Practical testing

Right. WWZD?

You have a patient that is being brought off a flight that is bleeding and faecal matter on the wheelchair.

You find that he has a pulse of 80 carotid, no radial. As you expose and examine the chest there is a nitro patch. You move on and make the transport decision that this is a load and go. Get the guy into the back of the ambulance, you take a set of vitals, get an IV into him and he codes. You rip off the nitro patch/wipe off the med, attach the AED, shock, start 2 mins of CPR, shock twice... he comes back. Bolus him and boost his BP successfully. Get to the hospital, drop him off.

Then, you find that you have failed the practical due to a critical error of not ripping the patch off during the primary survey because you didn't have a radial. It makes sense that it is lowering the BP but I thought the only 2 criticals were remove nitro patch prior to administering your own nitro and rip the bugger off before using an AED.

So, the next day I went back for the re-do and I was so upset over the situation that I actually cried during the exam. Me? Cry during an exam?

Good grief. Despite my stupidity, I passed the second medical and I passed the trauma the first time.

Now just pins and needles to find out about the stupid written. Paramedical licensing bodies are not professional bodies. I don't care what anyone thinks or says. I taught at freaking university and have 13 years uni experience. They need to learn how to write a proper question that isn't ambiguous.

Sheesh. So, I may or may not have passed the written. I over thought things. I don't want to have to go back and write the exam again. Cross your fingers and hope I passed.