UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
MARYLAND FIRE AND RESCUE INSTITUTE
BULLETIN JANUARY - MARCH 2024 VOL.54 NO.1
EMS STUDENTS PREP FOR FUTURE SUCCESS Convening in the classroom from 7–10 p.m. several nights each week is a challenging undertaking but the EMS students in class with instructors Ryan Emmons and Mark Cates are engaged, well-informed, and ready to learn. The evening class kicked off by reinforcing their knowledge through a series of quiz questions on EMSTesting.com. Ryan then separated the students into small groups and presented them with emergency medical scenarios ranging from a cardiac event to a respiratory attack. Students were charged with developing pertinent questions to ask patients. Next, they focused on the steps necessary to assess each condition roleplaying as EMTs and patients.
you see medications, look at the pill bottles and do the math to determine if they are following the dosage instructions,” added Ryan. Students were then given a bag of props that included an inhaler, an epinephrine injector, and naloxone. They proceeded through the steps for administering the rescue drugs and also practiced taking each other’s blood pressure.
How severe was your last reaction?
“You need to be a detective,” said In response to the respiratory Ryan. “Rephrase the same question condition, questions included: differently to see if an answer stays What did you most recently in- consistent.” gest? What were you doing when the reaction occurred? Do you “In the event of a cardiac emerhave any known allergies? Have gency, find out if they have experiyou had a reaction previously? enced the symptoms previously. If
Instructor Mark Cates also demonstrated how to administer albuterol with a mouthpiece, reviewing the dosage for adults versus children. To see our full listing of EMS class offerings, log on to the MFRI website: www.mfri.org/catalog top photo: EMS students routinely practice the proper protocols for taking blood pressure readings. bottom photo: MFRI Instructor Mark Cates demonstrates how to administer albuterol and oxygen.