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West Coast EMT Block 2 Vocab
Accessory Muscles - answer✔✔The secondary muscles of respiration. They include the neck
muscles (sternocleidomastoids), the chest pectoralis major muscles, and the abdominal muscles.
Altered Mental Status - answer✔✔Any deviation from alert and oriented to person, place, time,
and event, or any deviation from a patient's normal baseline mental status.
Ausculate - answer✔✔To listen to sounds within an organ with a stethoscope.
AVPU Scale - answer✔✔A method of assessing the level of consciousness by determining
whether the patient is awake and alert, responsive to verbal stimuli or pain, or unresponsive; used
principally early in the assessment process.
Blood Pressure - answer✔✔The pressure that the blood exerts against the walls of the arteries as
it passes through them.
Bradycardia - answer✔✔A slow heart rate, less than 60 beats/min.
Breath Sounds - answer✔✔An indication of air movement in the lungs, usually assessed with a
stethoscope.
Capillary Refill - answer✔✔A test that evaluates distal circulatory system function by squeezing
(blanching) blood from an area such as a nail bed and watching the speed of its return after
releasing the pressure.
Capnography - answer✔✔A noninvasive method to quickly and efficiently provide information
on a patient's ventilatory status, circulation, and metabolism; effectively measures the
concentration of carbon dioxide in expired air over time.
Carbon Dioxide - answer✔✔Carbon dioxide is a component of air and typically makes up 0.3%
of air at sea level; also a waste product exhaled during expiration by the respiratory system.
Chief Complaint - answer✔✔The reason a patient called for help; also, the patient's response to
questions such as "What's wrong?" or "What happened?"
Coagulate - answer✔✔To form a clot to plug an opening in an injured blood vessel and stop
bleeding.
Conjunctiva - answer✔✔The delicate membrane that lines the eyelids and covers the exposed
surface of the eye.
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Crackles - answer✔✔A crackling, rattling breath sound that signals fluid in the air spaces of the
lungs.
Crepitus - answer✔✔A grating or grinding sensation caused by fractured bone ends or joints
rubbing together; also air bubbles under the skin that produce a crackling sound or crinkly
feeling.
Cyanosis - answer✔✔A blue-gray skin color that is caused by a reduced level of oxygen in the
blood.
DCAP-BTLS - answer✔✔A mnemonic for assessment in which each area of the body is
evaluated for Deformities, Contusions, Abrasions, Punctures/penetrations, Burns, Tenderness,
Lacerations, and Swelling.
Diaphoretic - answer✔✔Characterized by light or profuse sweating.
Diastolic Pressure - answer✔✔The pressure that remains in the arteries during the relaxing phase
of the heart's cycle (diastole) when the left ventricle is at rest.
Distracting Injury - answer✔✔Any injury that prevents the patient from noticing other injuries
he or she may have, even severe injuries; for example, a painful femur or tibia fracture that
prevents the patient from noticing back pain associated with a spinal fracture.
Focused Assessment - answer✔✔A type of physical assessment typically performed on patients
who have sustained nonsignificant mechanisms of injury or on responsive medical patients. This
type of examination is based on the chief complaint and focuses on one body system or part.
Frostbite - answer✔✔Damage to tissues as the result of exposure to cold; frozen or partially
frozen body parts are frostbitten.
General Impression - answer✔✔The overall initial impression that determines the priority for
patient care; based on the patient's surroundings, the mechanism of injury, signs and symptoms,
and the chief complaint.
Golden Hour - answer✔✔The time from injury to definitive care, during which treatment of
shock and traumatic injuries should occur because survival potential is best; also called the
Golden Period.
Guarding - answer✔✔Involuntary muscle contractions of the abdominal wall to minimize the
pain of abdominal movement; a sign of peritonitis.
History Taking - answer✔✔A step within the patient assessment process that provides detail
about the patient's chief complaint and an account of the patient's signs and symptoms.
Hypertension - answer✔✔Blood pressure that is higher than the normal range.
