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So's your hat.

Yeah, I know what it is. It just still baffles my mind. I would like to say, wow, crotchity, you're right. Thanks for enlightening me.

I think crotchity must stand outside my ER and tell most of the pts coming in about the aluminium in deodorant, because I would say that 25% of them use it. Hey, like I said, I don't want to catch the Autism.

How can a test question possibly be racist? Did I miss the day in school when they pulled all of the white kids aside and said, "These are the answers to any test you will ever take. Don't let the black kids know."? Us whiteies aren't born with any special sets of knowledge that every other race/color aren't born with nor do we take any secret white people classes in grade school, middle school, high school or college. Once again our village idiot has monopolized most of the threads in the last week with his vitriol and we have all succumbed to it. Sometimes I wonder who the bigger moron is, him or the rest of us (myself included).

There you have it, those who did poorly were NOT smarter than a 5th grader. Come on say it with me. "I'm not smarter than a 5th grader" Those who did not pass should not try out for that show. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crotchity must be a fan of the Neal Boortz Radio show, he is one of the loudest people on the subject that it is all a scam. I am with ER Doc, I think it is real, but I think some are just "bored" at school (versus their home environment with constant stimulation from video games, TV, music), and then are labeled hyper by teachers so they can get them on meds and get them to sit still for 50 minutes.

And again he's back lmao. I have to say it was so nice to come into the forums and actually have some sort of intelligent conversations. Now I would love to call him an asshole, racisit piece of shit, moron with little man syndrom, and just a complete fuck-up. But I wont because Im going to try my hardest not to responed to what ever spews out of his finger tips but I do have great belly laughs at what he types. I have learned through the years that those that deny are the ones that are suffering from what ever they deny, So everyone have a nice day even you crotch

A few years of working overseas with limited resources has taught me to try to know every off label/alternate use of every medication you have access to. Knowing that Benedryl can help with nausea or that mag sulfate can help with severe asthma might save your butt. Of course those are just a few examples of medication uses that might not be in your protocols. Don't just have one way of doing things. For example know a couple different ways of getting IV access. Don't limit yourself to hands and arms, I've put IV's in chests veins, feet, the head, upper arm, and ankle to name a few. Sometimes starting an IV bevel up works better on the elderly and children. Think simple, cause sometimes simple works just as well or better than the complicated. Yea, the fancy toys are great but remember to treat your patient not the machine. You never know when a machine will break or you will work for a service that doesn't have that fancy widga gidga. Think outside the box!! Another example of simple is while working in overseas we had a patient that kept getting a nose bleed and didn't have access to labs. The PA working with us said to stab his finger with a lancet and then touch his finger to an index card and keep doing it every 10 seconds until it quit leaving blood on the card, then count up the spots of blood on the card and then you had an idea of what his clotting time was and helped us rule out a clotting time issue. ADVOCATE FOR YOUR PATIENTS! That's all I can think of off hand but I'm sure I could come up with a few more if I gave it some more thought. Sarah

I totally understand crotchity's point... when your not sure, just give drugs until something happens Good lessen for the younger generation eh?

That`s called power sleeping. The point is, to train your body to fall into deep sleep instantly after closing your eyes and dozing off, instead of "wasting" time with lighter sleep.

You do have a very point about ignorance

Wow, just came back to this thread. Didn't think anyone had posted in it. I appreciate the bits of input from some of you, thanks. And wow, crotchity, I am really glad I don't know you in person because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep myself from kicking your ass. I can't help but wonder, do you just get a kick out of stirring shit up and pissing people off online? Or are you actually that ignorant? If so, man, I feel sorry for you. "PSTD is weaklings who are looking for a way out." Wow, just wow. I don't even know how to respond to that. Actually, I don't think it's really worth responding to.

