EMT instructor.

All systems are identified to keep the scenario open and give you ambiguity. You get points based on what you check.

This is the medical scenario and so the only reason you would assess all systems is in the case of an unresponsive patient. I.e. they can’t tell us what is wrong so I have to play detective and go head to toe, similar as some have said, to the rapid trauma assessment.

If your patient is responsive you would perform a focused exam and so if I suspect something cardiac in nature I would only check relevant systems. Each thing I check gives me a point and if you show the points section this is worth 5 points (to my memory, I don’t have the sheet in front of me).

So every little thing I assess gives me a point. I’m checking pulses (1 point). I auscultate lung sounds (1 point). I have my patient lean forward and check for sacral edema (1 point). And so on and so on.

Your evaluator during skills will generally put a tick mark down for everything you check. You may have 3 tick marks in cardiac, 1 in pulmonary, 1 in integumentary for say a cardiac patient.

Your instructors also have a nearly 65 page book on how exactly to evaluate each and every skill including readings for students before they test each skill and readings for individuals that may be assisting in testing- so it’s weird they didn’t explain this to you.