state testing scam?

[emt boy]

i was warned that the state testing people are losers.

i failed 4 of my 6 practicals! But i passed them all perfectly in class. I passed medical and KED- how could i pass medical and fail splinting!?

and BVM? CPR/AED? those are the easy ones and i know i did them right. now they say i failed and no one can tell me why

they just want more money - what BS!

and in connecticut is it possible to retake 4 or do i have to retake the whole class?

this sucks

 

[medicb]

I just took my practical not to long ago. I am also from CT. You will have to retake all of your stations again. Review with your instructor and signup for another exam. You have three attempts to pass your practical. If you don’t pass after the third exam you will have to take a refresher class.

When you go into test just take a deep breath and try to be as calm as possible. Learn those skill sheets.

CPR/AED - did you place the pads in the right spot? Did you have you partner ventilate with BVM and 100% o2.

Random - Did you assess PMS before and after? Did you splint above and below the joint and injury. Excessive Movement?

BVM - Did you open the airway, insert adjunct, ventilate with BVM until the evaluator said your EMT asst arrived. If you do not do it in that order you will fail. The mistake I made when I took that station was connecting the BVM to O2 first. That can be considered delaying ventilations - a critical fail.

My advice is study your skill sheets and practice practice practice. And don't forget scene safety and bsi

Nerves can get to people and that is usually why most people make stupid mistakes.

You are allowed to fail one station and go back to your instructor and complete a review and retrain session and you will get credit for the one station you failed. If you fail 2 or 3 you can retake the stations you failed. If you fail 4 or more you must take all six stations again.

If for any reason you feel that the stations are unfair or something is wrong with them bring it up to the chief examiner before you leave the testing site. The Chief Examiner should then investigate what you feel is unfair or wrong.

Hope this helps

Brandon

 

[medic417]

Most fail because no BSI, no scene safety.

 

[emt boy]

aw man this blows!!

yes i did all of that! i cant beleive they failed me on 4- its really just not possible.

there was nothing to mention before i left. i didnt think the tests were unfair at all- i just think these people dont pay attention and just failed me

 

[medicb]

One thing I forgot to mention. Verbalize everything. Some evaluators will be looking at the sheet and may miss you do something. When you do it verbalize it at the same time. It will also help you get through your station.

Brandon

 

[emt boy]

yup i was taught that right from the hop in class. i just feel there is no way for someone to be failed unjustly without anyone knowing. they can do whatever they want- i studied my *** off for a reason and to fail 4 out of 6 is just a kick in the balls.

now im going to study only the easy ones and fail the medical and trauma. then all i have to do is study truma for the retake and they can pass me one a approved one fail.

i hate when i have to play games but its really just set up like that

 

[feldy]

Something that might help while practicing and while doing the test is to verbalize EVERYTHING you do. Even of you do it physically. When you do PMS check, while you are checking say that you are checking for pulse motor and sensory. Say you are gonna give two breaths 5-secs apart and count out loud so there is no mistake. Say that you are gonna insert the combitube and inflate the cuff with 100cc of air and then 15cc of air.

I was taught this by my instructor because sometimes the examiners may look down at there paper or if its the end of day and you are towards the end, they may zone out (no offense but proctoring isnt the most exciting thing the world). I remeber that when i did my long board station, the examiner was talking to another examiner and just cared about the start and end result. I actually had to get her attn when i verbalized the move to the backboard to show that I would be taking my hands off so my pt could get on.

 

[emt boy]

yes i did that!

the problem is - how do you know what the hell they are checking off ? you wont even know if you passed or failed for the next two weeks. and when you do find out they dont tell you what you didnt do so you have no idea whats going on.

the magic number is 4

if you fail 4 you have to pay another $85
if you fail 3 or less you only pay $35

 

[medic417]

It is not a scam. Many people test and pass first time. Because of nerves or poor education or whatever you messed up. It is not a conspiracy.

 

[emt boy]

maybe not - maybe it is poor education- its still all funded by the state.

and if i think i know something and its wrong - how am i going to figure that out if the state doesnt tell me what i doing thats wrong?

in my class i passed everything - and now such the opposite?
im not feeling secure about the state testing at all.

 

[feldy]

look i know it sucks that they wont tell you what you did wrong. I know. We all know (for those who have failed a station and had to retest). And it wont do you any good for blaming the system.

