Aurora Health Care

EMS Continuing Education

1st Quarter 2016 Quiz

Name ______

Department ______

E-mail address ______

Please highlight or bold your answers and e-mail to

1. A wet patient:

a. Retains heat better than a dry patient.

b. Loses heat at the same rate as a dry patient.

c. Loses heat at a rate 25 times faster than a dry patient.

d. Is less likely to suffer from hypothermia.

2. Limb (arms/legs) temperature may frequently be:

a. 1-2 degrees warmer than our core temperature.

b. The same as our core temperature.

c. 1-2 degrees cooler that our core temperature.

d. 10-12 degrees cooler than our core temperature.

3. Shivering is a body function that:

a. Helps the body eliminate heat.

b. Generates heat.

c. ONLY indicates someone is cold or frightened.

d. Ceases when the bodies temperature reaches 80 degrees.

4.  How many minutes until Frost Bite can occur to exposed skin if the temperature is -35°F and the wind speed is 10 miles per hour?

  1. 5 minutes
  2. 10 minutes
  3. 30 minutes
  4. 60 minutes

5. As a patient’s body gets colder and colder, the following sequence happens:

a. Shivering begins, judgment errors, motor coordination fails, dysrhythmia.

b. Unresponsive to pain, pulses difficult to obtain, shivering stops, amnesia.

c. Judgment errors, shivering stops, ventricular fibrillation, motor

coordination fails.

d. Shivering begins, motor coordination fails, judgment errors, ventricular

fibrillation.

6. Hypothermic patients may become hypoglycemic because:

a. They are not consuming sugars while they are cold.

b. Shivering requires muscle activity which consumes/requires sugar.

c. Cold bodies metabolize sugar at a rate faster than a normo-thermic body.

d. A hypothermic body cannot store sugars.

7. Severely hypothermic patients should be handled very carefully because:

a. They are more susceptible to sudden ventricular fibrillation.

b. Cardiac arrest is more difficult to manage.

c. Cold, frostbit or frozen skin is very delicate and injury prone.

d. All of the above.

8. Use caution when managing a hypothermic patient’s airway. Hypothermic patients typically have slower and shallower respirations. It may be difficult to verify respirations and some adjuncts may precipitate lethal cardiac dysrhythmias.

a. True.

b. False.

9. Warm IV fluids are appropriate for hypothermic patients. Even though your service may not have IV warmers, there are other options for warming IV fluid bags. These warmed fluids can be then used for infusing warm IV fluids and as hot packs placed near the patient’s body.

a. True.

b. False.

10. There are serious complications associated with hypothermia. Warming a patient may trigger some of these complications. Anyone who has suffered a hypothermic incident needs to receive a medical evaluation.

a. True.

b. False.

11. The expected normal daytime temperature range when obtaining a tympanic (ear canal) temperature would be:

  1. 90 to 95 °F (32–35 °C)
  2. 95.9 to 98.6 °F (35.5–37.5 °C)
  3. 100.4 to 104 °F (38.0 -40.0 °C)
  4. 82 to 90 °F (28–32 °C)

12. The major organ involved in temperature regulation is:

  1. Liver
  2. Spleen
  3. Pancreas
  4. Skin

13. Those at greatest risk for heat-related illness include:

  1. Infants and Children to age 4
  2. Adults greater than 65 years of age
  3. Patients on certain medications
  4. All of the above
  5. None of the above

14. Heat stroke is a life threatening emergency.

  1. True
  2. False

15. Mild hypothermia may cause coagulopathy issues in the trauma patient.

  1. True
  2. False

The following two questions MUST be answered correctly by EMT-Intermediate’s

(99 or 12), Paramedic’s and RN’s to get credit for having completed this packet.

16. The dysrhythmia most commonly seen in moderate hypothermia is:

a. Atrial tachycardia

b. Atrial fibrillation.

c. Asystole

d. Ventricular fibrillation

17.  At what hypothermic temperature is ventricular fibrillation most likely to occur:

  1. 31°C (88° F)
  2. 22°C (71.6° F)
  3. 18°C (64.4° F)
  4. 35.7 °C (96.3°F)

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