I get it wrong every time. What IS the answer?

[Anjel]

Hello all,

I am a new EMT-B (as of yesterday ) going on to medic. And there has been one thing bugging me in all my classes.

Almost every time I see this question I never get it right. Then I forget about it till it's too late. So I am hoping you guys can help.

" You respond to a call where a man is in cardiac arrest. His wife is there screaming and crying asking you what's going on?" What do you tell her?

A. Your husband is dead I am sorry.
B. I'm not sure but we are trying to find out.
C. Your husband is apneic and in cardiac arrest.
D. Ma'am we are doing everything we can, but your husbands heart has stopped and we need to get him to the hospital.
E. None of the above.

Now I personally would just try to comfort her and say we are doing everything we can. But I wouldn't want to tell her that his heart has stopped.

So what would you do?

 

[bfog99]

I pick D. Short, easy to understand, and honest.

 

[firetender]

asking you what's going on?" [/QUOTE

Ma'am we are doing everything we can, but your husbands heart has stopped and we need to get him to the hospital.

That's what's going on.

 

[JPINFV]

Reason it out.

A: Ok, he might be clinically dead, but just being pulseless and apneic doesn't mean he can't be resuscitated.

B: The only thing you can find out as an EMT is whether he has a shockable rhythm per an AED or not. The current diagnosis is cardiac arrest, and as an EMT that's pretty much the only thing you need to know in an atraumatic arrest (higher levels could do some hunting around since they can revese some causes of cardiac arrest that aren't fixed with defibrillation).

C: Medical jargon. There's a time and a place. My view is, when practical, always use medical jargon followed by an explination. A resuscitation is not the practical time to explain what apneic means.

D. This would be my answer choice.

 

[jjesusfreak01]

B or C if you're a medic, D if you're an EMT. Medics would work the arrest in the field rather than tx to the hospital. I like B because the exact scenario listed makes it sound like you just got on scene, in which case you don't really know what's going on yet. C is a little too jargony with its use of apneic. Everyone knows what cardiac arrest is, stick with that.

or

F. I don't have a clue whats going on, but the paramedics will be here in ten minutes, and I have a neat shocky box i've been dying to try out.

 

[JJR512]

B or C if you're a medic, D if you're an EMT. Medics would work the arrest in the field rather than tx to the hospital. I like B because the exact scenario listed makes it sound like you just got on scene, in which case you don't really know what's going on yet. C is a little too jargony with its use of apneic. Everyone knows what cardiac arrest is, stick with that.

I agree with this, especially the bold part for exactly the reason stated.

If I've already done an assessment, D would be good at that point.

 

[fast65]

I would choose D, it lets the wife know that you're doing your very best to help her husband, but it also lets her know that something is terribly wrong.

A, well, you can't say he's dead for sure, there may be some reversible causes that ALS can fix.

B, I personally feel as though it doesn't inspire much confidence from the wife in this situation. As an EMT you have all the info you need, his heart is not pumping and he's not breathing, so you kind of know what's going on and how to take care of it. Remember, not only are we trying to resuscitate the patient, but we're also trying to take care of the wife who needs OUR support, and part of that is making sure she has confidence in us, which can help ease some of her anxiety and possibly calm her down.

C, don't use medical jargon to explain what is going on, UNLESS you have time to explain what those terms mean...in this case you don't.

E, the answer is D, so no...just no.

 

[Anjel]

Thanks guys. I talked to a kid from my class and the answer is D. I guess I just didn't want to tell a lady her husbands heart stopped lol.

And He said for B that the teacher said you are never supposed to tell someone you don't know what's going on.

I personally like

"F. I don't have a clue whats going on, but the paramedics will be here in ten minutes, and I have a neat shocky box i've been dying to try out."

:lol:

 

[fast65]

Thanks guys. I talked to a kid from my class and the answer is D. I guess I just didn't want to tell a lady her husbands heart stopped lol.

And He said for B that the teacher said you are never supposed to tell someone you don't know what's going on.

I personally like

"F. I don't have a clue whats going on, but the paramedics will be here in ten minutes, and I have a neat shocky box i've been dying to try out."

:lol:

That's something that nobody wants to say, but the fact of the matter is that you'll have to tell someone that their loved one is dead eventually...just make sure you don't make their emergency into yours.

 

[ShesanEMT]

I pick D. Here's why:
not A -because we (EMT's) don't pronounce patients dead
not B -I don't want to tell anybody "i'm not sure" while working on a patient
thought about C but using "apneic" is a word the woman wouldn't understand, not lay terms
Yes to D, straight-forward, to the point let's go.

 

[JJR512]

And He said for B that the teacher said you are never supposed to tell someone you don't know what's going on.

You're also not supposed to lie.

It wasn't clear to me (or, apparently, to jjesusfreak01) whether you had been dispatched for cardiac arrest, just arrived on scene, and the wife immediately started asking you what was going on, or if you've already been on scene and determined that there is a cardiac arrest when the wife starts asking you what's going on.

As I said earlier, if the situation is the latter case, I'd go with D. But if the situation is the former case, then because you truly do not yet know what's going on, I'd still pick B as my answer in that situation.

 

[wyoskibum]

Stupid question

Hello all,

I am a new EMT-B (as of yesterday ) going on to medic. And there has been one thing bugging me in all my classes.

