10 free EMT practice questions: Equipment Readiness & Ambulance Check

Change the battery in the portable unit and try it again: Changing the battery is the right move when suction fails and you have no backup. A dead battery is a common reason a portable unit will not run. Here a mounted suction unit is already in the compartment with you. Swapping the battery takes time, and the vomit stays in the mouth while you do it.

Clear the mouth with a gloved finger sweep: A gloved finger sweep is for a solid object you can see in the mouth. The vomit in this patient's mouth is liquid. A finger only pushes liquid around or further back, which makes aspiration more likely. Suction is the tool for liquid in the airway.

Ask the driver to stop so the portable unit can be checked: Stopping the ambulance would make sense if suctioning only worked with the vehicle standing still. The mounted unit works fine while you are moving. Stopping only delays clearing the vomit out of this patient's mouth. Checking the portable unit also does nothing for the airway right now.

A rigid pharyngeal suction tip: the end of the suction system that goes in the mouth. The tip does not make any vacuum by itself. With no power source behind it, the tip is useless.

A large-bore suction catheter: also just a part that carries the suction. The catheter needs a working powered or manual unit behind it.

A spare collection canister and tubing: Spare tubing and a collection canister carry and hold what you suction out. Neither one makes suction if the powered unit loses power.

The stretcher straps tightened across the child: Stretcher straps are the right restraint for a patient on the stretcher. This child does not need the stretcher, and the straps are spaced and shaped for an adult torso. Tightened across a 3-year-old, the straps still leave the child room to move during a crash.

A caregiver holding the child on the bench seat: A caregiver's arms give no crash protection at all. In a collision, the child can be crushed between the caregiver and the inside of the ambulance.

A pediatric backboard strapped to the bench seat: Strapping a pediatric backboard to the bench seat is improvising. A backboard is not a child passenger restraint, and the backboard was not designed or tested to hold a child in place during transport.

Wait for the receiving hospital to confirm the order: Receiving hospitals do review care after the call. The order in this question came from the online medical control physician, not from the hospital you are going to. The receiving hospital has no part in confirming the order.

Ask the physician to send the order in writing: Written orders are used for standing protocols and some orders inside a facility. This order was given by voice over the radio. The safety step for a voice order is the read-back.

Document the order in the patient care report before acting on it: Documenting the order in the patient care report is required, and you do it after the call. Writing the order down does not check that you heard it right in the moment.

The NRB worn by the patient: The NRB was on the patient's face. Being close to the airway does not make an item biohazard waste. The NRB is free of blood, so nothing on it sends it to the biohazard container.

The outer wrapper from the dressing package: The outer wrapper came off the dressing before the dressing was applied. The wrapper is dry and never touched blood. The wrapper goes in the regular trash, even though the dressing inside it ended up bloody.

The emesis basin handed to the patient: The emesis basin was handed to the patient, but the patient never used it. Nothing is in the basin. An unused basin is not contaminated, so the basin does not go in the biohazard container.

Attach the regulator, then open the valve briefly and close it: Opening the valve with the regulator on is how you check for leaks. Cracking clears debris out of the valve before anything is attached. A brief opening after the regulator is on pushes that debris into the regulator.

Attach the regulator and open the valve fully to read the gauge: Opening the cylinder fully and reading the gauge is a real step. Reading the pressure comes later, after the regulator is firmly attached. Reading the gauge does not replace cracking the cylinder first.

Attach the regulator and open the flowmeter to clear the opening: Running oxygen out through the flowmeter sounds like it would flush out debris. Once the regulator is on, any gas leaving the flowmeter has already gone through the regulator. Debris from the valve opening ends up inside your equipment instead of out of it.

Add a second box of road flares to the compartment: A second box of flares would make sense if the compartment were running low on flares. The problem here is that flares can ignite the spilled fuel this unit sees on the highway. More flares put more flame at exactly those scenes.

Add a second fire extinguisher beside the flares: A fire extinguisher helps once a fire has already started. A second extinguisher does nothing about the missing warning devices. The better move is a warning device that cannot start the fire in the first place.

Move the flares into the patient compartment cabinet: Moving the flares into the patient compartment leaves the outside compartment with no warning device at all. Flares are used at the roadway, so they need to be reachable from outside the ambulance.

A stable patient with a minor ankle injury who lives 10 minutes from the hospital: Flying a patient with a limb injury makes sense when a ground unit cannot reach the patient, like in a wilderness, water, or off-road rescue. This patient is stable with a minor ankle injury and is 10 minutes from the hospital. Option A has neither a time-critical condition nor a long ground transport.

A patient who simply requests helicopter transport because of personal comfort: A patient's wishes do shape some decisions, like hospital choice within reason or the position of comfort. Wanting to fly is not a medical reason to fly. Each region has a limited number of aircraft. A helicopter on a flight nobody needs is not available for the call that does need one.

Poor weather conditions that would otherwise delay a ground transport slightly: Bad weather is a real reason to change the plan. Usually the change means driving more carefully, taking a different route, or accepting a slightly longer ground time. Bad weather makes a flight less likely, not more. Low clouds, icing, and wind are what keep helicopters on the ground in the first place. A slight delay is also nowhere near the long ground transport that makes flying worth it.

Transport to the closest hospital because minimizing transport time takes priority: Getting to the closest hospital fast matters for trauma and unstable patients, when any delay is dangerous. The closer hospital here cannot do a cath. Getting there faster only delays PCI, the treatment that opens the artery.

Transport to the closest hospital and request a later transfer if needed: A later transfer fits when the cath center really is out of reach because of bad weather, a long distance, or diversion. Ten minutes is not out of reach. Going to the closer hospital first adds a second transport and delays opening the artery.

Ask the patient which hospital they would prefer, and transport there instead: Letting the patient pick the hospital works for a non-emergency transport, where the destination does not change the outcome. A STEMI is time critical, and protocol decides the destination. A difference of 10 minutes is well within the range where you bypass the closer hospital for the cath center.

Withhold resuscitation based on the family's statement: Withholding resuscitation is right when a proper, signed DNR is produced and checked on scene. This family only says the DNR exists. Acting on that statement alone could deny the patient care the patient is entitled to.

Call medical control and follow whatever the family ultimately decides: Calling medical control for guidance is reasonable. Following whatever the family decides puts the family's wishes in place of the medical and legal rules. Family wishes cannot make up for a missing DNR document.

Wait until the document is found before beginning any care: Looking for the document makes sense while care is going on. Waiting to start care until the document turns up loses minutes in a cardiac arrest, and every minute of delay lowers the chance of survival. Start CPR now and have someone look for the document at the same time.