Arthur Hsieh

This Cheat Sheet is a quick summary of facts you should know about becoming a certified emergency medical technician (EMT), including certification steps, computer adaptive testing, and exam preparation.Getting and maintaining an EMT certificationThe requirements for becoming a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) vary from state to state.

One responsibility that you have as an emergency medical technician (EMT) is to document your assessment and management of the patient. Such documentation can take time to complete if you write out everything that you found and performed. Medical abbreviations can help speed up the process. You can use literally dozens of abbreviations; here are ten (or so) that are commonly used when documenting your assessment and care, plus a few symbols that you can use as shorthand for common words.

You will need to know when it is necessary to oxygenate for the EMT exam. EMTs used to give oxygen to everyone, regardless of what the complaint was. Chest pain? Give oxygen. Toe pain? Yep, give that gas too! Medical experts have since discovered that inhaling more oxygen than necessary can be harmful for certain conditions, and it isn’t helpful in situations where it isn’t necessary.

You will need to be familiar with all types of injuries for the EMT exam. The injuries you will find here require rapid identification and, in some cases, immediate action on your part. These are conditions that either block (obstruct) the airway or somehow impair the patient’s ability to breathe adequately. Without the ability to move air well, the patient’s ability to survive any injury is severely compromised.

Toxicology is the study of toxic or poisonous substances and their effects on the body and a topic you should know for the EMT exam. The signs and symptoms associated with toxic exposure and poisoning range very widely, from simple annoyances to life-threatening conditions. As an EMT, your primary goals are to ensure your own safety and identify the possibility of a toxic exposure while preserving the patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation.

The EMT exam evaluates your ability to assess patients quickly and formulate a treatment plan even if you don’t have all the information yet. You can adopt certain assessment approaches that can rapidly identify signs that identify life-threatening situations or serious medical conditions. Look at the Whole Patient As an EMT student, it’s easy to get hung up on one finding.

Several pediatric medical conditions are commonly seen by EMTs. In the majority of cases, your care is supportive — ensure that problems with airway, breathing, and circulation are identified and managed, and help maintain body temperature and oxygenation during transport. In some situations, you may need to intervene quickly.

There is a clear set of medical legal guidelines you should always practice and be familiar with for the EMT exam. Ethics is always important when dealing with patients. Remember that the law will either protect you or, if you do the wrong thing, provide patients the ability to be compensated for their losses as a result of your actions.

The EMT exam will expect you to know how to handle a normal delivery. Although the majority of newborn deliveries occur within the confines of a labor and delivery suite, there’s a chance that you’ll be called upon to perform a delivery as an EMT. While that may instill panic in your heart, rest assured that delivery is a normal process and that the vast majority of deliveries are not complicated.