Where your practicles very easy?

hurt88

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We started our practical stations today in my EMT-B class and I gotta say I got my self all worked up for basically nothing. To be honest none of us even new today was going to be a hands on practical day. Our teacher told us last week that our exam and practical would be next week but didn't say which days was which so we all expected the written test first and thats the only thing I studied for.

Anyways we all got to class and was told that we were starting practicals today and doing K.E.D vests along with moving the patient the backboard and then traction splinting of the femur. I was pretty nervous because we had not practiced with the traction splints at all and the K.E.D vests we went over in one day and that was all the practice we had them.

For the actual hands on part we were required to go up in front of the class and demonstrate how to properly apply the K.E.D while staying out of the danger zone of the airbag if it hadn't deployed and then moving the patient to a backboard and fully immobilizing them. Sounds like a normal station but it really wasnt. From everything I have seen on Youtube and practice videos everyone seems to have a list with critcal criteria on it and a check list that is checked off as you go. For ours there was absolutely nothing just a notepad that we signed our names on and he wrote some random things down. Seems like a joke to me because everyone passed and was given 2 to 3 times to do so.

As for the traction splinting part. We went out into the hall with a paramedic he showed us how to apply a hare traction splint since we had never worked with one before and then had us do it with him helping us right along side. It just seems like it should have been more challenging to me. It consisted of a simple watch how I do it, now you apply the splint with no scenario listed or anything and then sign a pad of paper saying you did it not pass or fail just sign and your done.

We go back Wednesday and have to do a medical assessment and that is it for our stations. We then go onto the written 150 question exam and then the state test if we get a 77% overall in the class. Does this all seem a bit odd to anyone else?
 
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TransportJockey

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Other than the fact that they didn't use skill sheets, and they took into consideration air bag deployments w/ the KED, nope sounds pretty normal. The only difference I had on mine is I had to do IM/SQ med admin and combi tube during my practicals as well... And come to think of it, I never had to actually test out on traction splint, I pulled PASG instead.
 

Akulahawk

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My practicals were pretty easy. Some of my classmates thought it was easy. Some thought it was hard. ONE failed. He never studied though...
 
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hurt88

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I just expected it to be much harder becuase of how much my instructors pressed that hands on practical would be a pass or fail situation regardless of how well you had done in the class up till now. I have also had a fairly hard time with the majority of the written tests we have had so I just expected the hands on to be as hard as they were but so far its just seemed almost too easy to believe haha
 
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Trauma Chaser

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Wow I have never heard of such weird testing. Wasn't there state proctors? i hear illinois is suppose to be a harder test I guess Id have to be there to comment.
 

Handsome Robb

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Doesn't sound like NREMT practicals to me. Both times I have been through practicals there was a state EMS official grading it and it was by the skill sheet. You get one retest, and if you fail the retest you have to try again at the next time they do practical testing...but if you can apply to take the NREMT test it counts I guess.
 

Sandog

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Doesn't sound like NREMT practicals to me. Both times I have been through practicals there was a state EMS official grading it and it was by the skill sheet. You get one retest, and if you fail the retest you have to try again at the next time they do practical testing...but if you can apply to take the NREMT test it counts I guess.

I think Illinois is a non NREMT state.
 

goodgrief

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I was pretty nervous because we had not practiced with the traction splints at all and the K.E.D vests we went over in one day and that was all the practice we had them.

Well to me that is a bit strange because we practiced everything mutiple times, I cant believe you had a practical on a piece of equip you had never seen.

We use all NREMT checks off for all of our practicals, but we get plently of lab time for everything. It might all be in one day, but we go do it again and again in labs that whole day then get tested on it on a different day.
 

Tommerag

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My class also used the checklists for practicals. That way you know exactly what to expect and how your graded for you actual final practical exam. I found the practical test to not be to bad. It was atleast much easier for me then the written test.
 

apagea99

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Our practicals were completely random. We had specific skills to perform which we were graded on, but we had no idea what the scenarios would be. We walked in, drew a card and had to perform the skills on the card within the context of a scenario. I drew a card with hemorrhage control, shock management, and IV initiation. The scenario was a hunting accident in which my patient had been shot through the thigh with an arrow....fun times!
 
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hurt88

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Ok well quick update...I passed all of my practicals but it was a complete joke in my mind. I mean it seemed like a grade schooler could of passed. I explained in my orginal posts on how the K.E.D and traction splinting went and the last day of practicals was a medical assesment.

All it consisted of was going each student going in and sitting infront of one of my other instructors face to face and him giving us a scenario and then us simply describing what to do with him guiding us along at the same time if we messed up. That was all it consisted of. Maybe 5 minutes in and out. It just seemed far to easy to me but i really don't know.
 
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TheyCallMeNasty

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sounds like a "pay this much" easy pass emt course to me. I had to know 10 stations of skills including every airway, sager/hare, vaccum/cardboard. and the instructors just stared at us while we went and if we failed less than 4 we could retake and if we didnt pass them all we got dropped from the program.

Then again the program has a 94% pass on nremt and I heard from people if you graduate from this program that you are put on the top of the hiring list.
since they push out so little graduates and all the grads that work for the companys have been exceptional.
 
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Trauma Chaser

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yeah id say you got screwed especialy if it was a 2 week speed course. just dont forget some employeers test you before hiring you. so better know your stuff someones life will depend on it one day.
 
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hurt88

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Well it was a full semester course at my local community college and it was 8 hours a week so it wasn't just a speed class. I mean we covered the stuff in class but the practicals just seem liked if you showed up then you passed. My instructor is a supervisor at the local ambulance service for the county the college is located in so he will know all of us that went threw the course. It just seems odd to me at how simple the end was but everything else was very hard.
 

EMTSTUDENT25

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TN is a NR state, and practicals were taken VERY seriously....They kept all students in an completly seperate building and called 2 students at a time over to the test building with walkie talkies...We had to go in a room and pull a note card (which had the skill on the back) and then go to a test room with the state preceptor, and follow an exact list of criteria, there were about 10 critical criteria that if we missed, we automatically failed...If you failed you had to redo that same skill and then pick another (which you had to do perfectly as well...) kinda stressfull...After you were done you had to leave the premises. Our practical was required before you were eligible to take written for the national registry/state. I have also heard that any 911 service in the area makes you test on skills before offering conditional employment.
 

spike91

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I just took my Basic practical here in NY last Saturday, written is this Thursday.

I had the following:

-PA Trauma
-PA Med
-CPR/AED
-Apneic Patient
-Longboard Immobilization
-Airway Adjuncts.

The last station is chosen at random from a large selection of skills, and the 5th is either longboard or KED. Pretty formal process, they didn't mess around with mine.
 
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