Patient Assessment Help

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle

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Hi I just started my EMT-B course and we're on patient assessment right now. I've been having some serious trouble with answering questions on quizzes correctly, and this Tuesday I have a test covering it. Now Ive read all the material in my text book and I feel like I know it well, but I guess I'm lacking the critical thinking skills to figure out the right answer.

Does anybody know some tricks, or perhaps a place I could go to improve on my critical thinking?

Thanks
 
What are you having trouble with specifically?
 
Having recently gone through basic... the most important thing about test questions that involve assessment is to keep in mind what stage the scenario has reached.

If your scenario is set at "you walk into the room and see..." obviously you're not looking to do a secondary assessment right away and answers like "Monitor vital signs every 5 minutes" will be wrong, while "Determine LOC with AVPU" will be way more correct.

Within each stage there are obvious priorities, for example an arterial bleed (bright red and spurting) will take precedence over a deformed/broken bone because one is life threatening and the other can wait.

When in doubt: Airway.

What kinds of trouble are you having, how are your answers going wrong?
 
Twilight Sparkle said:
Hi I just started my EMT-B course and we're on patient assessment right now. I've been having some serious trouble with answering questions on quizzes correctly, and this Tuesday I have a test covering it. Now Ive read all the material in my text book and I feel like I know it well, but I guess I'm lacking the critical thinking skills to figure out the right answer.

Does anybody know some tricks, or perhaps a place I could go to improve on my critical thinking?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Patient assessment is a fancy way to say physical exam and history.

Start with obvious bleeding, then ABC, deal with any life threats as you find them.

Then go through SAMPLE and OPQRST as needed.

As a test taking tip, in US EMS education, they only teach you about patients in the extreme. They will always be very sick. So you can just figure out what is likely causing this person to die and more often than not, that will be the critical piece.
 
Veneficus said:
As a test taking tip, in US EMS education, they only teach you about patients in the extreme. They will always be very sick. So you can just figure out what is likely causing this person to die and more often than not, that will be the critical piece.
Click to expand...

As I go through a personal "testing" refresher, I find struggle. Mostly because 99.9% of my patients are not as sick as what testing scenarios are aimed at. When they are that ill, the course of action is usually quite obvious and quick that I struggle to break down things into individual steps. In real life things happen simultaneously, I am very rarely a lone provider.
 
Thanks for all the answers and tips, they helped me understand some of the mistakes I made on my quizzes. Are there any sites online that have good practice quizzes with assessment scenario questions?

Thanks again for all the help!
 
I recently finished my class and passed my practicals for EMT-B. I haven't registered for my written yet because of my work schedule, but will soon-ish.

I am using an app on my phone from EMT Review (emtreview.com) that is working very well. It does cost some money ($9.99), but well worth the cost when studying.

Good Luck!
 
Tigger said:
As I go through a personal "testing" refresher, I find struggle. Mostly because 99.9% of my patients are not as sick as what testing scenarios are aimed at. When they are that ill, the course of action is usually quite obvious and quick that I struggle to break down things into individual steps. In real life things happen simultaneously, I am very rarely a lone provider.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I struggle with written tests because I understand medicine in a dynamic sense. Not simply if:then, but a complex interplay, and it can become difficult to single out the exact processes the question refers to because in reality it is not singular. It is just taught that way because it is easier for students to break things into parts.
 
Scene safety and BSI is the FIRST thing you should worry about. Then worry about life threats such as Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. If a person's airway isn't patent, open it! If they can't breathe, assist them with BVM. If there is vomit or secretions on the face, logroll and suction..
 
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