JIBC Paramedic Patient Assessment 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A conscious adult patient is found clutching their throat and cannot speak, cough, or breathe. What immediate action should the paramedic take?
- Perform abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuver) (Correct answer)
- Insert a nasopharyngeal airway
- Administer high-flow oxygen via non-rebreather
- Perform a blind finger sweep of the mouth
Correct answer: Perform abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuver)
A conscious patient with complete airway obstruction and inability to cough requires immediate abdominal thrusts to dislodge the foreign body.
Question 2: When using the SAMPLE history mnemonic, the 'E' stands for:
- Exact time of onset
- Events leading up to the current complaint (Correct answer)
- Extent of injury
- Environmental exposures
Correct answer: Events leading up to the current complaint
In SAMPLE, 'E' represents Events prior to the illness or injury, helping establish context and precipitating factors.
Question 3: A pediatric patient is assessed using the Pediatric Assessment Triangle. Which three components does this tool evaluate?
- Airway, Breathing, Circulation
- Appearance, Work of Breathing, Circulation to Skin (Correct answer)
- Level of Consciousness, Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate
- Mental Status, Skin Color, Capillary Refill
Correct answer: Appearance, Work of Breathing, Circulation to Skin
The PAT uses Appearance (tone, interactivity, cry), Work of Breathing (sounds, position, retractions), and Circulation to Skin (color, mottling) as a rapid visual assessment.
Question 4: Which pupillary finding is MOST consistent with a herniation syndrome from increased intracranial pressure?
- Bilateral pinpoint pupils
- Bilateral dilated and reactive pupils
- Unilateral fixed and dilated pupil (Correct answer)
- Bilateral sluggishly reactive pupils
Correct answer: Unilateral fixed and dilated pupil
Uncal herniation compresses cranial nerve III, producing a unilateral fixed and dilated pupil ('blown pupil') on the side of the lesion.
Question 5: During a rapid trauma assessment, the paramedic palpates a 'crunching' sensation over the anterior chest wall. This finding MOST likely indicates:
- Subcutaneous emphysema (Correct answer)
- Rib fractures only
- Hemothorax
- Pericardial tamponade
Correct answer: Subcutaneous emphysema
A 'crunching' or crackling sensation under the skin is subcutaneous emphysema, indicating air has escaped into soft tissue from a pulmonary or airway injury.
Question 6: What is the correct sequence of the primary assessment components?
- Scene size-up → Airway → Breathing → Circulation → Disability → Expose (Correct answer)
- Airway → Breathing → Circulation → Scene size-up → Disability
- Scene size-up → Disability → Airway → Breathing → Circulation
- Circulation → Airway → Breathing → Disability → Scene size-up
Correct answer: Scene size-up → Airway → Breathing → Circulation → Disability → Expose
Scene size-up precedes patient contact, followed by ABCDE in order to address life threats systematically.
Question 7: A 68-year-old diabetic patient presents confused, diaphoretic, and tachycardic. Which assessment finding would BEST help differentiate hypoglycemia from a stroke?
- Blood pressure measurement
- Blood glucose measurement (Correct answer)
- 12-lead ECG
- Pulse oximetry reading
Correct answer: Blood glucose measurement
Blood glucose measurement directly identifies hypoglycemia, which can mimic stroke symptoms and is immediately treatable in the field.
JIBC Paramedic Patient Assessment 3
A conscious adult patient is found clutching their throat and cannot speak, cough, or breathe.
What immediate action should the paramedic take?