PUBLIC SAMPLES
Free EMT practice questions, with answers explained.
Possible hazardous atmosphere
Two workers have collapsed inside a small workshop where a gasoline generator is running. You are outside, have no atmospheric monitoring equipment, and are not equipped for hazardous-atmosphere entry. What is the best next action?
- Enter briefly while holding your breath.
- Stay outside, keep others out, and request appropriately equipped rescue personnel.
- Enter because the open doorway provides adequate ventilation.
- Use the absence of an unusual odor to decide whether entry is safe.
Read the explanation
A running engine in an enclosed workspace creates a credible carbon monoxide hazard. Prevent additional exposures and obtain a safe rescue capability before entry.
A: Holding your breath does not make an unassessed atmosphere safe.
B: This protects responders and bystanders while obtaining resources for rescue.
C: An open door does not establish a safe concentration.
D: Carbon monoxide has no reliable warning odor.
PPE based on exposure
An alert patient has an actively bleeding forearm wound. Blood may splash during care. The patient says they have no infections. Which principle should guide your PPE selection?
- Use PPE only if the patient reports a bloodborne infection.
- Use gloves alone regardless of the expected splash.
- Select protection for the anticipated blood exposure, including exposed mucous membranes.
- Wait for the hospital to establish an infectious diagnosis.
Read the explanation
Standard Precautions apply to every patient. Expected contact and splash exposure determine protection, including protection of the eyes, nose, and mouth when indicated.
A: A negative history does not remove the need for precautions.
B: Gloves protect hands, not exposed eyes, nose, or mouth.
C: Exposure risk, rather than a known diagnosis, determines the needed protection.
D: Precautions must protect the responder during the current care.
Contaminated broken glass
After a patient has been moved to a safe area, you identify blood-contaminated broken glass on the ambulance floor. Which cleanup method best reduces a sharps injury?
- Pick up the pieces by hand while wearing examination gloves.
- Gather the pieces in a cloth and squeeze the bundle.
- Push the pieces into a regular trash bag with your shoe.
- Use a brush and dustpan or other mechanical means, with appropriate PPE and sharps disposal.
Read the explanation
Contaminated broken glass should be collected mechanically. Examination gloves do not turn hand collection into a safe sharps-handling method.
A: OSHA specifically excludes direct hand pickup of contaminated broken glass.
B: A cloth can conceal sharp edges and squeezing adds exposure.
C: A regular trash bag is not an appropriate sharps container.
D: Mechanical collection and suitable disposal avoid direct handling of sharp edges.
Recognizing adult cardiac arrest
An adult is unresponsive and only gasping. After a pulse check lasting no more than 10 seconds, you cannot definitely feel a pulse. Your partner is obtaining the AED. What should you do?
- Begin CPR with chest compressions.
- Continue checking the pulse for another minute.
- Give breaths without compressions.
- Wait for AED analysis before starting CPR.
Read the explanation
Treat this as cardiac arrest: begin CPR and use the AED when available.
A: Correct for unresponsiveness, abnormal breathing, and no definite pulse.
B: A longer search delays CPR.
C: Ventilation alone is inappropriate without a definite pulse.
D: Do not delay compressions for the AED.
Interpreting pulse oximetry after CO exposure
Rescuers bring a patient outside after exposure to generator exhaust. The patient has headache and nausea. A conventional two-wavelength pulse oximeter reads 99%. What is the best interpretation?
- The reading excludes carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The reading proves that the symptoms are anxiety.
- The reading cannot reliably exclude carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The reading measures the patient’s carboxyhemoglobin level.
Read the explanation
A conventional pulse oximeter is unreliable when carboxyhemoglobin is present. The exposure history and symptoms remain important despite an apparently reassuring saturation.
A: A normal-looking reading cannot rule out CO poisoning.
B: The number cannot establish anxiety as the cause.
C: CO interferes with the interpretation of this conventional measurement.
D: CO-oximetry and conventional two-wavelength pulse oximetry are different measurements.
