50 Fun Facts About EMT

What does the abbreviation EMT stand for?

EMTs mostly serve on ambulances and in fire departments, and provide basic life support under physician-written protocols.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognises how many levels of EMS certification?

Emergency medical responder, EMT, advanced EMT and paramedic; the current system replaced the old EMT-Basic and EMT-Intermediate labels by 2014.

Roughly how many hours of training does a paramedic, the highest prehospital level, typically complete?

A basic EMT course is a few hundred hours at most; paramedics also do advanced airway management and manual defibrillation.

Roughly how many hours of classroom training does a basic EMT course require in the United States?

Fast-track courses cram it into two weeks of 8-to-12-hour days; paramedic degree programs run up to two years.

An ambulance staffed only by EMTs is called what kind of unit?

Add paramedics and it becomes an ALS unit; AEMTs make it an intermediate life support unit.

Which body's exams are the sole basis for EMT certification in 46 US states?

It is a nonprofit dating from the 1970s and its exams follow NHTSA education guidelines.

Which of these medications is within the scope of a basic EMT in the US?

Oxygen, epinephrine, dextrose, albuterol and aspirin are among the others on the short list.

EMS protocols in the US are developed under the guidance of whom?

'On-line' orders need a base hospital doctor or nurse on the radio; standing orders can be done without asking.

How many hours of continuing education, including a 24-hour refresher, must an EMT complete to keep NREMT certification?

The refresher can be replaced by 24 extra CE hours covering the same topics.

The Star of Life, the blue emblem on ambulances, has how many points?

Each point stands for one of six EMS tasks, and the centre holds the Rod of Asclepius.

The Star of Life was changed from red to blue in 1973 largely to avoid confusion with which symbol?

Ambulances had used an orange cross that looked like an inverted Swiss flag, and the Red Cross objected.

Which 1966 National Academy of Sciences report is considered the founding document of US EMS?

It said up to 50,000 deaths a year came from poor ambulance crews and hospitals out of reach.

Freedom House Ambulance Service, the first US paramedic service, was founded in 1967 to serve which neighbourhood?

It served the Hill District and was staffed entirely by African Americans, setting standards later copied nationwide.

CPR pioneer Peter Safar persuaded a Norwegian toy maker to build which training mannequin?

Asmund Laerdal's company still makes it; the doll's face is famously based on an unknown drowned woman from the Seine.

Adult chest compressions in CPR should be delivered at what rate?

Compressions should be 5 to 6 centimetres deep; the Bee Gees' 'Stayin' Alive' at 104 bpm is the classic tempo guide.

The American Heart Association suggests humming which Bee Gees song to keep CPR compressions on tempo?

Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' at 110 bpm works too, though the title is less reassuring.

The Glasgow Coma Scale for consciousness runs from what lowest to highest score?

It combines eye, verbal and motor responses; a score of 8 or below usually means the patient cannot protect their own airway.

The word 'triage' comes from a French verb meaning what?

Modern triage grew out of the work of Napoleon's surgeon Dominique-Jean Larrey, who also invented the 'flying ambulance'.

In the START triage system for mass-casualty incidents, which colour tag marks the walking wounded?

Red is immediate, yellow delayed and black deceased or expectant; the method was developed in 1983 by Hoag Hospital and the Newport Beach Fire Department.

Which surgeon, founder of the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, is credited with the 'golden hour' concept?

The idea may trace back to French military data from World War I.

The first portable defibrillator, installed in a Belfast ambulance in 1965, weighed about how much?

Frank Pantridge's device ran off car batteries; by 1968 he had a 3 kg version.

The first 911 call in the United States was made in 1968 in which small Alabama town?

AT&T picked the digits because they were quick to dial on a rotary phone; Britain had used 999 since 1937.

Which 1972 NBC drama about Los Angeles paramedics is credited with popularising the profession?

Squad 51's gear, including its Biophone and defibrillator, is now in the Smithsonian.

The Squad 51 paramedics of the 1970s TV drama worked for which real agency?

Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe played the pair, radioing in to fictional Rampart General Hospital.

In the FAST stroke mnemonic, what does the T stand for?

F is facial drooping, A arm weakness, S speech difficulty.

In the SAMPLE patient history mnemonic, what does the A stand for?

S is signs and symptoms; the rest are medications, past history, last oral intake and events leading up.

The OPQRST mnemonic for assessing pain is specifically adapted to help identify what?

The O is onset; the letters run through provocation, quality, region, severity and time.

Under the Wallace rule of nines, an adult's entire leg counts for what share of body surface?

The whole back is another 18 percent; the estimate drives fluid resuscitation.

Naloxone, carried by EMTs to reverse opioid overdoses, is sold under which brand name?

Effects begin within about two minutes when injected.

An epinephrine autoinjector such as the EpiPen is most often used to treat what?

It delivers a measured dose of adrenaline into the outer thigh.

The recovery position is used for a casualty who is what?

Lying on the side stops the tongue and vomit from blocking the airway; it applies to anyone scoring 8 or below on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

The Heimlich manoeuvre, or abdominal thrust, is a first-aid treatment for what?

Henry Heimlich is usually credited with it, and its name is used mainly in the US.

A Kendrick Extrication Device (KED), carried on many ambulances, is used to remove victims from what?

The vest-like board immobilises the spine while the patient is lifted out of a car seat.

Napoleon's surgeon Larrey pioneered the 'ambulance volante'. What did 'flying' mean in that name?

His horse-drawn wagons collected wounded during battle rather than after it, an idea at the root of modern EMS and triage.

What is the most basic prehospital certification recognised by NHTSA?

It replaced the old 'first responder' title and covers CPR, semi-automatic defibrillation, oxygen and a few drugs.

An advanced EMT can do which of these that a basic EMT generally cannot?

AEMTs also do basic cardiac monitoring, capnography and fluid resuscitation.

In June 2019 the NREMT removed what requirement for EMT, AEMT and paramedic certification?

Applicants must still finish an approved course within the previous two years and pass a psychomotor exam.

A wilderness EMT, tactical EMT and flight paramedic are examples of what?

Some states also license critical care paramedics above the paramedic level for high-acuity transports.

In many US areas, the primary employer of EMTs and paramedics is what kind of agency?

Elsewhere a separate 'third-service' agency such as Boston EMS, or a volunteer squad, runs ambulances.

Which is one of the largest private ambulance companies employing EMTs in the United States?

Acadian Ambulance and Falck are others; smaller firms cover events and wildfire medical support.

Which organisation designed the Star of Life in 1963 and declined to trademark it?

The World Medical Association adopted it in 1964; the NREMT later chose it to mark nationally certified personnel.

Whose daughter's death in transit from asthma spurred his work with Freedom House?

Safar reached out to Freedom House's founders and helped design their paramedic curriculum.

Britain introduced the world's first national crisis phone number in 1937. What was it?

The US followed three decades later with 911, chosen partly because the middle 1 marked it as a special number.

The Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale checks how many signs for abnormal findings?

Facial droop, arm drift and abnormal speech; it is the basis of the public FAST campaign.

Which of these procedures is within a paramedic's scope but not an EMT's?

Paramedics may also perform cricothyrotomy, cardioversion, pacing and pericardiocentesis.

The Wallace rule of nines exists mainly to estimate what?

The number feeds into fluid requirements and whether the patient needs a burn centre.

Freedom House Ambulance Service closed how many years after it began operating?

Its training and ambulance-design standards outlived it, shaping EMS in the US and abroad.

Elevators marked with the Star of Life indicate what?

Medical ID bracelets use the symbol too, to flag conditions responders need to know about.

In Canada, what is the entry-level ambulance practitioner called under the national competency profile?

The levels run from emergency medical responder up to advanced care and critical care paramedic.

In the UK, which body's registration protects the title 'paramedic'?

The public tends to call all ambulance staff paramedics; 'EMT' is rarely used there.