NREMT EMT Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: Police report that the armed suspect is in custody and the scene is secure: Enter and begin care; Shouting and gunshots heard from inside the residence: Stage or withdraw until made safe; A car resting on its roof, rocking, with fuel dripping: Stage or withdraw until made safe; An older man fallen in his garden, with his calm spouse waving you over: Enter and begin care; A strong odor of natural gas in the apartment building hallway: Stage or withdraw until made safe; A barking dog that the owner has shut in a bedroom: Enter and begin care

Enter only when hazards have been identified and controlled. Violence, unstable vehicles and gas leaks call for staging until the right agency makes the scene safe.

Answer: D

Facial fractures and upper-arm fractures from bracing against the hood: Children usually turn toward the car rather than brace; this is not the expected pattern.

Heel fractures, lumbar spine fracture and wrist fractures: This pattern fits a feet-first fall from a height, not a child struck by a car.

Isolated lower-leg fractures, because the bumper strikes below the knee: Bumper-to-tibia injury is the typical adult pedestrian pattern; a child is struck higher.

Femur fracture, chest or abdominal injury, and head injury: Correct. Because children are short, the bumper strikes the thigh, the hood strikes the chest/abdomen, and the child is thrown so that the head strikes the ground (Waddell's triad).

In a child pedestrian, expect injuries at three levels: the femur (bumper), the chest/abdomen (hood) and the head (ground). Maintain a high index of suspicion even if the child looks well.

Answer: D

Apply oxygen to all three patients inside the home, starting with the youngest child: Treating inside keeps everyone, including you, in the toxic atmosphere; remove patients before treating.

Open several windows and continue assessing the patients in the living room: Opening windows does not make the home safe quickly enough; the source is still running and the crew is already symptomatic.

Check each patient's SpO2 first to decide who needs oxygen most urgently: Delays leaving the hazard, and pulse oximetry can read falsely normal in carbon monoxide poisoning.

Get everyone, including your crew, out of the house and request the fire department: Correct. Several people with the same nonspecific symptoms and a running furnace in winter, plus a symptomatic crew member, strongly suggest carbon monoxide. Remove everyone to fresh air first; the fire department can meter the air and ventilate the home.

Multiple patients with the same symptoms and no obvious cause signal a toxic exposure, and a symptomatic rescuer confirms the scene is unsafe. Leave the hazard first, then treat.

Answer: A, B, C

Determine and record the time she was last known well: Correct. Last known well determines her eligibility for time-sensitive stroke treatments.

Notify the receiving stroke center early: Correct. Pre-notification lets the stroke team be ready on arrival.

Perform a stroke scale such as Cincinnati or BE-FAST: Correct. A standardized stroke scale documents deficits and guides destination per protocol.

Give her a full dose of aspirin to chew: Aspirin is not given for suspected stroke in the field; a hemorrhagic stroke cannot be ruled out without imaging.

Apply a non-rebreather mask at 15 L/min: Routine oxygen is not recommended for stroke patients with normal saturation.

Give her sips of water to keep her hydrated: Stroke patients may have impaired swallowing and can aspirate; give nothing by mouth.

Suspected stroke: support ABCs, perform a stroke scale, establish last known well, check glucose per protocol, pre-notify and transport to a stroke center.

Answer: A

Two-thumb encircling hands at a ratio of 15:2: Correct. AHA 2025: for two-rescuer infant CPR, use the 2-thumb encircling hands technique (or the heel of one hand) at 15 compressions to 2 breaths.

Two-thumb encircling hands at a ratio of 30:2: The technique is right, but 30:2 is the single-rescuer ratio; two rescuers use 15:2 for infants and children.

Two fingers below the nipple line at a ratio of 3:1: 3:1 is the newborn resuscitation ratio, and 2-finger compressions are no longer recommended for infants.

Two fingers on the sternum at a ratio of 15:2: AHA 2025 no longer recommends the 2-finger technique for infants; use 2-thumb encircling hands or the heel of one hand.

AHA 2025 infant CPR: 2-thumb encircling hands or the heel of one hand, about 1.5 in (4 cm) deep, 15:2 with two rescuers. Two-finger compressions are no longer recommended.

Answer: C

Open his airway with a head tilt–chin lift: He is screaming, so his airway is patent; bleeding control comes first (hemorrhage control before airway).

Apply a non-rebreather mask at 15 L/min: Oxygen does not help a patient who is losing his circulating blood volume; stop the bleeding first.

