Leaderboard

It really does Lone Star. I felt I was a disservice to the public at first and sometimes feel I still am. I know experience has alot to do with it as well but as far as education alot I feel is just glossed over. 1 day for peds a day for burns we spent more time learning to fill out a PCR and how to ask a patient to treat them then we actually learned vital stuff like BP and lung sounds. The education needs to come up and if it does I feel alot of the "I can save the world" types will fall bny the way side. The class I took had a very high attrition level, 68%, and I noticed the ones failing or droping out were the ones that thought they would just get by under the radar and when you talked to them about calls they were on or what-have-you unless it was a major trauma the call wasnt worth their time. I actually had someone tell me it was a crappy slow night because all they got was a stupid guy in respitory failure yet it was a "cool" or "great" night if there was an MVA even if everyone RMAed needless to say that guy didnt last long. After speaking with many of you on this site from out of the country I do feel we are under educated by a long shot. We need PROPER education especially on the basic level. Honestly I feel it should be a college course, 120hrs clinical and ride time, and finally get rid of the basic title and have it as EMT, Paramedic. Combine the B and I catagories and as stated previously make the cert a college course. I would leave the 120hr course for the high schoolers that want to see if they want to be EMTs. Not a certification by say a permit of sorts. Let them go through it, PASS, and issue a permit of sorts to allow them on squads or ride along (no patient interaction other then verbal) and get a true feel for what we all do. Then if they want it by all means get into the real course work and become a certified EMT. Doing all that I think will weed out alot of the problems. But so far with todays current teaching, HELL NO, do not add more ways to kill a patient to the list. I did add on another thread though that (well in NJ anyways) checking glucose levels shouldn't be a paramedic level thing. I feel as a basic we should be able to put a drop of blood on a strip and press on. That brings up another problem I see today. Nothing is the same.. what is allowed in county A is disallowed in county B (or state for that matter) It should be nationally uniform. I was part of a bistate terrorism training excercise about a month ago and OMG what a cluster. Some EMTs were doing things that they normally do in their SOP while others were not allowed to do in theirs and it took a while for the Coordinators of each triage area to finally just find the right combinations of folks to get the job done. Not saying it didnt work or wasnt a good exercise but took a little while, but then again this was good because the folks running the thing took alot of notes as to update their "playbook" so to speak.Would just be a whole lot easier if it was uniform. Just look at FF all their training is universal so they can go to another country and still fight a fire effectively alongside another. Picture a basic going to another country we would be laughed at, either that or patted on the head and told good boy go sit over there and let me do it. Again these are my personal feelings and observations as a basic and nothing more. I kow it seems like I am being a *&^% but thats the way I see it, we have peoples lives in our hands with 120hrs under our belts.

I am a Paramedic in New South Wales, Australia. We currently have a "unit" that specifically deals with the transportation of Bariatric Patients, we have two day shift crews (2 people per truck) and we have on call facilities out of hours. We currently have 5 specialised vehicles in NSW alone, with multiple in other states. The largest patient in NSW we have come across so far is around 430kgs. (950lbs) Moving forward with our ideas to make things easier, we have an electric/hydraulic stretcher that takes up to 500kgs (1100lbs)our 2 newest vehicles have these. We have hovermats for manouvering in their houses on flat surfaces and hoverjacks that will lift them up to chest height ( I'm 5"9'), we are looking into portable lifters as well, but over here, I am battling to find anything over 270kgs (595lbs). Our vehicles are something a little different to our standard ambulances. Obviously, they are trucks, but we also do intensive care transfers ie when people are on ECMO (lung bypass), balloon pumps etc, because we have the extra room in our vehicle it makes life so much easier! I am interested in seeing what everyone else does to manage these types of patients....we are now doing up to 8 jobs a day, that is just in New South Wales, and as people are learning what we have available, we are getting alot busier. They are even looking for the rural transfers at upgrading their fixed wing aircraft to take 260kgs (573lbs). I will add some pics of our equipment as time goes on..

Standing in chest deep water,freezing rain falling and stinging as it hits the exposed parts of my body. Holding her head above water to keep her from drowning until rescue could get there to cut her free--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER Comforting a 89 year old woman who just watch me and my partner cover the face of her husband of 64 years as he lay dead in their bathroom floor--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER On scene at an mva with mom trapped upside down in her car and her dead sons body laying on top of her without a second thought for my own safety I crawl into the wreckage to take C-spine control and calm the frantic lady--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER Called away from my just prepared meal to respond to the middle of B.F.E to a house with no numbers,no porch light on,nobody waiting to signal us in and they bitch because we took too long only to find out the patient left P.O.V ten minutes ago...so we smile and walk away from the verbal lashing only because we are JUST AMBULANCE DRIVERS Standing in the middle of the street at midnight on the wrong side of town trying to patch the holes and stop the bleeding of a 19 year old shooting victim with the occasional bullet whizzing past our heads we never break stride because this kids life is in our hands--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER Doing chest compressions on a 16 year old girl who decided this life was more than she could take.Her family screaming at us to help as though we are the ones who did this to her.Her lifeless body flailing about as the tube goes in and IV's being started, my arms and back burning from the pain of 30 minutes of CPR never once giving up, hoping she would make it through and over come whatever lead her to this bad decision---- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER Death is all around me and still I go home to live my life I get kicked,hit,spit on, bled on, puked on.... I look into the eyes of a lifeless child at 7am and by 8 am i'm holding my child a little tighter and they know nothing about what happened. I have hundreds of hours of classroom time years of in the field experience I have challenged death and won I've helped the helpless Ive neglected my family for yours I find comfort in complete chaos I eat cold meals if I eat at all I work with no sleep for days at a time I miss birthdays, holidays and school functions I put myself in harms way for a total stranger on a daily basis ALL BECAUSE I AM JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER I AM AN AMBULANCE DRIVER!!! I DRIVE 90 MPH THROUGH CONGESTED TRAFFIC FULL OF PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO YIELD RIGHT OF WAY WHILE MY PARTNER STANDS UNRESTRAINED IN THE BACK OF THIS SCREAMING LAND MISSILE SAVING YOUR LOVED ONES LIFE!! NEVER ONCE DOES HE QUESTION MY DRIVING HE KNOWS THAT AT THE END OF THIS SHIFT HE WILL GO HOME TO HIS FAMILY SAFELY BECAUSE I AM AN AMBULANCE DRIVER.... So please don't call us Ambulance drivers, we're paramedics. Highly trained and motivated medical professionals who, as you read, risk our lives to save yours. Also, when you see emergency lights in your rear-view mirror, pull to the RIGHT and stop. When we have our lights on, it's not just for fun. It's to get to a emergency as fast as we can or to take a critical patient to the hospital when seconds could mean life or death. Being a paramedic is dangerous enough, please don't risk our lives by not paying attention or disregarding our lights.