Chapter 4: Communications and Documentation

A 65-year-old female with a history of Alzheimer disease complains of acute abdominal pain. As you prepare to start an IV on her, she becomes verbally abusive. You should:

Remain patient and explain the procedure to her

General guidelines for effectively communicating information over the radio include:

Avoiding providing a preliminary diagnosis of the patient's condition.

Radios that operate at 800 MHz allow for trunking, which is the:

ability of multiple agencies to share frequencies.

When assessing an anxious 55-year-old male with chest pain, you should:

ask him how he prefers to be addressed.

When documenting medical terminology on a patient care form, you should:

use only standard medical abbreviations

Which of the following is the most significant consequence of inappropriate documentation?

Subsequent patient care that is inappropriate

Which of the following represents the most appropriate order in which to present patient information over the radio when communicating with the hospital?

Age and sex, chief complaint, history of present illness, exam findings, care provided, estimated time of arrival

Which of the following statements regarding age, culture, and personal experience is correct?

The thoughts of people are greatly influenced by their personal experiences.

You must be careful when speaking to the family members about a patient because:

the patient may misinterpret what you said.

Your assessment of a 40-year-old male with an altered mental status (AMS) reveals the obvious odor of alcohol on his breath. When documenting the events of the call, you should state that:

the smell of alcohol was noted on the patient's breath.

You respond to a call and find a 30-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. He is conscious and responsive, but a little hostile and agitated. As you begin to treat him, you need to

Ask open-ended questions

Which of the following are complicating factors in treating an older patient?

Older patients are less sensitive to pain.

Older patients have multiple diseases/disorders and take multiple medications.

— radios operate between 300 MHz and 3,000 MHz.

UHF

Which of the following should you do when you contact medical control for orders?

Be precise and accurate

Echo the order

Receive confirmation

If you discover an error as you are writing your PCR, what should you do?

Draw a single horizontal line through the error, initial it, and write the correct information next to it.

What should you do if a patient refuses treatment or transport?

contact medical control

As you radio the hospital to give a report on your patient, which of the following should you do?

remain objective and impartial

After you submit the electronic PCR for a call, you realize that you accidentally documented the wrong vital signs. What should you do?

Follow your agency's directions for making an amendment.

What is therapeutic communication?

Verbal and nonverbal communication techniques that encourage patients to express their feelings and to achieve a positive relationship.

Radio hardware containing a transmitter and receiver that is located in a fixed place is known as what?

A base station

When a person considers his or her own cultural values as more important when interacting with people of a different culture, this is referred to as __________.

Ethnocentrism

Who is allowed to revise a PCR?

The person who wrote it.

A two-way radio consists of which of the following?

A transmitter and a receiver

What is the term for transmitting vital signs data to a receiving facility?

Telemetry

What is a MED channel?

A VHF or UHF channel that the FCC has designated exclusively for EMS use.