Control the bleeding from the thigh wound: Correct. Spurting arterial bleeding is a life-threatening external hemorrhage, so it is controlled before airway and breathing (X-ABC). Screaming also shows his airway is open.

Check his radial pulse and capillary refill: Perfusion checks come later in the primary assessment; the obvious life threat must be treated immediately.

In trauma with life-threatening external bleeding, the first action of the primary assessment is hemorrhage control (X before A-B-C).

Answer: Open the airway with a head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver → Suction the vomitus from the mouth → Insert a correctly sized oropharyngeal airway if there is no gag reflex → Seal the mask over the mouth and nose, ideally with two rescuers → Squeeze the bag over about 1 second every 6 seconds, watching for chest rise

Open the airway with a head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver: First: the airway must be opened before anything else can work.

Suction the vomitus from the mouth: Second: the vomitus seen after opening the airway must be cleared so ventilation does not push it into the lungs.

Insert a correctly sized oropharyngeal airway if there is no gag reflex: Third: the adjunct helps hold the tongue forward once the airway is clear.

Seal the mask over the mouth and nose, ideally with two rescuers: Fourth: a tight seal (two-person technique is most effective) is needed before squeezing the bag.

Squeeze the bag over about 1 second every 6 seconds, watching for chest rise: Last: deliver ventilations at the adult rate with a pulse, using only enough volume for visible chest rise.

Open → clear the visible vomitus (suction) → adjunct → seal → ventilate. Attach oxygen at 15 L/min with the reservoir, but do not delay ventilation to do so. Other curricula may vary the order of some steps (for example, inserting the adjunct relative to the mask seal); this order follows AHA airway sequencing.

Answer: A

Five back blows followed by five chest thrusts, repeated: Correct. For a responsive infant with severe obstruction, AHA 2025 recommends alternating 5 back blows and 5 chest thrusts (with the heel of one hand) until the object is expelled or the infant becomes unresponsive.

A blind finger sweep followed by rescue breaths: Blind finger sweeps can push the object deeper; remove an object only if you can see it.

Two rescue breaths, then 30 chest compressions: He is still responsive; CPR is started only if he becomes unresponsive.

Abdominal thrusts with the infant held upright: Abdominal thrusts are not recommended for infants because of the risk of injury to abdominal organs.

AHA 2025 infant choking: 5 back blows then 5 chest thrusts, head lower than the chest, using the heel of one hand for the thrusts. No abdominal thrusts in infants.

Answer: C

Give abdominal thrusts only until the object comes out: Abdominal thrusts alone was the older approach. AHA 2025 recommends alternating back blows and abdominal thrusts for an adult.

Encourage him to keep coughing and watch closely: He cannot cough or speak, so this is a severe obstruction; coaching a cough is for mild obstruction.

Give 5 back blows followed by 5 abdominal thrusts, and repeat: Correct. AHA 2025: for a responsive adult with severe obstruction, alternate cycles of 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts until the object is expelled or he becomes unresponsive.

Perform a blind finger sweep to find the object: Blind finger sweeps can push the object deeper and are not recommended.

AHA 2025 choking (adult and child): cycles of 5 back blows then 5 abdominal thrusts. Use chest thrusts for a pregnant patient or one the rescuer cannot encircle.

Answer: C

It points to another cause of his confusion, such as a stroke: A normal SpO2 does not rule out CO poisoning, and the history strongly suggests it.

It confirms adequate oxygenation, so oxygen is not needed: The reading cannot be trusted in CO poisoning; withholding oxygen would be harmful.

It may be falsely normal, so give high-concentration oxygen anyway: Correct. Standard pulse oximeters cannot tell carboxyhemoglobin from oxyhemoglobin, so the reading can look normal while oxygen delivery is poor. Suspected CO poisoning is treated with high-concentration oxygen regardless of SpO2.

It is reliable as long as the waveform is strong and steady: A good waveform shows good signal, not that the hemoglobin is carrying oxygen.

Pulse oximetry reads carbon monoxide-bound hemoglobin as "saturated". Treat the history and the patient, not the number.

Answer: Position the mother and set up a clean delivery area with the OB kit → Apply gentle pressure to the crowning head to prevent an explosive delivery → Check for the umbilical cord around the neck and slip it over the head → Guide the head down for the upper shoulder, then up for the lower shoulder → Dry, warm and stimulate the newborn, keeping it at the level of the vagina → After delayed clamping, place two clamps and cut the cord between them

Position the mother and set up a clean delivery area with the OB kit: Preparation comes first: position, PPE and a clean field before the head delivers.

