I hate practicals!

[pfmedic]

Well this is the second time I have completely hosed my trauma practical. Then I have one more chance before I have to repeat the basic course. What pisses me off the most is a graduated top of the entire comminity college basic program with a 99% and I cant get through my f^@%!n trauma and the lowest scoring person in my class passed his first try. That makes me ill.

 

[MedicPrincess]

What pisses me off the most is a graduated top of the entire comminity college basic program with a 99% and I cant get through my f^@%!n trauma and the lowest scoring person in my class passed his first try. That makes me ill.

Sounds like overconfidence...ego issues.

Slow down. Concentrate. Humble yourself and realize just because you can pass the course and take book test you just might not be able to apply it in the real world.

Review everything as if it the first time you read it. Get a good nights sleep and most of all

RELAX!

 

[Wingnut]

I was SO afraid I wasn't go to pass my practicals, I came up with a system to make sure I didn't miss a single thing when I did it. If your trauma sheet is like ours it might help. In fact I can still do it off the top of my head: MNOP GAL ABCD SOS exam MR.


Scene Safety/BSI
M : Mechanism of Injury/Nature of illness
N: Number of pt's
O: Others...Do I need to call for help
P: Paralyze...Consider C-spine immobilization

G: General impression
A: AVPU/LOC
L: Look for Life threats/Chief complaint

A&B: Airway/Breathing- Look,listen,feel
initaite O2 therapy
Ensure adequate ventalation
C: Circulation- control major bleeding
assess pulse
assess skin(color, temp, condition)
D: Decide transport (load & go or treat/priority pt's)


S: Select assessment (Focused & physical or Rapid)
O: Obtain Baseline vitals
S: SAMPLE

Detailed Physical Exam:
HEAD
inpect palpate scalp & ears
assess eyes, face, mouth & nose

NECK
inpect palpate neck
assess for JVD, & tracheal deviation

CHEST
inspect palpate auscultate

ABDOMEN/PELVIS
assess abdomen,pelvis, genitlia and perineum

EXTREMITIES
inspect palpate assess PMS

POSTERIOR
assess thorax & lumbar

M: manage secondary injuries, wounds
R: Reassess vitals every 5 mins (unstable) every 15 (stable)


Btw, I got a 100% my first time, so it's worth a shot.

 

[Frogylovers]

That's nice. This is some really helpful information!

Thanks
Rachael
EMT-B Student

 

[MedicPrincess]

Our very first oral exam was to memorize the Medical and Trauma NR Testing Sheets.

Wingnuts way of remembering it is great if you cant just memorize that sheet.

 

[MedicPrincess]

But then again...since Wingnut and I are women and in your mind are "lower quality creatures" and lack the ability to "posess logic" you might not want to listen to what we have to say.

Wouldn't want you to lower your standards.

 

[Wingnut]

:angry:

You might want to reconsider that link to your blog in message forum signatures.

 

[pfmedic]

yeah thats probably not a good idea. I'll go ahead and remove it. Sorry guys. However, that doesnt change how I feel about women. and yes becuase you are emts that makes you logical... and abnormal.


Despite this, You wouldnt want to deny me the chance to vent about my ex girlfriend though would ya? ahahahha she is after all a b!tch.

 

[Wingnut]

yeah thats probably not a good idea. I'll go ahead and remove it. Sorry guys. However, that doesnt change how I feel about women. and yes becuase you are emt that makesy you logical. You wouldnt want to deny me the chance to vent about my ex girlfriend though would ya?

Ok that I can deal with


I've said some pretty nasty thing sbaout men when dealing with a break up myself.

 

[pfmedic]

yep

and yes... I have huge ego issues. and a host of other problems... dont worry about it though, it's not your problem... it's mine

 

[pfmedic]

well the truth is that men and women are usually too different to coexist.

 

[pfmedic]

but we wont talk about it anymore becuase that blog is for my thoughts... and has no traffic.

 

[Wingnut]

An ego isn't necessarily a bad thing. My husband has one, people usually don't like him, but like he says, that's thier problem. Confidence is a good thing, false confidence is bad. Like princess said, just take a step back take in a deep breath and study your trauma sheet, you'll do fine the next test.


And I've co-existed with my husband for 7 years, no problems. We don't want to change each other we just enjoy each other.

 

[pfmedic]

whatever I dont care anymore about the trauma or about the blog. I'll just retake the course and quit my volunteer fire department until later. Im no use to them without my basic anyway.

 

[Wingnut]

Well that's a pretty pessimistic attitude. You're going to throw away the work you did over one test and redo it all? Get over it and study, then you can go on with your volunteer work and pass your test without having to redo everthing again. Don't make more out of it than it is.

 

[MedicPrincess]

Wingnut- just stop. theres no use. he is going into the poor me mode. he is going to have to pull himself up by his bootstraps and work hard.

 

[pfmedic]

well guys the truth is you dont know me. you dont know about the 22 years of schooling I have under my belt, my masters degree of basket weaving and how tired I am of working so hard just so I can make 8.50 an hour. Yeah Im tired and if I didnt cut the mustard this time, Im going to go take the class again, because I'll be better next time and trying to do my trauma practical a third time is not going to yield me a cert if I couldnt do it the first two times.

Man my teacher is going to be pissed to see my butt in a seat in her class next fall though. ahhaha

By the way- it isnt a matter of getting over it an studying. I study quite a bit actually, or I wouldnt be top of the class. I just freeze up in the room. Im not a fan of the pass/fail system of testing. It makes me uncomfortable.

 

[MedicPrincess]

So then tell us this..

If your so great, and did so awesome in the class passing it with a 99%, and your only problem is you freeze up once you get in the room, what good it retaking the class going to do you.

According to you, you already know the material. Your the best there was in your class, but you just cannot seal the deal when it comes time for the practicals.

Reread my first post. Loose your ego, humble yourself and realize, perhaps your not as great as your mind is telling yourself you are..

Maybe then, when you realize you don't know everything you will quite freezing up and get through it.

Your testing for BASIC??? Your blog says your already an EMT, I guess I thought you were testing for Paramedic.

 

[pfmedic]

what? No. It doesnt say that. It says I have a completion cert from a CC. No Im not dumb, Im just tired and I get nervous. Going through the class a second time may or may not help me. who knows. I just dont think testing a third time is going to yeild a different result. Maybe retaking the course would.

 

[pfmedic]

and yeah basic thats it. I've only been in the medical field for 6 months. Before that I was in the arts. I dont expect to be awesome at it right now. I just had alot of faith in myself until I hosed the trauma twice. Now my spirit is gone. I tend to throw in the towel when something seems impossible. I figure that it wasnt meant to be.