Books and Articles by 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.

You should always use practice exams before arriving to take the EMT exam. Practice exams are a great tool for helping you prepare for the big day. Preparation and study can go a long way. Sample questions Directions: Choose the best answer to each question. Mark the corresponding oval on the answer sheet. Your patient presents with a rash on both hands after being exposed to poison oak.

Anyone hoping to do well on the EMT exam should take a preassessment test. Preassessment test are great for seeing where you stand and identifying which areas need more study. Sample Questions You have arrived at a hospital with a trauma patient. There is a large amount of blood on the floor and walls of the ambulance as well as on the gurney.

Before taking the EMT exam, you should always prepare with one or more practice exams. This will help you understand the format and find any gaps in knowledge before test day. Sample questions Directions: Choose the best answer to each question. Mark the corresponding oval on the answer sheet. Your patient is fully immobilized on a backboard when he starts to vomit into his airway.

Practice exams are very helpful when preparing for the EMT exam. Take the time to take a practice exam under testing conditions before test day. This will help you identify knowledge gaps and increase your confidence. Sample questions Directions: Choose the best answer to each question. Mark the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.

The following practice questions are similar to the EMT exam’s questions about medical fundamentals. Read each question carefully, and then select the answer choice that most correctly answers the question. Sample questions A 50-year-old female is alert but has difficulty speaking clearly and is unable to sit up by herself.

There are a few female-specific medical conditions you should review for the EMT exam. Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is an infection that affects the female reproductive system. Bacteria enter the body through the vaginal canal, usually during intercourse, and can infect the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, causing pain, foul-smelling vaginal discharge, and fever.

You will need to know about the nervous system for the EMT exam. Simplistically, the nervous system serves a command and control purpose, primarily by receiving signals from nerves throughout the body, passing them through the spinal cord, processing those signals in the brain, and communicating some type of change in response.

The following analogy may help you on the EMT exam. As in Aesop’s fable, the endocrine system can be compared to the nervous system as the tortoise to the hare. They both perform the same general function — control — but unlike the zippiness of the nervous system, the endocrine system is a much slower but longer-lasting control system.