10 free EMT practice questions: PPE & Standard Precautions

Leave it uncovered and wash it after the call: Washing the cut is good care for the cut itself. Waiting until after the call leaves the cut with no barrier while you care for a patient with a bleeding facial wound.

Have the partner provide all patient contact: Taking an EMT off patient contact is for a cut that is large, draining, or cannot be covered. This is one small cut on the back of the hand, and a waterproof dressing handles it.

Wear two pairs of gloves over it: Two pairs of gloves add layers on top of the hand. The cut underneath still has nothing sealing it. The waterproof dressing is what closes that gap, not more gloves.

Rely on the prescription eyeglasses: Relying on eyeglasses alone leaves gaps above, below, and at the temples. Fluid can get through those gaps and reach your eyes. Eyeglasses are not rated for splash protection.

Add a face shield only if splashing begins: A face shield is real eye protection. Waiting for splashing to start means fluid is already flying when you put the face shield on. During a delivery, splashing starts without warning, so eye protection has to be on first.

Remove the eyeglasses and use the mask alone: A mask covers your nose and mouth and does nothing for your eyes. Taking off the eyeglasses also leaves you without your corrective vision.

Gown and examination gloves: A gown and gloves protect you from blood and body fluids during hands-on care, like with a heavily bleeding patient. The danger here is the cutting of the roof posts and windshield. Glass and metal pieces are flying, not fluids, and a gown does nothing against them.

Surgical mask and eye protection: Eye protection is right, because flying glass and metal can hit your eyes during the cutting. A surgical mask catches droplets from a cough or an open wound. The mask does nothing against sharp pieces. This set has no helmet, so your head is open to a roof post or tool that shifts during the cut.

Respirator and examination gloves: A respirator protects you from fumes or fine dust, like at a dusty building collapse or a chemical release. A cutting tool throws glass and metal pieces, not fumes. You already have exam gloves on for patient care. A respirator and gloves still leave out the head and eye protection the cutting calls for.

Rely on the eyeglasses for eye protection: Eyeglasses sit right in front of your eyes, so they look like eye protection. They have no side shields and no seal. Eyeglasses were never made to stop splash, and vomit from suctioning can come at your eyes from the sides.

Replace the eyeglasses with contact lenses: Contact lenses correct your vision the same way eyeglasses do. Contacts sit right on the eye and give you no barrier against splash at all. Switching to contacts before suctioning gains you nothing.

Wear a surgical mask with the eyeglasses: A surgical mask is the right protection for droplets reaching your nose and mouth. A mask does nothing for your eyes. This question is asking how to protect your eyes from vomit.

Take it home and launder it separately: Washing the shirt separately at home sounds careful. Taking the shirt home moves the blood out of the workplace system and into a household washing machine. Contaminated laundry is supposed to stay at work.

Spray it with a disinfectant and finish the shift: Disinfectant spray does not get the blood-soaked shirt off your skin. Contaminated clothing has to come off as soon as possible. Finishing the shift in that shirt keeps the blood against you.

Seal it in a plastic bag in a personal locker: A bag in your locker keeps the shirt at work, and nobody knows what is in the bag. Someone will handle the bag later without any warning. A labeled biohazard container is where the shirt belongs.

Rinse the same gloves with water and reuse them: Rinsing with water can wash off fluid you can see. Water does not kill or remove the germs on the glove, so the first patient's blood or secretions are still there.

Wear the same gloves as long as they are not visibly soiled: Gloves that are visibly dirty clearly need to come off. Bloodborne viruses and bacteria can also be on gloves that look completely clean. Clean-looking gloves still come off before you touch the second patient.

Apply a second pair of gloves over the first pair: Double gloving is used when you expect heavy blood or fluid exposure on one patient. Double gloving does not cover moving on to a new patient. Pulling a second pair over gloves that touched the first patient still brings that contamination to the second patient.

A protective gown to prevent blood from soiling the EMT's uniform and clothes: A gown is the right thing to add when a lot of blood is landing on your chest and arms. That happens with vomiting blood, an arterial bleed, or a field delivery. Wearing one here would be fine. This patient is leaning forward and the blood is dripping down. Blood on your uniform only means washing your uniform. A splash in the eye is the bigger risk, because the eye can let a bloodborne disease into your body.

Double gloves to provide backup protection in case the first pair tears: Double gloves are for a few specific cases where a glove is likely to tear. Examples are sharp bone ends, long extrications through glass and metal, and high-risk isolation. Standard precautions do not call for double gloves on every call. A nosebleed does not threaten your gloves. A nosebleed threatens your face, and your face is where the extra protection goes.

A surgical mask to prevent inhalation of blood aerosol particles: A surgical mask is the right choice when the worry is droplets reaching your nose and mouth, or to put on a coughing patient. A mask does add some splash protection to the lower face. A nosebleed is not a respiratory illness, and the blood is not in the air as tiny particles you breathe in. A mask also leaves your eyes uncovered, and your eyes are what this splatter threatens.

Switch to double gloves to increase protection: Double gloves help when a glove might tear, like around sharp bone ends or during a long extrication. Nothing here says a glove is torn. Your hands are already covered, and gloves stop at the wrist. The blood here is hitting your uniform, arms, and skin.

Ask the patient to turn away to reduce splashing: Positioning a patient who is vomiting blood is good care, because positioning protects the patient's own airway. Asking the patient to turn away is not personal protective equipment, and the question asks for a PPE change. A patient with a severe GI bleed also cannot control where the blood goes when vomiting.

Wait to begin treatment until the bleeding slows: Waiting is dangerous for this patient. A patient vomiting blood from a severe GI hemorrhage can aspirate or go into hemorrhagic shock. The bleeding is not going to slow down on its own. PPE is there so you can start care right now.

Wipe them clean with a dry gauze pad: Wiping the gloves treats the oil like dirt you can clean off. Contact with oil calls for a new pair of gloves, not a cleaning. Wiping the outside leaves you working in the same exposed pair.

Pull a second pair over the contaminated pair: Double gloving is for substantial bleeding, and this bleeding is already controlled. A second pair over the oily pair still leaves the exposed gloves on your hands. The gloves have to be changed, not covered.

Keep them on and change them after the splint is applied: A glove with no visible tear looks intact. Oil contact is the reason to change gloves, whether or not you see a tear. Splinting a deformed leg is more hands-on care, and you would be doing it in the gloves that needed changing.

Eye protection alone, since the patient is coughing toward the EMT's face: Eye protection guards against splashes. This illness spreads through the air you breathe, not by splashes.

A gown, since respiratory secretions may soil clothing: A gown keeps secretions off your clothes. Soiled clothing is not the main worry with an illness suspected to spread through the air.

No additional precaution, since fever alone is not diagnostic: Fever alone is not a diagnosis. This patient has a fever, a productive cough, and travel to an outbreak area. That combination is enough to add respiratory precautions before anyone confirms a diagnosis.