I took the MA practical last september and I failed a station. I had no idea what i did. In fact it was the station i felt most comfortable in. I was allowed a same day retest and I slowed everything down, took a deep breath and just ran it again. And I passed. I have no idea what i did wrong the first time but i guess i fixed it w/e it was and yeah i was pissed but what can you do. I took the louisiana practical (has a bigger basic scope than MA) and failed the trauma station. The scenario was litterally a train wreck (train vs person). while i felt comfortable going in, it just turned into a disaster and i knew that i failed. It was clear from the beginning i was nervous and i think i let my nerves get the best of me. But i retested and slowed down, knew all of my steps and breathed the whole way through and i passed.

The only thing i can tell you is that you need to slow everything down. Verbalize everything and know your sheets back and front (which im sure you do) and after each step or two think, am i missing something (its ok to pause during the test b/c the fact is the pt/manikin will not die on you if you dont rush through it). Obviously you need to finish in the allowed time but most dont have any issues with that.

Its usually the pressure and nerves that get to most people (thats what im told by the examiners). You do know your stuff just those nerves get in the way.

Also run through the station w. your instructor. Dont say what you think you did wrong or what you did right, just run through it like it was the test. That way he/she may be able to see what u did wrong without having any verbal triggers from you.

Good luck

 

[firetender]

i hate when i have to play games but its really just set up like that

You're the only one setting yourself up for anything.

You flunked.

Now pick yourself up.

If that means you're going to scheme to do it, then I'd prefer not to have you working on me.

(A bad dancer blames the floor.)

 

[medic417]

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=19211

 

[Lone Star]

The proctors are not there to fail you. They are only there to assess what you do. If you don't do it properly, then their job is to deduct points for it. It's all about what YOU do (or don't do).

I had problems when I tested for the NREMT-I practicals, because of the simple fact that my right hand was in a cast. Yes, there were considerations made for me, but it also didn't give me carte blanche to goof off at each station!

The point is, the proctors only assess what you do or don't do. It's not a conspiracy to take your money, and what they're writing on your assessment sheets shouldn't be of concern if you're doing everything 'by the book' as you were taught.

If you ARE doing everything you were taught the way you were taught, then maybe the problem lies on you and/or your education.

How many of your classmates bombed out?

 

[Jay]

Perhaps I am preaching to the choir but in PA you need to start off by stating 5 things:

1. Show that you have gloves on and say "BSI."
2. Ask the tester the following "Is the scene safe to proceed?"
3. State the Nature of Illness and/or Mechanism of Injury (NOI/MOI).
4. State the number of patients even if only one. Ask if need be, "I see one patient, is this correct?"
5. Let them know that you are "Considering additional resources" with such a verbal declaration and if need be let them know that you are requesting the resources, e.g. "The patient is unconscious and appears to need Advanced Life Support, requesting ALS at this time and considering additional resources as needed."

Remember to say "Advanced Life Support" and not simply "ALS", you may get a tester that asks something like "Your calling for Lou Gehrig's Disease?" as ALS is also an acronym for "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis."

Also in PA they don't charge you for retakes, weird that they do in CT. You also will only retest on the practical modules that they failed you on, you have three shots before they make you retake the entire course.

Also, see if you can get a hold of your state testing sheets to see what their critical failure points are and make sure that you are not doing any of them. The trick is to practice until the tasks become mechanical in nature.

Let me know if you have any other questions or anything else that you think of and I will try to help you the best I can.

 

[Anonymous 644]

I know I'm bringing this post back from the dead, but I just took my MA state practicals, and quite frankly, most of you are mistaken. Sure, everything works out fine in theory, if the examiners are doing their jobs. My MA state practical had 4 stations: CPR/AED, splinting (traction and upper extremity), backboard/KED, and trauma and medical assessments. My pt is a thirty year veteran of EMS. There was one thing that I should have failed and didn't, which was that I failed to explicitly state that I would collar during trauma, while I was marked wrong on many things that I did correctly. Additionally, the examiner marked me off for failing to assess level of consciousness, airway, breathing, and circulation on my medical, and for failing to state that I provided O2. I stated all of those things (O2 three separate times), and my patient agrees that I should have passed the medical assessment. Finally, during my traction splint the examiner actually fell asleep during the test, and marked me off for having inadequate traction at the end of the station, when my patient (who has done hundreds of traction splints over thirty years) said that I was applying the maximum amount of traction possible. I understand that these examiners are not doing a very enjoyable job, but at the same time, that IS their job, and I didn't invest a great deal of time and money into that test for them to unjustly fail me because they were bored, or tired, or lazy.