Almost every time I see this question I never get it right. Then I forget about it till it's too late. So I am hoping you guys can help.

" You respond to a call where a man is in cardiac arrest. His wife is there screaming and crying asking you what's going on?" What do you tell her?

A. Your husband is dead I am sorry.
B. I'm not sure but we are trying to find out.
C. Your husband is apneic and in cardiac arrest.
D. Ma'am we are doing everything we can, but your husbands heart has stopped and we need to get him to the hospital.
E. None of the above.

Now I personally would just try to comfort her and say we are doing everything we can. But I wouldn't want to tell her that his heart has stopped.

So what would you do?

I hate questions like this. There isn't enough information.

If I just walked in the door, then the answer is B.
If I've been able to assess and in the process of resuscitating, the answer is D.
If I worked the full code and I'm ready to call it, then the answer is A.

 

[MassEMT-B]

You're also not supposed to lie.

It wasn't clear to me (or, apparently, to jjesusfreak01) whether you had been dispatched for cardiac arrest, just arrived on scene, and the wife immediately started asking you what was going on, or if you've already been on scene and determined that there is a cardiac arrest when the wife starts asking you what's going on.

As I said earlier, if the situation is the latter case, I'd go with D. But if the situation is the former case, then because you truly do not yet know what's going on, I'd still pick B as my answer in that situation.

My teacher said to never lie....unless a pregnant woman asks if you have ever delivered a baby before .

 

[usafmedic45]

Rule #103: Never, ever, utter the phrase "Oh my God! Is he ****ing dead?!!!"

Corollary: Also, make sure the girl you're dating (who was in your POV with you when the call for the VFD came in) does, in fact, follow your instructions to "stay in the truck".

 

[LuvGlock]

Rule #103: Never, ever, utter the phrase "Oh my God! Is he ****ing dead?!!!"

Corollary: Also, make sure the girl you're dating (who was in your POV with you when the call for the VFD came in) does, in fact, follow your instructions to "stay in the truck".

Ha. Sounds like a good story. Care to tell it?

 

[Asimurk]

Thanks guys. I talked to a kid from my class and the answer is D. I guess I just didn't want to tell a lady her husbands heart stopped lol.

And He said for B that the teacher said you are never supposed to tell someone you don't know what's going on.

I personally like

"F. I don't have a clue whats going on, but the paramedics will be here in ten minutes, and I have a neat shocky box i've been dying to try out."

:lol:

I was leaning towards:

"F. Get the hell out, :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:!"

I'm figuring on about four seconds of silence afterward, and maybe getting assaulted. Dunno, haven't gotten past CPR yet.

 

[jjesusfreak01]

My teacher said to never lie....unless a pregnant woman asks if you have ever delivered a baby before .

This seems like good advice...I did deliver a fake baby through a manachin during my EMT class. Does that count?

 

[Fish]

Hello all,

I am a new EMT-B (as of yesterday ) going on to medic. And there has been one thing bugging me in all my classes.

Almost every time I see this question I never get it right. Then I forget about it till it's too late. So I am hoping you guys can help.

" You respond to a call where a man is in cardiac arrest. His wife is there screaming and crying asking you what's going on?" What do you tell her?

A. Your husband is dead I am sorry.
B. I'm not sure but we are trying to find out.
C. Your husband is apneic and in cardiac arrest.
D. Ma'am we are doing everything we can, but your husbands heart has stopped and we need to get him to the hospital.
E. None of the above.

Now I personally would just try to comfort her and say we are doing everything we can. But I wouldn't want to tell her that his heart has stopped.

So what would you do?

I would want to tell her, I would also tell her he is not breathing and that we are doing it for him. Honesty honesty honesty, start start start the grieving process.

 

[usafmedic45]

Ha. Sounds like a good story. Care to tell it?

Rule #103: Never, ever, utter the phrase "Oh my God! Is he ****ing dead?!!!"

Corollary: Also, make sure the girl you're dating (who was in your POV with you when the call for the VFD came in) does, in fact, follow your instructions to "stay in the truck".

I was dating a cheerleader my senior year of high school. At the same time I was doing my EMT-Intermediate course and had just been appointed EMS lieutenant for our VFD. We were heading towards her house for dinner when dispatch called for a "unconscious man, no further information" about two minutes from our location. This was in the next township over from my first due district but we had an "automatic mutual aid" for certain types of non-fire calls (CPR in progress, unconscious persons, severe trauma, etc) so I headed for the scene. We arrive at the house and I told her "Stay in the truck, don't move" as I grabbed my jump kit and the defib (as the senior EMS provider, I was given the "spare" defib to carry in case I arrived on scene first which happened pretty often).

As I walked through the door, I see a very large man sprawled over backwards in an overturned chair at the dinner table. He's cyanotic as hell with a little fluid coming out of his mouth. As I knelt down by the guys head to assess him, I heard footsteps behind me and turn to see my girl and she has this shocked look on her face. I was going to tell her to get back in the truck when she goes: "Oh my God! Is he ****ing dead?!!!". Needless to say, that went over with the family like a lead Zeppelin.

 

[emt1231]

I would say the answer is D. You want to let them know the situation and that you will take their loved one to the hospital. I think if someone sees you doing cpr they probably knows the heart has stopped. And don't say something that will upset them more, like stated above is a good example what not to say.