So is this like a general pt assessment, traumatic, assessment or what kind of assessments are there?
Paramedics do a VERY basic physical exam.
HEENT: gross trauma, some may check for extraocular movements, depending on the patient PERL.
Resp -> auscultation only
CV -> pulses only
ABD -> only palpation
Ext -> paramedics will only notice if the limbs are there, if the patient can move them, and if they are grossly broken, edema
SKIN: minimal exam beyond wounds.
NEURO: orientation, light touch only, gross motor
PSYCH: will only assess if the patient has suicidal ideation.
Paramedics just don't see enough disease either practicing or in class to be good at physical exam. And they certainly don't see enough "abnormal" patients and no one is around if they do see one to explain the significance of the finding.
Paramedics don't listen to heart sounds, they don't percuss, they don't do reflexes, no fundoscopic exam, no otoscopic exam.
Paramedics are trained to pick up major immediate life threatening conditions, wheeze in severe asthma, crackles in CHF, absent lung sounds in pneumothorax, acute abdomen, gross spinal cord injury, basic neuro exam for acute stroke (cincinnati prehospital stroke scale), and edema in CHF.
I have to disagree with Terra, there is no way the paramedics are taught the same as "doctors."