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Kaisu isnt...but I am Dwayne..... naturegirl....oh where do I start. Ok..here goes. I went to medic school 4 yrs ago after many many yrs as an EMT. I was hired at the service I'm at now, the night I passed my test. I am the SECOND female medic EVER hired there. The first one is now the Director of Operations. Since I've been hired, there have 2 other female EMT's hired that work full time. There are 2 others that are very very pat time. This is most defintely a mans business....there are many many men out there that dont believe that women should be in EMS at all. And they show that by tearing us down in front of other co-workers, finding every little thing thats wrong and beating us over the head with it and yes...throwing us under the bus for something as petty as not changing the trash bag in the rig. BUT.... As a female medic, and pardon the phrase please....you have to grow a set. A BIG BRASS set. If you arent doing anything "wrong", following your protocols and the end result is the same as the tradtitional way of doing things, then stand up for your decisions and defend them. If you can run a call through your head and say to yourself " I wouldnt have done anything different" then you're good. I've been QA'd to death....seriously. PCR's fall out sometimes for nothing more than wording I use. I get frustrated. I get pissed. I get down right mad sometimes. I've gone through this " I dont know if I want to do this anymore" thing. But then I think about something....the 2 yrs I gave up to be able to do this job...the sacrifice that my family had to give....the REASON that I went to medic school in the first place. Now, most of the time...not all, I look at the QA guy and "say...ok, yup, uh huh...ok I'll do better next time. Thanks" and go on with my day. I adopted this philosophy early.."Its better to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission". It hasnt let me down yet. It's just getting to that point of saying screw it...mister you werent there, you didnt see what I did. I did the best I could and if thats not good enough for YOU then send me home cuz there's medic jobs are all over the place. Really there are. Keep your chin up. Dont give up...cuz then they win.

Pillows are a hot commodity in my area, not for EMS per se, but all the ED's. We exchange linen at the hospital and if there is no pillow on the bed we're offloading to then we won't have one unless we take it from the patient. Generally I use an extra blanket folded up for the head and keep our pillow under the bench. If we get a long transport, or need it for splinting, or have a patient who is particularly uncomfortable (kyphosis, chronic pain, etc) I will pull it out. Unfortunately due to logistical realities I can't have a pillow for every patient and I do pick and choose when to use it, knowing I'll likely lose it. As far as hygiene goes, the pillow is vinyl. Remove the case, virox the pillow and put on a new case; problem solved.

I'm guessing she's both septic AND threw a PE. Both common complications post-surgical, and would explain the gasping for air and high fever... I would really like to know her BP, and if she's been d/c'd on any medications and if she's been compliant with those meds, given that she was diagnosed with HELLP. I am curious as to whether she actually had pre-eclamptic signs, or was just exhibiting more of the HELLP spectrum... it's all moved around so fast nobody can keep them straight anymore, but I'd like to know if her disease state affected her BP or her liver more, essentially... What's her vaginal discharge like? Any indication of birth material retention? (Rare, but could occur, even with a C-section). What's the monitor look like? Neurological status? Wendy CO EMT-B