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.

As an EMT, you enter people’s homes or workplaces, work in the middle of a roadway, or handle patients affected by a hazardous materials incident or major catastrophic event. You must maintain a constant state of alertness to safety hazards that exist in the environment. Some safety concerns are common, such as trip hazards, slippery surfaces, and obstructions like low ceilings and overhead wires.

Familiarize yourself with air medical services for the EMT exam. Many, if not most, EMS systems have access to an air medical service to transport critically ill or injured patients over distances that would take significantly longer to travel by ground ambulance. Most air medical transports are done by specially configured helicopters staffed by a wide range of medical personnel, including paramedics, nurses, and physicians.

The requirements for becoming a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) vary from state to state. However, several steps are common to the EMT certification process. They include the following steps: Enroll in an EMT course. Search on the web or go to your local emergency medical services (EMS) or fire station to find out where reputable EMT training programs are offered.

On the NREMT exam, you should make efforts to eliminate answer choices to narrow down your options. If you end up having to select between two options, try these tips: Reread the stem once more just to make sure that you didn’t miss any subtle clues. Sometimes the best answer is the longest one or the one that has the most specificity.

The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) began using computer adaptive testing (CAT) in January 2007. Prior to then, NREMT exams were paper based; an NREMT representative had to administer the test to a group of candidates. Answers were recorded by test-takers onto Scantron forms, which were collected by the NREMT representative and mailed to the NREMT.

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.

Don't take the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) exam lightly. Prepare for the cognitive (computerized) portion of the emergency medical technician (EMT) exam by taking the following actions: Create a study schedule and follow it. Study in a place that promotes learning and retention.

The cognitive portion of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) exam is a computer adaptive test (CAT) that continuously evaluates your performance as you answer each question. Here are a few things to keep in mind before you take the emergency medical technician (EMT) exam: As you take the exam, the computer constantly evaluates how you respond to each question and shows you questions at a level of difficulty that matches your ability to answer them.