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I am lucky to work for a service where I get to do a whole range of things - on a shift, I could do interfacility transfers, emergency calls, and a flight, all in a single 12 hour shift. The IFT calls we get are generally either to or from a long term care facility, or from our hospital to a higher level trauma or cardiac care facility. First, some of the things I don't like: - some of the long term care facilities have staff who are very poor at giving historical information, and you have limited or no access to medication lists, medical history, or DNR status. - some facilities will treat you like you have no right to ask questions, or just want the patient off their hands, and you will see poor patient care in some facilities. - some of the facilities have staff that are incredibly hard to find - we have returned patients to facilities, and have had to page staff from the front desk, or go up and down the halls looking for staff so we can do a report and hand off the patient. - sometimes, you are a taxi service only. You don't provide any medical care, and you are there only because family members cannot be bothered to look for any other alternative to get their family from one place to another. Now, some of the positives: - you will get to see a variety of things that you may not see on emergency calls, and that you may not have time to ask a lot of questions about on an emergency call. For example, transferring a dialysis patient may give you the opportunity to ask questions about their dialysis routine, some of the things that they find a problem or a good thing, or they may let you inspect and listen to their fistula if they have one - a good learning experience - some patients are very willing to talk, and you can learn a great deal about life in general from these patients. The other day I had a patient who had been a war bride - and she loved to tell me about coming to Canada - she was so interesting to listen to. - sometimes, the only care you will give these patients is comfort and a hand to hold, and for some of these patients, that is worth more than any medication you could provide. Seeing the smile on their face when you hold their hand, or getting a hug from them when you drop them off, is an added bonus to a day where you may not get thanked for the work you do. - if you are transferring a patient from one health centre to a higher care centre, you may have the opportunity to talk to staff there, or be able to follow your patient through some procedures, again, being able to learn from these calls things that you wouldn't see on a regular e-call. I will admit, I wouldn't want to work strictly IFT calls. I like the emergency calls, since they are what I originally got into EMS to do. Don't sell IFT calls short though - there are some that you can learn a great deal from.

Lets just imagine for a minute that the funds that are donated to this cause, that those funds could be used to a far more noble cause ? I post this while watching SU2C thats: Stand Up To Cancer. Yet instead to prevent Lawyers bulling our site that is dedicated to sharing of EMS information and directly pertaining to our culture. Just look at the same situation for example in cancer, cardiac, CPR, stroke and a host of other illnesses and the research that is done and openly shared to prevent death and suffering. We that are health care professionals simply can not fathom that this selfish act by a news paper conglomerate. For SHAME Wronghaven you truly SUCK !

NREMT-P is the most marketable skills you will have in EMS, EMT's are a dime a dozen, EMT-I's are close, Paramedics a little less in the numbers .... Go for full medic, it will only help you in the end.

Well I came, I saw, I donated. Good luck.

ah, ok... wasn't aware you needed acessories! can't wait to buy my iscope!!

Haven't there been electronic stethoscopes around for awhile? They are capable of recording audio for further use later... although they don't play music or anything, but they are capable of listening in real time.. unlike the mp3 player where you have to record, then listen... Seems to me like this could be making things more difficult?

The best boot would be: Light weight Zipper/ Non metalic Rated safety toe/ Non metalic Shank/ Non metalic Scuff resistant toe/ Rubber covered like some fire boots Tread/ as mentioned in other post Easily Decontaminated/ Resistant to strong chemicals- its strong it will kill anything metality Shiny/ for the anal ones out there Finally COST I hope they have better luck than most of the major manufactures. You can get a couple of traits in most boots but not all of them in one, at least for the looking I have done.

non metalic toe and shank for sure. zippered for sure. and a place to stash sheers would be kinda cool...

:shock: The "cool factor" is more important than any other concerns. Wankers won't wear it if it doesn't look cool. Obviously, it must have an ANSI certified safety toe, preferably not metallic. Must have a non-porous surface that will not hold fluids and is easily washed off. Must both breathe and be waterproof. Must have a sole that grips well on every conceivable surface or terrain, including ice, without the tread mucking up with debris, and without squeaking or leaving black scuff marks on the ambulance floor. Must be as light, flexible, and comfortable as a canvas tennis shoe. Must have an intrinsic anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, odour eating interior lining and insole. Ankle support is greatly overrated in injury prevention, so unless you have something absolutely revolutionary in that respect, I wouldn't get too caught up in that.

Well, as long as they come in tactical black...

Sorry dudes and dudettes, this IS NOT VTACH. Treat your patient, not the monitor. And you may be amazed to know that there are patients who go in and out of VTACH, SVT, and have arrests that last greater than 6 seconds several times per day, and live without a Paragod's intervention (although they usually get a pacemaker or internal defibrillator shortly after it is found).