With Bushy on this. I prefer to start IV's in the lower inside forearms if possible, especially on trauma pt.'s. My mrs., who is a circulating nurse in the OR, says most trauma surgeons prefer not to have IV's in the AC's because of the way pt.'s must sometimes be manipulated. Having an IV in a "fold" (for lack of a better term, hey, I just got up) can interfere with the flow of fluids sometimes due to the position some pt.'s must be placed. For me, I like to start them in the forearm because it doesn't hurt the pt. as much and it is easier for me to keep an eye on it. The vein's are usually pretty straight and will hold a 18/16 in most cases.

The anaesthetist wasn't happy as the cubes are large veins and have been essentially wasted by a smaller cannula than is required. The fact that he whacked another 2 in further down probably indicates he had pretty good veins, and the combines flow rate of 4x18g i imagine met the anaesthetists needs. Start from the bottom and work your way up mate. I usually go for a patent 18/16 in a lower arm before and then look to try and duplicate that, but i try and avoid using the cubes if i can.

It has been pointed out, it has existed for a very long time. I believe my grandfather, a USMC Master Sgt. in WWII suffered from it even to the day he died. I have a very close and dear friend who was brutally attacked and nearly died, who suffers from nightmares, attacked her husband in her sleep because she thought he was harming her, gets panic attacks in public when she sees a bald man...are you telling me she is just weak? She is THE strongest person I know for overcoming what that monster did to her, and is so brave and strong to be confronting it every day in therapy in an attempt to get her life back. How DARE you come in here and just stir the pot with your bull shit. If you don't agree with a post....zip it. I generally ignore your ignorance and rude comments, but this hit too close to home and I am too tired to just sit by and watch. You should really be ashamed of yourself, and I hope your mother finds out how you behave on this web forum, it is truly appalling.

Signs and symptoms of PTSD have been documented in ancient literature from several hundred to several thousand years BC. Nothing new about it. However, the pejorative statements people make about PTSD patients are quite harmful and do little to describe the facts about this problem. Attached, is a link to a study on PTSD documentation in ancient literature, and this study was done outside of the United States, because I would not want to use anything from the "pharmaceutically" tainted literature in the States... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990839/ Take care, chbare. On a side note, I am not sure I would say I suffer from PTSD; however, I have had a few nightmares relating to experiences I've had in both the United States and Afghanistan. Also, I remember being out walking and had a minor incident shortly after returning from Afghanistan. Apparently, there was a foot ball game and when one team won, a massive fire works show started (Homecoming I believe). There was a sudden, large boom and for an instant I though it was an IDE/VBIED and went to the ground. Had I been a little more aware of the fact that the game was going on, I do not think it would have taken me by surprise. I have had no other incidents since and generally think I am doing just fine. However, I can appreciate what some of these people who experienced "real" action may be dealing with. Take care, chbare.

Who said anything about drugs? Say what you want about the pharmaceutic industry, fine and to some degree I agree with you. Don't ever say PTSD is not real. If you did a little research instead of figuring out how to blame the white people for what an asshole you are you might know that it has been around for a long time. The term PTSD is a new term for conditions that have been described for centuries. Ever hear of battle fatigue (WWII), shell shock (WWI) or soldier's heart (US Civil War). Prior to that it was regretfully labeled as cowardice or personal weakness at times. Have you ever read about Hori or the accounts of Herodotus? I'm going to guess not because you are too stupid to research something that you know nothing about. I'm sure you'll have some stupid comeback so let me preemptively say, fuck you. Edit: Since research is too difficult for your pea-brain, here is a link for your education (and for others who are legitimately interested). http://www.vva.org/archive/TheVeteran/2005_03/feature_HistoryPTSD.htm

Heard something similar from an EMT riding in Berlin. He told me that at New Year`s Eve, they would get dispatched to psychatric calls quite often. Over the years, they had quite a few elderly patients getting a fit, because all the fireworks draw them back to the bombings they had survived in WWII. @ crotchity: When you have really nothing to say, but a load of crap to provoke others, wouldn`t it be best to say nothing at all?

