for a reason.

 

[NomadicMedic]

So Josh, try this... Imagine that you and your partner are dispatched to a well kept home in a nice section of town. You arrive to find a 70 year old woman says she's not feeling well. She said she's been vomiting for the past 2 days and just doesn't feel well. She wants to go to the hospital. She ate crackers and ginger ale about an hour ago and promptly vomited it up. Her only medications are Metformin and Lisinopril, and she has no drug allergies.

How would you assess her?

 

[LACoGurneyjockey]

What does it look like when you watch the more experiences guys? Is there anything you can try to pick up from the way they run their assessment? If what they're doing is working, try and incorporate that into the assessment you learned.