Patient Assessments

wadford

wadford

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Ok so we are in the patient assessment portion of my EMT-B class, actually we are about to take the exam to close out the module. What were some of the things you all did to practice your patient assessments? What scenarios did you use?
 
wadford said:
Ok so we are in the patient assessment portion of my EMT-B class, actually we are about to take the exam to close out the module. What were some of the things you all did to practice your patient assessments? What scenarios did you use?
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Well the best way to practice patient assessment is to practice it. Get a family member, or even better someone from the class to do it with you. You don't always need a scenario. Just walking through each step on a live person will help greatly. The usual medical assessment with chest pain and an unresponsive trauma victim always work if you need an actual scenario. Just have your partner make up a situation.
 
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Practice assessing as many normal, healthy people as you can. Always listen to lung sounds on all patients if possible. Those will help improve your assessment skills in real life, so why not start doing it at the beginning in EMT school?
 
As far as in class tests and the NR the best thing is to memorize the skills sheet. a lot of questions on those tests have to do with what order do you do things in. for example, man falls off a ladder, what do you do first, take vitals, get SAMPLE/OPQRST, C-collar, or manual stabilization?
 
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beano said:
As far as in class tests and the NR the best thing is to memorize the skills sheet. a lot of questions on those tests have to do with what order do you do things in. for example, man falls off a ladder, what do you do first, take vitals, get SAMPLE/OPQRST, C-collar, or manual stabilization?
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Just to add to that.. don't forgot to do your ABC's first aswell.. even if it's obvious, assessors will be looking for you not forgetting the absolute basics aswell as the other stuff! I've seen people fail assessments purely because they forgot to assess an airway! Oh, and don't forgot to re-assess constantly!! Practical assessments rarely give you a stable Pt to deal with ;)
 
The two things that helped me the most were actually memorizing the pt assessment skill sheet and once in the station, verbalizing EVERYTHING. Even if it is painfully obvious. Like even if they are talking and conversing normally, make sure you say that you have an alert pt with a patent airway, who is breathing, apparently adequately. The instructor knows that already, they just want to know that you thought "ABCs" even though its obvious.

Oh yea, and just run your mouth from the minute you walk in till the instructor finally kicks you out. You have a better chance of hitting it all and the instructor will be so busy listening to you, they wont catch a critical fail and might just pass you anyhow!!! (Just kidding on that last part. :-P)
 
I just finished that module. Don't forget to work on both Moi AND Noi assessments, as your secondary is running in slightly different order. I also ask during general impression if I see any medical jewelry on the pt. Helped a ton on a drowning scenario where the pt. had gone into hypoglycemic shock.
 
I ordered an inflatable doll from a Halloween supply store then drew in all the various parts of the anatomy I would need to check in an assessment. Not only did it give me someone to practice on but I also got practice on drawing in the liver, lungs, ect on a human shaped object (harder then it sounds). And no I don't cuddle with the doll at night......I stopped doing that months ago :)

P.S. it was also great for practicing things like log rolling, running little mini scenarios with the other students, propping in the window to scare the neighbors kids stuff like that.

http://www.amazon.com/Rubies-Costum...U6AY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1298832138&sr=8-5
 
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bigbaldguy said:
I ordered an inflatable doll from a Halloween supply store then drew in all the various parts of the anatomy I would need to check in an assessment. Not only did it give me someone to practice on but I also got practice on drawing in the liver, lungs, ect on a human shaped object (harder then it sounds). And no I don't cuddle with the doll at night......I stopped doing that months ago :)

P.S. it was also great for practicing things like log rolling, running little mini scenarios with the other students, propping in the window to scare the neighbors kids stuff like that.

http://www.amazon.com/Rubies-Costum...U6AY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1298832138&sr=8-5
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Everyone has their excuses :P lol

Actually though.. it's a brilliant idea for a training session, and i'm sure the teaching aid will get a pretty big laugh!!
 
LOL on the inflatable doll and that is a great idea as it would be great for praticing.:P
 
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