EMT Lesson Plans

4.15 Medical Lab I Station: SEPSIS Instructor Guidance

Objectives: 1. Demonstrate how to use the AVPU scale to test for patient responsiveness. (p 262)

2. Demonstrate how to evaluate a patient’s orientation and document his or her status correctly. (pp 262–264) 3. Demonstrate the techniques for assessing a patient’s airway and correctly obtaining information related to respiratory rate, rhythm, quality/character of breathing, and depth of breathing. (pp 265–269) 4. Demonstrate how to assess a radial pulse in a responsive patient and an unresponsive patient. (pp 270–272) 5. Demonstrate history-taking using the SAMPLE mnemonic and OPQRST mnemonic 6. Demonstrate how to measure blood pressure by auscultation. (pp 296–300, Skill Drill 8-3) 7. Demonstrate how to measure blood pressure by palpation. (p 300) 8. Demonstrate taking a heart rate on a patient 9. Demonstrate taking a breathing rate on a patient 10. Demonstrate how to obtain a pulse rate in a patient. (pp 270–272) 11. Demonstrate how to assess capillary refill in an adult or child older than 6 years. (pp 273–274) 12. Demonstrate how to perform a focused assessment of a patient Setup: You will need your cohort bag and a stairchair. Deployment: DO NOT LECTURE – your students should be working hands-on within 5 minutes of arriving Deploy your students in one team – one student should be patient, the rest rescuers. The patient should sit and pretend to be have general malaise. Have them transition through the scenario on the back of this sheet like any other scenario from a scenario lab day. Debriefing: Give students feedback on the case after it is complete. Some points to discuss: - Did they provide oxygen? This patient probably does not need it. - What appears to be the problem with this patient? (appears to be routine sore throat) - How do you know he is not Septic (no SIRS criteria – no tacycardia, tachypnea, hypotension, or temperature)? - Is this an ALS call? (No) - Did they do a focused secondary assessment? o Breath Sounds EMT students always do too little physical exam for medical patients. Make sure they do the above physical exam items.