Apply gentle pressure to the crowning head to prevent an explosive delivery: As the head crowns, gentle support controls its delivery and reduces tearing.

Check for the umbilical cord around the neck and slip it over the head: Once the head delivers, a nuchal cord must be found and freed before the body delivers.

Guide the head down for the upper shoulder, then up for the lower shoulder: After restitution of the head, the shoulders deliver, followed by the rest of the body.

Dry, warm and stimulate the newborn, keeping it at the level of the vagina: Immediate newborn care follows delivery; drying and warming prevent heat loss and stimulate breathing.

After delayed clamping, place two clamps and cut the cord between them: In a vigorous newborn the cord is clamped after a short delay (about 30–60 s), then cut between two clamps.

Normal delivery: prepare → control the crowning head → check for nuchal cord → deliver shoulders → dry/warm/stimulate → delayed clamping and cutting. Suction only if the airway is obstructed.

Answer: B

Secure her to a long backboard with a cervical collar: Long backboards are no longer routine and carry risks (pain, pressure injury, impaired breathing) without benefit for this patient.

No spinal motion restriction; seat her on the stretcher: She meets every selective-SMR clearance criterion (alert, sober, no midline tenderness, no neuro deficit, no distracting injury), so SMR is not indicated.

Apply a cervical collar to every patient after a crash: Mechanism alone no longer dictates SMR; decisions are based on clinical criteria.

Have her lie on a long backboard placed on the stretcher: This is still routine board immobilization, which current practice reserves mainly for extrication.

Spinal motion restriction is applied selectively by clinical criteria, not by mechanism; long boards are mainly extrication tools.

Answer: A

Ventilate with a BVM and supplemental oxygen: He has a pulse but inadequate breathing. Oxygenation and ventilation come first; AHA 2025 states naloxone must not delay airway and breathing support.

Give intranasal naloxone, then reassess his breathing: Naloxone takes minutes to work; he is hypoxic now and needs ventilation first. Naloxone follows or is given alongside.

Place a non-rebreather mask at 15 L/min: A non-rebreather requires adequate spontaneous breathing; 4 shallow breaths/min is not adequate.

Begin chest compressions at 100–120/min: He has a pulse of 58; an adult with a pulse and inadequate breathing gets rescue breaths, not compressions.

Suspected opioid overdose with a pulse: ventilate first; naloxone is an adjunct that must not delay ventilation. The goal is adequate breathing, not full arousal.

Answer: 38-year-old man walking around the scene holding a bleeding forearm laceration: Minor; 29-year-old woman who cannot walk; respiratory rate 36/min: Immediate; 57-year-old man who is not breathing and remains apneic after you reposition his airway: Expectant; 63-year-old woman who cannot walk because of a deformed thigh; RR 22/min, radial pulse present, follows commands: Delayed; 24-year-old man who cannot walk; RR 24/min, no radial pulse: Immediate; 46-year-old woman who cannot walk; RR 18/min, radial pulse present, cannot follow simple commands: Immediate; 6-year-old boy who cannot walk; RR 26/min, palpable radial pulse, alert (A on AVPU): Delayed

START: walking = Minor; apneic after repositioning = Expectant; RR >30, no radial pulse/cap refill >2 s, or cannot follow commands = Immediate; otherwise Delayed. JumpSTART uses RR 15–45, peripheral pulse and AVPU for children.

Answer: C

Have him sign the refusal form with a bystander as witness and advise him to call back: A signature from a patient who lacks capacity is not an informed refusal and does not protect him or you.

Accept the refusal if a friend agrees to drive him home and watch him overnight: A friend's supervision does not restore the patient's capacity; the refusal still is not valid.

Do not accept the refusal; contact medical direction and law enforcement per protocol: Correct. A valid refusal requires decision-making capacity. Intoxication plus signs of a possible head injury (repetitive questioning, slurred speech) mean he cannot make an informed refusal, so follow protocol: medical direction and, if needed, police.

Leave the scene, because an adult who clearly states a refusal cannot be treated: Only a competent adult can refuse; leaving a patient who lacks capacity could be considered abandonment.

Before accepting a refusal, confirm the patient is an adult with decision-making capacity. Intoxication, altered mental status or a possible head injury make the refusal invalid; involve medical direction.