Advanced EMT: A Clinical Reasoning Approach, 2nd Edition

By Melissa Alexander, Richard Belle

Pub. Date: Nov 3, 2016 by Pearson.
ISBN-10: 0-13-442012-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-442012-7

Using the National EMS Education Standards as a foundation, Advanced EMT: A Clinical-Reasoning Approach is designed to assist students in successfully completing their Advanced EMT course and ultimately obtaining their licensure. Special care has been taken to ensure that the latest applicable research was reviewed during the development of this text, resulting in our ability to deliver the latest evidence-based patient care to you and your students.

Features:

Advanced EMT: A Clinical-Reasoning Approach helps readers study efficiently and use the book as a practical reference

• Key Terms are listed in bold type at the beginning of each chapter to draw readers’ attention to important terms.
• A Case Study with Problem-Solving Questions introduces students to the kinds of problems they will encounter in Advanced EMT practice and frames the importance of the chapter content.
  • Case Studies guide students through an emergency situation, emphasizing the process of making good decisions after analyzing all of the information gathered. In lengthier chapters, the Case Study unfolds with further information given throughout the chapter. This systematic assessment approach assists students in developing their clinical-reasoning skills.
  • The solution to each Case Study is presented at the end of the chapter in the Case Study Wrap-Up, which explains the Advanced EMT’s clinical-reasoning process.
• Pediatric Care Notes draw attention to key pediatric information within the context of the chapter.
• Geriatric Care Notes highlight key geriatric information within the context of the chapter.
• Tables, Figures, and Scans help students learn multiple concepts that are related to one another.
  • Tables assist students in learning and understanding specific information.
  • Figures and Scans provide visual material to enhance the explanations of concepts and procedures presented.
• Chapter Summaries include a synopsis of the main ideas of the chapter and multiple-choice and critical-thinking questions.
  • Multiple-choice Questions test students' recall of chapter information and simple application of concepts, helping them to not just learn the information presented in the textbook and in class, but also to understand it.
  • Critical-thinking Questions test students' knowledge by requiring them to think their way through the question using the information provided and their previous knowledge to identify the correct answer.

Delivers the latest evidence-based patient care

• UPDATED: Section 1: Preparing for Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Practice. New to Chapter 1 is an expanded section on professionalism and social media use, and added emphasis on self-directed learning as a professional characteristic. Chapters 1 and 2 also include new content on mobile integrated health care (MIH) and community paramedicine (CP). Chapter 3 has expanded the information on National Health Goals, and the section on EMS provider mental health now includes shift-work disorder. Chapter 4 now includes an updated concept of decision-making capacity, and physician’s orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST). Chapter 5 now offers updated information on the anticipated replacement of the DOT's specifications for ambulance design.
• UPDATED: Section 2: Human Development, Health, and Disease. In Chapter 8, the In the Field features have been expanded and updated to highlight the importance of understanding anatomy and physiology.
• UPDATED: Section 3: Pharmacology. Chapters 11 and 12 now include discussion of obesity and weight-based medication calculations. Chapter 12 also has new information on medications administered via auto-injector.
• UPDATED: Section 4: Assessment and Initial Management. Chapter 14 expands the first edition’s discussion of diagnosis and differential diagnosis in EMS, and it offers updated field triage guidelines. New to Chapter 15 is information on situational awareness. Both Chapters 15 and 16 include an updated description of the approach to patients with suspected cervical-spine injury. Chapter 17 now offers information on tranexamic acid in hemorrhagic shock and on systemic inflammatory response (SIRS) and the potential role of prehospital serum lactate measurement. It also has expanded information on topical hemostatics, common prescription anticoagulants, teamwork in resuscitation, and end-of-life care terminology related to physician’s orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST). Chapter 18 clarifies the uses and limitations of estimating blood pressure by palpation and pulse oximetry waveform methods, and offers additional information on temporal artery-scanning thermometers. Chapter 19 now includes anatomic and systems-based frameworks in the discussion of the clinical-reasoning approach. Where appropriate, the chapters in this section reflect the newest American Heart Association’s 2015 guidelines.
• UPDATED: Section 5: Medical Emergencies. Chapter 20 now includes guidelines for administering oxygen to patients with advanced COPD, and new information on MERS and the importance of obtaining a travel history. Additional emphasis has been added to reflect the importance of pneumococcal vaccine for susceptible populations, and the information on asthma and lung cancer has been updated. Chapter 21 has been reorganized to enhance clinical reasoning, focusing on pertinent positives and negatives for specific cardiovascular emergencies. Chapter 22 now includes an updated list of medications prescribed for neurological disorders. Chapter 23 now includes hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS) in the discussion on diabetes. Chapter 24 has added information on chronic opioid-induced constipation and on pediatric abdominal pain and foreign body ingestion. Chapter 26 offers an updated list of medications that affect blood clotting. Chapter 28 now provides information on the special concerns related to pregnant women and fetuses, updates the discussion of infectious diseases of global concern, and lists resources for infectious disease information. Chapter 31 adds new emphasis to addiction as a mental illness and now includes information on mental illness among EMS personnel. Chapter 32 provides updated information on the public health crisis related to increased abuse of opiates and opioids, on the use of synthetic cannabinoids and vaping, and on designer drugs.
• UPDATED: Section 6: Trauma. Information on the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Level V Trauma Center has been added to Chapter 33, as has a discussion on the SALT triage system. Chapter 34 now addresses quinary blast injuries. Chapter 40 has been updated to reflect new research on the use of spinal motion restriction and current trends that deemphasize the use of long backboards.
• UPDATED: Section 7: Special Patient Populations. Chapter 43 has been updated with new information on the use of suctioning in the neonate.
• UPDATED: Section 8: Rescue and Special Operations. Chapter 47 now incorporates new information on safety procedures when working with hybrid and electric vehicles.
• UPDATED: Appendixes. Ketamine has been added to Appendix 4 as a sedative for endotracheal intubation and in patients with excited delirium, and tranexamic acid has been included for reducing internal bleeding in trauma patients.