Emergency medical technicians work in stressful situations and often deal with gruesome scenes. Keeping calm and professional is important for a successful career as an EMT.

It’s also important for EMTs to have compassion when treating patients in life-threatening situations. Having compassion can help them provide emotional comfort to their patients.

Patient Assessment

Patient assessment is one of the most essential skills for emergency medical professionals. It involves identifying the problem, forming a plan, and treating it.

This includes different assessments, such as vital sign measurements (pulse, blood pressure, respiration rate), level of consciousness evaluation, and mental status examination. It also involves assessing the patient’s airway and using the head tilt-chin lift, tongue thrust, and jaw thrust to remove obstructions.

The Texas EMT course focuses on learning the fundamentals of this clinical skill. Students will also be taught how to respond to a variety of emergency scenarios and how to assess the scene. In addition to other important skills, individuals will be taught basic life support techniques, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillators. These skills are crucial during emergencies and are also required as a foundation for pursuing further medical education.

Cardiac Management

EMTs must be able to assess a patient’s condition and determine what action is necessary in an emergency. This may include splinting injuries after a crash or administering life-saving medication such as epinephrine for a sudden allergic reaction.

A good EMT will also know how to deal with patients who are experiencing cardiac problems, including heart attacks and strokes. They can give patients life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), administer oxygen, monitor their vital signs, and transport them to the hospital. If you are interested in becoming an EMT, choosing a program that offers practical experience in the field and at local EMS agencies is important. 

Basic Life Support

Before being permitted to work as an EMT, most EMS agencies mandate that all employees complete a Basic Life Support (BLS) training program. This course equips healthcare professionals with the knowledge and abilities to handle breathing and cardiac emergencies for adults, children, and infants and administer first aid.

It also teaches students to recognize life-threatening emergencies, call for help, perform high-quality chest compressions and rescue breaths, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) as quickly as possible. This is the foundation of what is called the Chain of Survival.

In a career where 911 calls are rarely the high-octane “Night Watch” scenarios, having advanced healthcare training can make all the difference in saving lives. Adding PALS to your EMT program provides even more confidence and skills for addressing emergencies.

Communication

EMTs must be able to communicate both verbally and in written form. This includes understanding patient medical histories, relaying information to hospital staff, and communicating with other first responders on the scene of an emergency.

EMT clinical skills include administering oxygen and performing basic life support techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for adults, infants, and children. They may also learn how to administer certain medications, such as epinephrine, in cases of allergic reactions or other drugs to treat patients with specific conditions.

Observation

EMTs work with patients in stressful situations and must be able to communicate clearly. They also need to be able to observe the patient and their environment and report this information back to the hospital or ambulance service.

Observation is an important part of the scientific method, which includes analyzing data and interpreting results. It involves collecting and recording data using tools like weighing scales, clocks, telescopes, microscopes, thermometers, and cameras. The data collected can be qualitative, meaning only the presence or absence of a property is recorded, or quantitative, which involves attaching a numerical value to a phenomenon and counting it.

Researchers can conduct observation studies in some ways, including covert participant and structured observation. These methods allow researchers to study social phenomena more naturally than controlled experiments.