Well now that I'm getting my foot wet with volunteering I want to take an upcoming EMT B class later this year. MY problem is I have little to no health knowledge (trying to better myself) due to it being my worst subject.

Can you guys give me some tips on what I should be studying up on?



Thanks,

Austin

Anatomy and Physiology would be the best I think..... Don't stress too much on EMT school, if you have a level head and think through problems with a basic understanding of the body you should be fine and they'll teach you what you need in school.

The biggest issue I see new EMT's having is not knowing how to or being very uncomfortable talking to patients. Be comfortable in your own skin and study your text book once in school.

well I work in a retail environment so talking with people isn't to much of an issue. Thanks for the tips as well



any others?



 

Nurse not EMT here.  I think you will mostly learn EMT-B stuff on the job.  No one particular thing to focus on for studying.

You're probably worrying needlessly.

Additionally, the EMT training is more about how to pass the test, and less about how to actually do the job.

You'll have to spend some time on the taxpayer taxi to really learn what it is about.

At the EMT level, you don't need any prior medical related experience... You will get your entry level training in the EMT B course.
Any anatomy/physiology stuff that you need to know for that level of care will be taught in the course.

If you go on to paramedic...your EMT B training/experience, combined with A&P prerequisites will be your previous medical experience for THAT training.

(This is not to say that previous medical knowledge wouldn't HELP...But it is certainly not needed).

ok then, thanks all for the info. you make a man worry less

Just listen in class, study and ask questions.  Youll be fine, it is actually a fairly easy cert, or at least was imo

Everything you need to know you will learn in class dont stress about it. The hardest part by far is the test after the class.

Its stupid easy. Don't worry about it, unless you're the type that gets confused in Cub Scouts.  Literally, its like any first aid course you could take.  Relax.

Sounds good, thanks again everyone for all the info

It seems everyone covered the course.

When you go to clinicals ask what you can do to help, don't stand around with your thumb up your butt.

Don't say things like "I really hope we get a lot of calls today" or things like "I hope we get some crazy wrecks and lots of really sick people today". Your preceptor will hate you.

In my state you had to act as the primary with the Pt while doing ride time and the Medic would supervise....but absoutley, ask questions and actually do the skills.  I am a very hands on person and actually doing the skills on real Pt's make a night and day differance

They just have to be there for hours and have to log a certain number of skills to meet the requirement here.

Some come to learn and are very engaged and ask good questions. Most are going the fire route which my state requires the EMT-B before they can go to fire school. Some of those guys are good, most are there just to log hours and basically just carry our bags. If I get a good student who wants to learn, I'm happy to teach them whatever I can. If they are there just to log hours so they can get done and go to FF school, no problem, just stay out of the way and don't do anything to get me in trouble.

If you're REALLY motivated (read: bored) before the class starts, find out the text they use, pick one up and start flipping though it. The more you can familiarize yourself with various protocols, terminology, etc. and the flow of doing a patient exam (and the differences, ie medical vs trauma) will help you out, so you can focus more on learning the skills than just rote memorization where you're more afraid of getting your exam questions out of order during an eval than actually getting the information from the patient you need.  

The National Registry test is a pain and many questions are scenario based given a certain set of vitals or description of a call scene, and will ask what is the appropriate intervention. Don't get frustrated when all of the answers look correct.  The right answer won't necessarily pop off the screen.  One item will be "more" correct or more immediately important than the others, even if it's only shades of grey, so you'll need to be able to discern priorities of interventions.  Also some questions will deal with the dry uninteresting stuff in the textbook so don't skip over sections that appear stupid and boring.

I took mine in 2005 when it was still a paper exam and though I nearly aced it, I left feeling like a shithead, not knowing if I had even passed.  Luckily now I think it's computer based and once you get a passing score the test cuts off, so you know immediately (or at least that's what I've heard).

We sent 2 guys thru a class put on at a local community college.  Lucky bastards, I paid my own way back in the day.  Anyways, less than half of the class made it .  

Don't freak OP, the half that failed were dumbasses who were a) deadbeats just looking for any job, b) deadbeats sent by their agency hoping to skate by and c) by the sound of it, actual retards.

Guys from categories a, b or c won't be posting questions on forums, nor will they even be thinking about the upcoming class at all.  Their eyes are also strangely close together.  

You'll be fine OP.  Pay attention in class and study the course material for the test - especially if you're going National Registry.  I hate to say this but memorizing the practical skills sheets for medical and trauma will help a lot during your practicals.

Good luck!

Assessments
Assessments
Assessments

It's pretty basic anatomy and physiology. And truly everything you will need to know is taught in the class. Once you learn sample opqrst and have those pneumonics memorized you will be fine. The rest is just memorizing skills sheets to pass the practicals.

EMT-B..here. .just basic A&P..and common sense...just remember air goes in and out / blood goes round and round.  The Govt sent me to school when I was with HSI.

This.   Although, I will add blue is bad.   So,  for BLS remember air in and out,  blood goes round and round and blue is bad.  On to Medic school and ALS.

You'll learn all that shit in the class. Sit back relax and read the book!!!!

Seriously though, listen to what other people have told you here already.  The EMT class is made for people who walk in off the street with no prior medical knowledge.  As has already been suggested, just a little A&P review beforehand can help a lot.  If you saw a few of the people who managed to somehow squeak through the class you'd realize your fears are totally unnecessary.

Seriously, the real learning comes once you get out on the truck in real life, and have to learn to apply what you learned in a nice, controlled school environment to the real world.  You'll run into all types of providers, some excellent, some not so much, but you can learn from both, even if it's just what not to do.

Most people in my class that flunked did so because they;

-Couldn't keep the appropriate ranges of things like vital signs for different ages straight in their head.
-Answered test questions with too bold/risky/advanced responses... It's EMT BASIC .
-Didn't remember AHA BLS/CPR protocol correctly.
-Failed to recognize situations and questions that present something that requires immediate intervention. Find, Stop, Treat, Continue.
-Just generally suck at tests. Lot's of "choose the best", or "A and B", "C and D" type of answers on those tests. Read carefully!

The only "prep" I would suggest to someone would be to attend a CPR/BLS class to AHA Healthcare Provider standards if you can. That and don't stuff your cargo pockets with scissors, tape and a ring cutter.