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Unimpressed.

Post the tackiest or oddest knick-knack or 'stocking stuffer' you've ever been given.. Or.. post the weirdest thing you've ever given to someone else. In my senior year of High School, we did a Secret Santa type deal in my literature course. You had to get someone something odd, or off the wall. Forgetting about it till the last minute, I had the bus drop me off at the general store near the school. I bought a can of clam juice, a roll of butcher's twine and a pack of toothpicks, and had them gift wrap it... I added a note that said MacGyver could figure this out, can you?

Regardless of who posted it - that's an incredibly ignorant person to say the least. But one can't help but wonder with the availability of cell phones with cameras and people with personal cameras it very well could have been a bystander/gawker as I know has been the case with a few unsightly pictures that have surfaced 'round this way. Just be smart and sensitive people - how would you feel if it were your own?

So are we completely ignoring the fact that on average it takes 20 min to get a helicopter in the air, get to scene, land, load the patient, and back in the air at a minimum? Then you still have the 7 minutes to the hospital - sounds like you've already ate up most of your thirty minutes there. I think the discussion of ground vs air transport is very valid. Anything 30 min or under really doesn't warrant air transport because you are looking at equal time almost. sometimes it's even faster. I know there are more than a few times someone from ground has gotten to the hospital before the helicopter. It's not as uncommon as one might think. Plus add in the variability of causing additional issues with air transport. If time is your largest concern - then you are actually eating up time that the patient could (and most likely would) have already been at the hospital. You are going to have more room to work in the back of the majority of ambulances than in the air. I think I'm going to favor ground transport which is a very valid point here. Did we ever stop to think the air is colder with height? It may be comfortable to us, but if your not CAMTS like some, there's not heat or AC - something to consider. What was the temp of water he was in? What's the ambient temp? It may be 80 degrees outside and we want AC and he's gonna require heat. What if you don't have it? If you're flying with some providers you don't have it and well blankies only do so much. Warm fluids? What's your proposed method of rewarming in that environment? I dare say if he's still shivering and with helo transport you're risking greater complications than if you just take him by ground....

Brilliant comment to be certain, heck when mine was 4 he could open dang near anything he wanted too, or get the dog too do it. This Kid has a great future as a member of the "Trailer Park Boys" my investigation has resulted in uncovering April Wright's myspace picture.

The scary part is thats she's been allowed to reproduce more than once. The only thing missing from this story is the 1960's trailer with tires on the roof!

Do we really need to know whether something is technically illegal to know it's not a great idea to pull out a camera onscene for personal use AND then post those photos anywhere? Maybe this photo is real, maybe it's not. Maybe it's covered under HIPPA, maybe it's from Ontario and covered under PHIPPA or maybe it's from somewhere else all together. Let's look past the legal and consider the moral and the practical. Whether it's real or not, a violation or not, how does this photo in this situation represent EMS as a profession. I would say poorly and unfortunately in line with what the public in some areas has come to expect. Should this site as a forum for professional discourse host this image without knowing for sure and being able to state that it is a moulage photo? That's up to Admin, it's his/her site. I would, however, urge discretion and suggest that no harm is done by it's removal and nothing is gained by it's continued stay. Edit: A quick check of the source page lists it under "Photos Taken on Calls."

Burn Out is a very real hazard of this profession. If you are feeling those emotions, get professional help. If you are just not that interested in the profession, move on. There are very few jobs that offer such a high job satisfaction as ours. I get thanks for opening doors, shopping in stores, eating at restaurants, etc, etc that are just polite robotic statements. After 40 years, I still enjoy going to work, albeit part-time, as it is rare for some one to thank me and not truly mean it. The pleasure comes from having a caring and compassionate attitude for each and every patient. It is not the major trauma nor the highly complicated medical call that brings the most gratitude as you are paid to do that at a highly skilled level. It is that person that just needs to know that some one cares about their problem even though it seems like such a silly assed call to us. Get down on your knee's and help a child with a small injury and watch the face change from distress to calmness or hold that little old ladies hand as you get her history and and feel the calmness you have brought. When they say Thank You, they really mean it! If you can NOT do the small caring things in a genuine manner, maybe this profession is not for you.

I think he sounds somewhat legit, jut not articulating himself well. Assuming his background is reasonably honest, I'll proceed. It sounds to me like your question isnt " what to do If I lost my love for EMS" Its " do you guys think I can tolerate the job enough to get a pay check again with out going postal" My answer is , based on what your telling me...dont even try. It sounds like the only jobs you have are the BLS IFT shuffle, and you already have a bad taste in your mouth for it. Therefore you will never put up with the job long enough to make it a career and get on with a good service with good benefits, and 911 work and on to paramedic school...and surprise, even then, even in all 911 services (what few are left)...you still have to put up with BS. In the off chance you do try to stick it out, chances are your unhappyness will sooner or later sabatoge your future in this business. SO make peace with the patient care part of the job, even the BS/non-emergency pt care, because thats what this job is all about... or move on to something else. Respectfully, find something else you can love, and do that. You will be happier, your patients will be better off, and your co-workers wont be miserable from working with you.

You guys are kidding right ? You would withold treatment that could help for a diagnostic test that is worthless in the field ? Let's try this thinking in other situations: You have an arterial bleeder; do you put pressure on the wound or do you wait until you have a blood pressure palpated ? You have a COPD patient with serious respiratory distress (tripod, cyanosis, accessory muscle use), do you put on the O2 and start an IV immediately, or wait until your pulse ox confirms distress ?

It would be pointless to argue anything medical with you since you seem to have missed the 80% EMS calls in your own post. Since I have spent 30 years in EMS, your comments really don't scare me "out of EMS". You scare me for knowing you and others like you are allowed to do come near patients. As for the out of state applications, you are in California. We get the out of state applications also but very much like California, once an applicant realizes why our wages are higher and that their chances of raising a family complete with a house and car are slim to none, few stick around. It truly has nothing to do with your FD especially for those who are serious about being a good Paramedic. Those out of state applicants have probably blanketed the state with their applications to every FD. Seattle is more highly sort after since it is a challenge to get a job that requires dedication, ambition, intelligence as well as the physical fitness of a FF. There are also many other outstanding FDs that take EMS seriously. However, in Southern CA that in not the case and usually the studies done in your area are to show your Paramedics can not perform some of the basic skills in EMS such as intubation or 12-lead ECGs which are then used to reflect negatively on EMS. Other FDs and EMS agencies such as Seattle and Wake County have shown quite the opposite. I am sure there are a few really good Paramedics in your FD but as you said "strength in numbers". Thus, for those for good Paramedics, it would be difficult to soar like an eagle when you are working with a flock of turkeys.

So I read it wrong.. bite me.

I don't get it what is the rest of the country doing that is so amazing are they eliminating medical directors and making up their own protocols?, are they taking x-rays in the field, are they drawing labs and have the values ready when they hit the er door? are they casting broken limbs with in the field or perscribing meds?, what is it that is so better? Yeah come on patient care is noble and all, but people really do this for the money, you got to pay bills thats all Iam saying, but the other thing that gets me is when all this change is going to come about, I just don't see it happing like a two year degree min. for $12.00 an hour who is going to do that when you can get an RN two year degree and make so much more. and why should we in fire base ems not make the money we do?m we do two jobs, cheaper for the city thats why we wliminated single role paramedics, that model works where I live, maybe not in other places.