10 free AEMT practice questions: Ambulance Operations and Equipment Readiness

Delivery of a tidal volume large enough for an adult: Tidal volume is the amount of air in each breath. The bag still moves the same volume with each squeeze, with or without the reservoir.

Creation of an effective seal against the patient's face: The seal comes from how well the mask fits and how you hold the mask on the face. The reservoir bag plays no part in the seal.

Delivery of ventilations at the rate the patient needs: You control the rate by how often you squeeze the bag. This bag can still be squeezed at any rate. The missing reservoir only changes how much oxygen is in each of those breaths.

Force the regulator down until the pins seat: A regulator that needs force to seat is on the wrong cylinder. The pin mismatch is the safety system warning you about a wrong gas or a wrong valve. Forcing the pins past that warning can send the wrong gas to the patient.

Remove the pin that blocks the connection: Removing the pin treats the pin as the problem. Nothing in the question describes a bent or broken pin, only pins that do not line up. Taking a pin out destroys the exact part meant to stop this cylinder from being used.

Turn the regulator over and tighten the screw: Flipping the regulator and tightening the screw is a fix for a loose or backward regulator. The question describes pins that do not line up with the holes, not a loose screw. Turning the regulator over does nothing about the real fault.

The NRB worn by the patient: An NRB would go in the biohazard container if blood or body fluids got on the mask. This NRB is free of blood. Being worn on the patient's face does not make the mask biohazard waste.

The outer wrapper from the dressing package: The wrapper came off before the dressing ever touched the patient, and the question says the wrapper is dry. The wrapper never contacted blood. Most disposable items from a call, like this wrapper, are handled as general trash.

The emesis basin handed to the patient: A basin with body fluids in it would go in the biohazard container. This basin was handed to the patient but never used. Nothing went into the basin, so the basin is not contaminated.

Attach the regulator, then open the valve briefly and close it: Opening the valve with the regulator attached is how you check for leaks. The brief opening is a different step. The brief opening clears the valve opening before anything is attached. Done after the regulator is on, the brief opening pushes whatever was in the opening into the regulator.

Attach the regulator and open the valve fully to read the gauge: Reading the gauge does happen, just later. You open the valve fully and read the gauge once the regulator is firmly attached. Clearing the opening still has to come first, and reading the gauge does not replace that step.

Attach the regulator and open the flowmeter to clear the opening: Opening the flowmeter does run gas through the whole setup. Gas leaving the flowmeter has already passed through the regulator. Any debris in the valve opening gets carried into the equipment instead of out of the valve.

Use codes specific to the local department so transmissions stay short: Department codes do get used for routine traffic inside one agency, and they do keep transmissions short. The codes stop working once traffic crosses agencies. A mutual aid unit, a receiving hospital, or a dispatcher from another system cannot decode them. That's why plain language is the standard.

Begin transmitting as soon as a thought comes to mind, even if another unit is already talking: Talking as soon as you think of something is fine face to face. On a radio, keying up over another unit blocks both messages. Neither one gets through, and both have to be sent again.

Include personal opinions about the call to give dispatch full context: Your impressions of the call have a place in your written narrative and in the verbal handoff to the receiving nurse. On the radio, opinions make the message longer and tie up the channel. Everyone monitoring the channel hears them too. Radio traffic should carry objective information that someone can act on.

Patient was obviously drunk and belligerent throughout the assessment: "Drunk and belligerent" is a conclusion, even if you are probably right. Calling a patient intoxicated takes a blood alcohol level you do not have. A head injury, hypoglycemia, a stroke, and hypoxia can all cause the same slurred, unsteady, combative patient. "Belligerent" is your read of how the patient acted. Nobody can check either word later.

Patient was a mess and refused to cooperate with the crew: "A mess" and "refused to cooperate" are judgments about the patient, not a description of what happened. "A mess" tells the reader nothing. An objective entry would say what the patient actually did, like pulling away from the blood pressure cuff or refusing to answer questions. In the emergency department or in court, the specific behavior is evidence and the summary is worth nothing.

Patient seemed fine overall and had no real complaints: "Seemed fine overall" is vague instead of biased. "Seemed" is an impression, and "fine" is not a finding. The entry gives nothing anyone can measure. If this patient gets worse an hour after arrival, nobody can tell what he looked like while you had him. There is no baseline in the chart for a later provider to compare against.

Supine with the stretcher flat and the legs elevated: Raising the legs helps blood return from the legs. This patient's problem is the uterus pressing on the inferior vena cava. Raising her legs does not take the uterus off the vein. Lying flat on her back is the position that causes the problem.

Prone with the head of the stretcher elevated: Prone means lying face down. Face down puts her weight onto the uterus and her abdomen. Prone also keeps you from watching the perineum or delivering the baby if it comes during transport. Raising the head of the stretcher does not fix either problem.

Right lateral to improve venous return from the legs: Right lateral gets her off her back, but it is the wrong side. The inferior vena cava runs on the right side of the spine, so left is the side that moves the uterus off the vein. For a pregnant patient, the side is left, not right.

Pick up and secure any weapon found near the patient: Scene safety does come first, and a weapon near the patient looks like a safety problem. Picking up the weapon ruins fingerprints and trace evidence and puts your DNA on the weapon. Handling the weapon also creates a chain of custody problem that can hurt a prosecution. An AEMT holding a firearm when more officers arrive is a hazard too. Leave the weapon in place, keep everyone away from it, and tell law enforcement exactly where it is.

Theorize with police about what likely happened at the scene: Investigators do want your input, as long as it is what you saw and not what you guess. Where the patient was found, what the patient said, and what you moved are facts police can use. A guess about what happened can point an investigation at the wrong theory. You may also have to defend that guess under oath in a deposition. Give police your findings, not your conclusions, the same as in your documentation.

Avoid documenting anything that was moved, to keep the report short: A short report is not the goal, and leaving out what you moved removes the one thing that makes moving items acceptable. Say you move a chair, kick a shell casing, or pull the patient into the hallway. If none of that is written down, investigators study a changed scene without knowing it was changed. Without that record, moving items contaminates the scene.

Have the patient shower before transport for comfort: A shower is an ordinary comfort measure on almost any other call. On this call the patient will often ask for one, because washing is one of the first things an assault patient wants. Washing destroys biological evidence that cannot be recovered later. The patient may want that evidence to exist once the first distress passes. Gently discourage the shower. Keeping the evidence leaves the patient the choice later. A shower takes that choice away for good.

Discard the patient's clothing to reduce distress: Throwing out ruined clothing is routine on other calls, like a trauma patient's cut away shirt. Clothing from a suspected assault is possible evidence, and the patient may need it for the case. Clothing that has to come off can be bagged and handed over. Handle the distress with privacy and a blanket, not by throwing away evidence.

Delay transport until police complete their investigation on scene: Holding for law enforcement is right when the scene is not safe yet or police need you staged. Nothing in this question describes an unsafe scene. Waiting here delays transport only for the investigation's convenience. Evidence preservation is a list of things you do not do, so it works fine during transport and does not cost the patient any time.

That the AEMT specifically intended to harm the patient: Intent to harm belongs to intentional tort claims, like assault or battery. Negligence is about carelessness, meaning the AEMT failed to act the way a reasonably careful AEMT would. The patient does not have to prove the AEMT meant to cause harm.

That the AEMT had a prior history of disciplinary action: A disciplinary record might come up during discovery or affect the AEMT's credibility. A past record is still not one of the four elements the patient has to prove.

That a supervisor was physically present during the call: Whether a supervisor was on scene is a question of oversight and staffing policy. A supervisor being there or not does not prove causation or damages.