Crotchity, you truly are an asshole. I guess my father-in-law (Navy corpsman stationed in Vietnam with the USMC) was just pretending when he would hide under the covers every 4th of July because the fireworks made the flashbacks uncontrollable. It was even funnier when he couldn't take it any longer and overdosed, leaving behind a wife, 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son. Yup, must have been the pharmaceutical industry's fault, especially since he was on no meds. So how long until you make this thread about yourself and turn it into a racism thread? You truly are a worthless piece of shit.

Ha,Ha, sounds like the paramedic deserved to be puked on! Yes being new sucks and that is coming from a fairly new paramedic myself as I have not been working in the EMS system long about 3 years and I still get nervous on calls. you are going to have good days and bad days when working in EMS. In my opinion I would not say anything to who ever is going to read the report unless if they ask you your side of the story but thats just me. I have worked with other paramedics who are soft spoken and have had to ask them to repeat what they just asked for. Yes they get upset sometimes but I let it slide off my back as maybe they are just having a bad day or things at home are not going well and I continue on with my day and attempt to have fun with my partner even if they are grumpy and burned out! Hopefully next time you have a better experience. Before your next shift make sure you take extra time going through the car and ask as many questions as possible about the gear you are going to be using and know where it is kept. Especially the equipment that you use on each call. Good luck!

First off, your paramedic was a bitch. This is your second day..how many calls did you run? How much down time did you spend actually checking the truck and learning where things are? Even if you spent a bunch I'll bet it didn't help much as it's hard, at least for me, to keep track of things until I've used them, or things like them. This is the deal Brother. You need a little bit of time to get used to things, but you are on an ambulance now. You no longer have the right to become flustered and ineffective regardless of the situation. No...Matter.....what. You no longer have that right? Ok? If you can accept that, and believe it, then you will be a long way towards becoming calmer. Second, if you feel nervous, slow down. If/when you get behind, slow down. You can not think well, move well, perform well when you are wound up. You will make additional mistakes and simply get in your own way. When you do get to that place, badgering you and treating you poorly, hurting your spirit, does nothing but fuck up the whole system. That medic should be moved immediately from a preceptor spot. I don't know you of course. Maybe you're an asshole. Maybe you think you know everything. Maybe you just didn't pay attention and that got everything screwed up. I don't care really...treating people poorly simply runs the whole system down and makes it weaker. Next time out...slow everything down. If she calls for a BVM, I know you want to make it magically appear, but that's rookie bullshit. Find the bag or cabinet that it is in. Open the door carefully so you don't have to grab at it and jerk it several times, take out the BVM without dragging everything else in the cabinet out with it..as you might need that next. Assemble it and hand it to her. Slowly! If she gives you deep sighs or talks under her breath, ignore it. Because you don't want feedback? No, because there is no useful information in posturing and being dramatic. If you focus on it it will make you less secure, you will begin to hurry, and you will make stupid mistakes. You are going to make a million mistakes, that's just the nature of the beast. Slow down though, and you will stop making the stupid, easily avoidable ones. I, as well as most medics I know, want to see that you are 'aware.' That you know where your body is in regards to the pt and crew. Where your feet and hands are. If I ask you for a chest seal, I don't need it that very instant, but I'm going to need it soon, so I want to be confident that when I'm not looking at you that you will be calmly trying to solve my problem instead of floundering around like a fish out of water. See? If I have to help you? No problem, but you are wasting my time if I have to try and calm you down so that you can follow instructions. I can't tell you whether to call corporate or not, as I have no idea of the political climate where you work or the processes that may be in place. But my knee jerk reaction is that if you're not sure whether or not you should call, then don't call until you are. Being new sucks. We all have lived through it many times, but for your medic to purposely make it suck more should be considered unacceptable by the company you work for. You should know the ALS bag well. Break it down generally in your head. Airway, breathing, circulation, meds, fluids, bandages, and always, always, always carry tape. Then at least you will gave a general zone to begin searching in when you need something. Keep your chin up. Get busy on the City and start posting. You'll be amazed at the confidence that you can gain when you're thoughts and ideas are critiqued by your peers. It truly does translate to the real world. Dwayne