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Referencing the content of EMT-Basic training and emergency patient care

EMT Basic · Chapter 15

Medical Overview

Learning objectives (6)

  1. Define infectious disease and communicable disease — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.
  2. Describe the evaluation of the nature of illness (NOI) — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.
  3. Differentiate between medical emergencies and trauma emergencies, remembering that some patients may have both — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.
  4. Discuss the assessment of a patient with a medical emergency — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.
  5. Explain the importance of transport time and destination selection for a medical patient — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.
  6. Name the various categories of common medical emergencies and provide examples — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 604); confirm wording in your course copy.

Vocabulary (11)

Sign
An objective finding — something the provider can observe, measure, or palpate (e.g., a blood pressure or skin color).
Symptom
A subjective experience the patient reports — pain, nausea, dizziness — that cannot be directly measured by the provider.
Acute
Of sudden onset and short duration.
Chronic
Persisting over a long time or recurring frequently.
Etiology
The cause or origin of a disease.
Pathophysiology
The study of how disease processes alter normal body functions.
Generalized symptom
A complaint affecting the whole body — fatigue, fever, weakness.
Focal symptom
A complaint localized to a specific body region or organ system.
Comorbidity
An additional disease or condition occurring at the same time as a primary condition.
Prognosis
The expected outcome or course of a disease or condition.
Differential diagnosis
The list of possible conditions that could account for a patient's signs and symptoms.

Sequence practice (2 puzzles on Quiz Me)

Working up a medical complaint

Order the EMT's information gathering for a medical patient.

  1. Observe objective signs (vitals, skin, mental status)
  2. Elicit subjective symptoms (OPQRST for pain, focused questions)
  3. Take SAMPLE history and medication list
  4. Form a working impression / differential
  5. Document and trend over time
Acute vs. chronic onset triage thinking

Order these onset descriptions from most acute to most chronic.

  1. Sudden — minutes
  2. Acute — hours
  3. Subacute — days to weeks
  4. Chronic — months to years

Quick fire sample (11 of 11 on Quiz Me)

An objective finding — something the provider can observe, measure, or palpate (e.g., a blood pressure or skin color).
  1. Chronic
  2. Sign
  3. Etiology
  4. Differential diagnosis
A subjective experience the patient reports — pain, nausea, dizziness — that cannot be directly measured by the provider.
  1. Chronic
  2. Differential diagnosis
  3. Symptom
  4. Sign
Of sudden onset and short duration.
  1. Prognosis
  2. Chronic
  3. Symptom
  4. Acute
Persisting over a long time or recurring frequently.
  1. Prognosis
  2. Chronic
  3. Differential diagnosis
  4. Generalized symptom
The cause or origin of a disease.
  1. Pathophysiology
  2. Etiology
  3. Focal symptom
  4. Chronic
The study of how disease processes alter normal body functions.
  1. Pathophysiology
  2. Symptom
  3. Sign
  4. Acute
A complaint affecting the whole body — fatigue, fever, weakness.
  1. Comorbidity
  2. Differential diagnosis
  3. Symptom
  4. Generalized symptom
A complaint localized to a specific body region or organ system.
  1. Chronic
  2. Differential diagnosis
  3. Comorbidity
  4. Focal symptom
An additional disease or condition occurring at the same time as a primary condition.
  1. Chronic
  2. Sign
  3. Comorbidity
  4. Focal symptom
The expected outcome or course of a disease or condition.
  1. Prognosis
  2. Symptom
  3. Chronic
  4. Comorbidity
The list of possible conditions that could account for a patient's signs and symptoms.
  1. Pathophysiology
  2. Differential diagnosis
  3. Acute
  4. Focal symptom

Some topics in this course differ across field references. See when sources disagree on Quiz Me before you teach from this sheet alone.

Full scored drills are on Quiz Me at /courses/nm-emt-b/chapters/15/print/. Answers are not marked on this sheet.