Chapter 1 - Intro to Emergency Medicine

Modern EMS system in the United States began in the:

1960s

When was the National Highway Safety Act established?

1966

What department is charged with developing EMS standards and assisting states in improving prehospital care?

Department of Transportation (DOT)

After WW2, who usually provided ambulance transportation?

The local Undertaker

NHTSA

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

When was the earliest documented Emergency Medical Service?

1790s, by the french, during battle

Who was the woman who cared for wounded soldiers in the American Revolution and helped to establish the American Red Cross?

Clara Barton

When did nonmilitary ambulance services began to start in major american cities?

1900s

When did smaller communities start to develop ambulance services?

1940s

When was the National Registry for Emergency Medical Technicians founded?

1970

When did congress pass the National Emergency Medical Services System Act?

1973

What was the purpose of the National Emergency Medical Services Systems Act of 1973?

To implement and improve EMS systems across the United States

What is the purpose of the NREMT?

To establish professional standards and is involved in EMS curriculum development

NHTSA set forth 10 categories with a set of standards. What are they?

• Regulation and Policy

• Resource Management

• Human Resources and Training

• Transportation

• Facilities

• Communications

• Public Information and Education

• Medical Direction

• Trauma Systems

• Evaluation

For the patient, when does care begin?

With the phone call to the Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD)

How is a trauma hospital different from a regular hospital?

Surgery teams are available 24 hours a day.

How many calls a year are received by 911 dispatch centers?

240 Million

Enhanced 911 allows dispatch to:

Immediately access the phone number and address from which the call is being made.

Oversight of patient-care aspects of an EMS system by the medical director is called…?

Medical Direction

How many nationally recognized levels of EMS practitioners are there and what is the higest level?

Four; Paramedic

Determining what emergency care is appropriate for a patient relates to which area of EMT responsibility?

Patient assessment

What activity is most likely to lead to harm to the EMT or patient if improperly preformed?

Lifting and Moving patients

Being proactive and strongly committed to doing all the refresher work BEST demonstrates which personality trait of a good EMT?

Self-Starter

Inspring Confidence and showing initiative are examples of a good EMT’s:

Personal traits

A way to prevent errors that may jeopardize patient safety and demonstrate cooperation is to…

Ask for assistance if needed

Neatness and cleanliness are examples of professionalism that can be demonstrated by…

Appearance

What is one requirement that Fire Departments usually ask of employees

Cross-training as an EMT

Many EMT’s are…

Volunteer EMS providers

Holding an NREMT certification can help with…

Gaining reciprocity across states

What aspect of equipment management will an EMT be involved in?

Checking and maintaining equipment

One aspect of QI that every EMT can participate in is…

Participating in continuing education

An aspect that is least likely to be included in a well-documented emergency call is…

speculation

The most important reason why documentation is integral to a QI program is because…

It allows better interpretation of care that was rendered

When communicating with patients, an EMT should be…

Measured and Controlled

Off-Line protocols are…

Standing orders that are issued by the medical director which allow EMTs to give certain medication or perform certain procedures without contacting medical direction or another physician

Patient advocacy means:

Speaking up for your patient

The likeliest order of events are:

Patient assessment, patient care, lifting and moving, transfer of care

Lifting and moving a patient:

May add to a patient’s injuries.

An EMT’s first priority during a call is to protect…

The EMT

A professional EMT should be…

A person with a calm and reassuring personality

Meeting the physical demands of the EMT profession include…

good eyesight and color vision

How is proper documentation on the prehospital care report important to the QI process?

It allows for easier interpretation of the quality of care in specific events.

One way to stay current on your license is to…

Participate in continuing education

Protocols are…

A list of steps, such as assessments and interventions, to be taken in diffferent situations

On-line medical direction is…

Orders that are given from the on-duty physician directly to the EMT in the field by radio or telephone

EMS has a role in public health in topics such as…

Injury prevention

The system in which the medical community oversees the basic health of a population is known as…

The public health system

An example of a local public health emergency is…

Contaminated water supply due to flooding

The description of medical techniques or practices that are supported by scientific evidence confirming their safety and efficacy:

Evidence-based

The step in evidence-based medicine process that deals with the concept of determining the current knowledge about a particular intervention or situation is…

Searching medical literature

Long-term survival of patients is called:

Patient outcomes

The step in the evidence-based medicine process that deals with the concept of deciding what aspect of emergency medicine to investigate is…

Forming a hypothesis

Why are magazine or online news articles about medical research considered untrustworthy?

Those articles are not peer-reviewed.