HellsBells

Ok then... here's how they envisioned the relevance... Fair enough, I'm not trying to argue that this isn't a valid argument, and believe it or not I'm not intentionally trying to piss anyone off here. Obviously, there are some huge deficits in the application of Canada's Justice system ( particularly in the Justice part). Hopefully the new crime bill from the Harper Govt. will address this and we'll start to see these convicts actually serving the sentences they've been given. Tniuqs, if what you say about the supreme court ruling on pre-meditated murder is true (its the first I've heard of it), then its truly a disgrace to our justice system. How any rational person can make such a judgement is beyond my comprehension. There are a lot of flaws in our system. One of the more outrageous is prisoners being given credit for time served at four to one because of overcrowding. I however don't see our lack of capital punishment as one of the problems. As stated before the best argument against capital punishment is of course the possibility of killing an innocent. No matter how good the forensics or DNA, there is always the possibility, albeit slim that a mistake could be made ( this is the government were talking about folks). Even if we lived in the Utopia ERDoc mentions, at least pertaining to conviction vs guilt (I.E. 100% death row convicts are actually guilty), I still wouldn't support the death penalty. To me the whole idea of an eye for an eye smacks of vengeance and rage, not justice. Now do I think that most of these hardened murders, rapists, and molesters will become rehabilitated and see the errors of their ways? Of course not. People who commit terrible crimes should spend their entire life in prison, no parole, no time off for good behavior, no release into society because they've "found Jesus."

umm... Yes I have needed police back-up. Thanks for asking. I still fail to see the connection between the death penalty and my job in EMS.

What does this have to do with EMS?

I love it when the guy farther off rips the pants off and tosses them away. I can't count the number of times I've did that on an MVA victim.

Hey, what is the process for equivalency from Alberta to Manitoba? Furthermore, exactly what kind of wages are the norm out there? Any numbers?

In our system its known as Maxeran; given IV or IM. We also have IV gravol.

In my urban service with about 500 employees, I'd say its a 60/40 split of men to women respectively. I've never had any issue with the women I've worked with, they are just as competent as any of the men. And those men are called Fire Fighters, call them on the radio and they come in a big red truck, eager to lift something.

I didn't think that I was being overly critical of crazy emt. Obviously, being new to the job there are things out there that can be impossible to prepare for. Everyone, including myself has experienced it. The good thing about incidents like this is that they tend to stick with you and motivate you not to repeat the mistake next time

Its funny you know, people seem to think that once the collar is applied the patient is immobilized. I'll always remember something one of my instructors told me. " the collar is there to remind the patient not to move his head"

First of all, please use the spell check and look at your grammar before posting. That was a little hard to read As for you freezing up? It is a common stress reaction. I can remember my mind going completely blank trying to take simple histories from patients when I was on practicum. That said, being a rookie is no excuse not to do your job. The best advice I can give is that when you're faced with a hairy situation, try to fall back on your training and do things in a step by step process. I.e. LOC, ABC's, put bandage over skull so I'm not distracted, C-collar, spineboard, etc. Remember, if this patient has a MOI so significant that a piece of skull is missing, then she probably has other more severe injuries and needs to get to the hospital fairly quickly. Are you sure thats a GCS of 15?

The Fire Station for sure, everbody knows Fire based systems are the King of EMS

Now, I don't now how true this is, But I had a doctor from South Africa tell me that ambulances there don't pick up just one patient, they will respond 3 or 4 calls until the back of the unit is full and then dump them all in the ER.

I agree, there should be a definate push made for all units to be ALS, with at least one paramedic. Having dual Medics would be great, and actually in the system I work in that used to be the norm (medics, or at least EMT medic students were the only hires). However, with the recent economic boom and influx of people to our province that practice has fallen by the wayside and there are a lot more Paramedic/ EMT units here now, which quite honestly I don't have a problem with. I think, however there is a slight advantage to Paramedic/ EMT units in Canada, as our EMT's are roughly equivalant to EMT-I in the USA. We also have EMR (EMT-B)Level , but in order to bill as an ALS service there has to be at least 1 paramedic, 1 EMT on car; so there is very little co-mingling of basics and medics.

I've never ran into a problem using blue ink.

I'm sorry, but what the hell is a WAWA?

