Question 1

Online medical direction is best described as:

Written treatment protocols developed before any call occurs Real-time communication with a physician during an active patient encounter The annual review of provider certification and training The medical director's review of patient care reports after the call

Question 2

A standing order allows an EMT to:

Perform any intervention they believe is necessary, at their own discretion Administer certain medications or perform certain interventions without calling medical control, because authorization is already built into the protocol Override a paramedic's treatment decisions on a joint call Expand their scope of practice beyond state-defined limits

Question 3

Quality improvement (QI) differs from quality assurance (QA) primarily in that QI:

Focuses on punishing individual providers who deviate from protocol Only reviews calls that resulted in patient complaints Analyzes system-level patterns to identify root causes and design improvements Requires direct physician involvement on every call

Question 4

Why is accurate patient care report documentation critical to the quality improvement process?

It is required for billing purposes only QI analysis depends on accurate data — false documentation leads to false conclusions and failed improvement efforts The medical director reads every report before authorizing any future call Incomplete reports result in automatic license suspension

Question 5

A "culture of safety" in EMS encourages providers to:

Follow only the protocols they personally agree with Avoid reporting errors to protect their professional reputation Report errors and near-misses openly, trusting the system to use that information to improve rather than punish Defer all clinical decisions to the highest-ranking provider on scene