Recognizing possible heat stroke
During a hot-weather road race, a runner becomes confused and cannot follow simple instructions. Their skin feels very hot, but they are still sweating heavily. Which interpretation is best?
- Sweating rules out heat stroke.
- Possible heat stroke requires urgent care; sweating does not exclude it.
- Confusion is expected after exercise and does not change priority.
- Without an exact measured body temperature, these findings cannot justify urgent heat-illness care.
Read the explanation
Altered mental status during substantial heat exposure is a danger sign. Heat stroke may occur with dry skin or profuse sweating, so sweating must not falsely reassure the responder.
A: CDC lists profuse sweating as a possible finding in heat stroke.
B: The combination warrants urgent assessment and treatment.
C: Confusion is not a normal finding to dismiss after exertion.
D: The concerning clinical findings justify urgent care while assessment continues; do not wait for an exact temperature before responding.
Possible acute coronary syndrome
A 68-year-old with diabetes reports sudden unexplained shortness of breath, nausea, and heavy sweating. They deny chest pain. Which conclusion is most appropriate?
- Absence of chest pain excludes a heart attack.
- Diabetes makes cardiac symptoms less important.
- Nausea establishes a gastrointestinal cause.
- A heart attack remains possible despite the absence of chest pain.
Read the explanation
Heart attacks can occur with mild symptoms or without typical chest pain. Dyspnea, sweating, and nausea are recognized warning symptoms and merit urgent assessment.
A: Chest pain is common but is not required.
B: Silent or subtle presentations are more common in people with diabetes.
C: Nausea alone does not identify the underlying cause.
D: Consider the entire presentation without requiring classic chest pain.
Recognizing hypoglycemia
An insulin-treated adult is shaky, sweaty, and confused after missing lunch. Your agency-authorized glucose check reads 48 mg/dL. Which interpretation should guide your immediate assessment?
- Symptomatic low blood glucose.
- High blood glucose confirmed by the meter.
- A normal adult glucose level that needs no attention.
- A result that proves there can be no other illness.
Read the explanation
The measured glucose is low, and the symptoms fit hypoglycemia. Recognize and address that problem while continuing assessment; one abnormal finding does not exclude another condition.
A: The low measured value and compatible symptoms support this interpretation.
B: 48 mg/dL is not a high glucose value.
C: This value with altered mental status is concerning.
D: Hypoglycemia does not establish that every other possible problem is absent.
Documenting witnessed symptom onset
A patient developed sudden slurred speech while talking normally with a coworker. The coworker directly witnessed the change at 14:12. EMS arrived at 14:25. Which time best records the witnessed symptom onset?
- 14:25, when EMS arrived.
- The time transport begins.
- 14:12, when the coworker first saw the sudden change.
- The time the receiving clinician examines the patient.
Read the explanation
Record the actual witnessed onset and identify who supplied the information. Arrival, transport, and examination times describe different events. If onset were unknown, do not invent an exact onset time.
A: EMS arrival does not mark when symptoms began.
B: Departure time is an operational timestamp.
C: This is the witnessed beginning of symptoms in this scenario.
D: Hospital examination occurs after the onset described.
Reassessment after deterioration
During transport, a patient who was alert and speaking comfortably becomes difficult to awaken and breathes more slowly. Your partner is driving. What is the best next action?
- Finish the remaining routine history before reassessing.
- Immediately reassess responsiveness, airway, breathing, and circulation and address life threats.
- Assume the patient is sleeping because the first assessment was reassuring.
- Wait until the scheduled reassessment time.
Read the explanation
A change in responsiveness and breathing requires immediate reassessment. Earlier normal findings do not describe the current condition. Findings now determine the needed interventions and additional resources.
A: Routine history must not delay evaluation of deterioration.
B: Reassessment identifies the changed condition and urgent needs.
C: New reduced responsiveness cannot safely be assumed to be normal sleep.
D: A scheduled interval does not override an observed change.
