NREMT Practice Test Bank - Multiple
Choice
21. You should not attempt to active-
ly rewarm a patient with moder-
ate or severe hypothermia in the
field because:
• A:rewarming too quickly can
cause a fatal cardiac dysrhyth-
mia.
• B:the risk of inadvertently in-
ducing hyperthermia is too high.
• C:it is painful for the patient and
you cannot give analgesic drugs.
• D:active rewarming has been
shown to cause severe hyperten-
sion.
22. You respond to a grocery store
where a 39-year-old man report-
edly experienced a seizure.When
you arrive at the scene, a clerk
begins to escort you to the pa-
tient. She tells you that the man
stopped seizing about 5 minutes
ago. If the patient truly experi-
11 / 259
to 1 attempt until the patient's body tem-
perature has been increased. Cardiac
arrest patients with severe hypothermia
generally do not respond to defibrillation.
Hyperventilation should be avoided as
this may increase intrathoracic pressure
and impair blood flow back to the heart.
You selected A; This is correct!
Reason:When caring for a patient with
hypothermia, your goal is to prevent fur-
ther heat loss; this involves removing wet
clothing, applying warm blankets, and
allowing the patient's body temperature
to rise gradually and naturally (passive
rewarming). If the patient is moderate-
ly or severely hypothermic, you should
not try to rewarm him or her actively
(placing heat on or into the body). Re-
warming too quickly may cause a fatal
cardiac dysrhythmia, such as ventricular
fibrillation (V-Fib). Active rewarming may
also cause rewarming shock, a condition
in which the blood vessels dilate when
heat is applied to the body, resulting in
significant hypotension. For these rea-
sons, active rewarming should only be
performed in the controlled setting of a
hospital.
You selected D; This is correct!
Reason: Most seizures are followed by
a postictal phase, in which the patient is
unresponsive at first and then gradual-
ly regains consciousness. In most cas-
es, the postictal patient appears dazed,
confused, or disoriented; in some cases,