👤 By the CinnaEMS Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-09-24🏷️ Medical, Obstetrics & Gynecology🔖 Free to read, print, and share
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Use this quick-reference guide to recognise, treat and hand over Medical & OB/GYN on the NREMT and on the call. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
📌 Altered Patient
Glucose early — always
Fever + stiff neck → meningitis precautions
Alcohol on the breath is not a diagnosis
📌 Breathless
Bilateral crackles + pink froth → pulmonary edema
Clear lungs → think PE, acidosis, sepsis
Rate up + mentation down → losing the battle
📌 Obstetric
Supine + hypotensive → roll her LEFT
Painless red bleed → praevia
Painful + rigid uterus → abruption
Cord out → lift presenting part, GO
📚 Medical & OB/GYN — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what changes the plan, and what to hand over.
The largest clinical domain at both advanced levels. It rewards pattern recognition — the discriminating cue that separates two conditions presenting alike — and punishes anchoring, particularly the assumption that an altered patient is simply intoxicated.
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Key points
Understand these first
Check a glucose early in every altered patient, not only known diabetics.
Anaphylaxis is systemic: airway, circulation, or two or more organ systems.
Last-known-well time is the single most valuable stroke datum and only you can get it.
Clear lungs in a breathless patient is a discriminator, not a reassurance.
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Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Roll a hypotensive late-pregnancy patient onto her left side first.
Relieve cord pressure and transport for a prolapse.
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Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
Seizure beyond five minutes
Fever with neck stiffness and altered mentation
Rising respiratory rate with falling mental status
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Patient teaching
What patients must know
Saturation can look fine while ventilation fails — trend effort and mentation.
❓ Medical & OB/GYN: NREMT FAQs
What are the priority actions for Medical & OB/GYN in the field?
Roll a hypotensive late-pregnancy patient onto her left side first. Relieve cord pressure and transport for a prolapse.
What findings in Medical & OB/GYN change your plan or your transport decision?
Seizure beyond five minutes. Fever with neck stiffness and altered mentation. Rising respiratory rate with falling mental status.
What do I need to know about Medical & OB/GYN for the NREMT?
Check a glucose early in every altered patient, not only known diabetics. Anaphylaxis is systemic: airway, circulation, or two or more organ systems. Last-known-well time is the single most valuable stroke datum and only you can get it. Clear lungs in a breathless patient is a discriminator, not a reassurance.
What should the crew communicate or document for Medical & OB/GYN?
Saturation can look fine while ventilation fails — trend effort and mentation.
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Quick Tip
Check a glucose early in every altered patient, not only known diabetics.