Last night was the Virginia State EMT exam. The exam has three pass/fail stations: a medical practical that you pass/fail with your partner, a trauma practical that you pass/fail with your partner, and a 100 multiple choice written exam that you pass/fail on your own. You must pass all three to receive your certification. Your partner leads one practical and you lead the other. The lead EMT takes charge and basically tells the "second" to do all the supporting tasks: administer O2, take vitals, assist with splinting, etc. The practicals are timed: you have 10 minutes to get the patient in the ambulance, and 5 minutes to get detailed history and vitals in the back of the ambulance. The ambulance is simulated.
I did take the exam with my original partner, who had shown promise on Tuesday. I thought he knew his stuff. I thought he could handle the script, and it really is a script. You do the same thing, just managing and airway, breathing, bleeding, shock, deformities as you find them. The state exam doesn't throw too much at you that is difficult as there are between 40 - 70 students to test in a night and the examiners don't want to be there 6 hours.
Well, I know I passed the written, and I know I passed the medical (which I led). We will see if we passed the trauma. My partner lead the trauma, and a few things did not go according to plan. One of which was caused by me being stressed because I could see the proverbial gears grinding to a hault in Felton's head.
I get my results in 2 weeks. And I can retest trauma in January if need be. Fingers crossed that I either passed this time, or get a good partner in January.
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