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Hypotension - answer✔✔Blood pressure that is lower than the normal range.
Hypothermia - answer✔✔A condition in which the internal body temperature falls below 95°F
(35°C) after exposure to a cold environment.
Incident Command System - answer✔✔A system implemented to manage disasters and mass-
and multiple-casualty incidents in which section chiefs, including finance, logistics, operations,
and planning, report to the incident commander. Also referred to as the incident management
system.
Jaundice - answer✔✔Yellow skin or sclera that is caused by liver disease or dysfunction.
Labored Breathing - answer✔✔Breathing that requires greater than normal effort; may be slower
or faster than normal and characterized by grunting, stridor, and use of accessory muscles.
mechanism of injury (MOI) - answer✔✔The forces, or energy transmission, applied to the body
that cause injury.
Metabolism - answer✔✔The biochemical process that results in production of energy from
nutrients within the cells.
Nasal Flaring - answer✔✔Widening of the nostrils, indicating that there is an airway obstruction.
nature of illness (NOI) - answer✔✔The general type of illness a patient is experiencing.
OPQRST - answer✔✔A mnemonic used in evaluating a patient's pain: Onset,
Provocation/palliation, Quality, Region/radiation, Severity, and Timing.
Orientation - answer✔✔The mental status of a patient as measured by memory of person (name),
place (current location), time (current year, month, and approximate date), and event (what
happened).
Palpate - answer✔✔To examine by touch.
Paradoxical Motion - answer✔✔The motion of the portion of the chest wall that is detached in a
flail chest; the motion—in during inhalation, out during exhalation—is exactly the opposite of
normal chest wall motion during breathing.
Perfusion - answer✔✔The flow of blood through body tissues and vessels.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - answer✔✔Protective equipment that blocks exposure to
a pathogen or a hazardous material.
Pertinent Negatives - answer✔✔Negative findings that warrant no care or intervention.
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Priapism - answer✔✔A painful, tender, persistent erection of the penis; can result from spinal
cord injury, erectile dysfunction drugs, or sickle cell disease.
Primary Assessment - answer✔✔A step within the patient assessment process that identifies and
initiates treatment of immediate and potential life threats.
Pulse - answer✔✔The pressure wave that occurs as each heartbeat causes a surge in the blood
circulating through the arteries.
Pulse Oximetry - answer✔✔An assessment tool that measures oxygen saturation of hemoglobin
in the capillary beds.
Reassessment - answer✔✔A step within the patient assessment process performed at regular
intervals during the assessment process to identify and treat changes in a patient's condition. A
patient in unstable condition should be reassessed every 5 minutes, whereas a patient in stable
condition should be reassessed every 15 minutes.
Responsiveness - answer✔✔The way in which a patient responds to external stimuli, including
verbal stimuli (sound), tactile stimuli (touch), and painful stimuli.
Retractions - answer✔✔Movements in which the skin pulls in around the ribs during inspiration.
Rhonchi - answer✔✔Coarse, low-pitched breath sounds heard in patients with chronic mucus in
the upper airways.
SAMPLE History - answer✔✔A brief history of a patient's condition to determine signs and
symptoms, allergies, medications, pertinent past history, last oral intake, and events leading to
the injury or illness.
Scene Size-Up - answer✔✔A step within the patient assessment process that involves a quick
assessment of the scene and the surroundings to provide information about scene safety and the
mechanism of injury or nature of illness before you enter and begin patient care.
Sclera - answer✔✔The tough, fibrous, white portion of the eye that protects the more delicate
inner structures.
Secondary Assessment - answer✔✔A step within the patient assessment process in which a
systematic physical examination of the patient is performed. The examination may be a
systematic full-body scan or a systematic assessment that focuses on a certain area or region of
the body, often determined through the chief complaint.
Shallow Respirations - answer✔✔Respirations characterized by little movement of the chest
wall (reduced tidal volume) or poor chest excursion.
Sign - answer✔✔Objective findings that can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, or measured.