Keeping in mind that I'm only a BLS guy here, My first thought was to try a Combivent Neb, Followed by IV access, with a good old 250ml bolus. If there is no joy from the Neb, OPA, BVM interventions if needed. I'd also like to see a 12 lead on this Lady, leaving any further interventions to my highly skilled Paramedic partner. Now as for a BGL, why can't we get one from her home monitor? Is it broken, or just Paramedic proof?

I know that this line is meant tongue in cheek, but are you trying to suggest Alberta has weak Paramedics? I agree, transfer services are kind of the red headed step child of EMS. Here in Calgary there is a service kind of similar to what you suggest, who take stable patients to and from appointments, doctors office, etc. The employees require first aid training and supply oxygen, providing the patient is on it at home. Just to clarify your position Dust, I assume when you mean these people should have no formal EMS training, that they receive some other medical training, so that they are able to perform medical interventions during transport for those patients who aren't strictly BLS?

As Ems solutions says, were not social workers, these people had problems long before we were called into their lives, telling them they're really F***ing things up isnt going change the way someone acts. However, I'll try to help those who will accept it, i.e. helping a patient get into detox, rehab centers.

During my time in EMS, I've worked for two small private companies ( one good, the other... not so much). I'm now working for a large public service, that I'm more or less satisfied with. However, in a service with over 500 employees, its harder to develop those close personal friendships then, say with 10 other co-workers. In my naive and callow youth I chose to work, for what was perhaps the worst of private operators, in terms of quality equipment, staff respect, and probably, one of overall incompetence in leadership. This was a BLS service with 3 units, we did 911, transfers, standbys, whatever made money, we did it. That said this was a service that did about 400-500 calls a year, so three units was actually quite generous (but of course only because the town was willing to pay). The treatment of the staff was so unbearable for people that when I came on, the longest an employee had been on staff was 1 1/2 years, all the units were constantly in need of repair( One in particular had been in a roll-over, written off by insurance, our boss was paid out for it, he then bought it back, had it refurbished and put back in service). We were always on short supply for stock, one unit was stocked with these ancient wooden spine boards; which on one memorable occasion almost broke in half when used to lift a heavy dude off the ground. It ended up having a crack around the handle running down the edge of the board. When I tried to take it off the truck, the owners solution was to wrap the handle in tape and deem it fit for service. Can you dig it? Anyways, after I was employed for about a year our owner lost the service due to his continued incompetence, as well as a few run ins with town council. The company that came in was a well established private operator, running services out of 4 other neighboring towns. The change was quite welcome, we went to 2 ALS, one BLS unit, brand new ambulances and equipment, a new hall, plus the new owner transferred over about 95% of the former staff, we started having monthly in-services, paid vacation days, competent management. Now I'm working in a municipal system and the union really dictates how were treated by management, but as I said earlier, I do miss the smaller more, close knit community aspect of the smaller service. But I suppose thats more an issue of rural vs urban at any rate.

With the repeatitive questioning it sounds like he may have a concussion, but the differentials here could be CVA, TIA, Hypoglycemia, Drug OD.

I would say that you should write up your findings and stats, and projections and present it to town council. Another option would be to contact the local newspaper and inform them of your difficulty to retain the proper volunteer staffing levels in the face of a growing call volume

Why? Because EMT's, Paramedic's have nothing to do with lawyers. I don't see why your even trying to make a comparison between the two; because of some offhand remark made about saving lives? WANTYNU, I also think that is irresponsible of you to make the statement that it takes 2 years for a law degree, when you know full well lawyers need an undergrad degree, go through at least 6 years of schooling, and rack up massive student debt. If you want to compare professions, lets see where we measure up to X-ray techs, Sonographers, Lab techs, Respiratory techs, RN's, etc. Professions in the health care field that require the amount of education similar to that of a Paramedic. The question to ask is why do they make more than us?

hmmm, maybe when your event has used up every single ambulance in the area and you have to call "Markleville" in for back up, it's time to shut things down.

Gap training is an expanded scope of practice for EMT's and Paramedics in AB. It allows EMT's to administer Nitro, ASA, Ventolin, Atrovent, and Epi (IM for anaphalaxis). I'm not completely sure what the expanded practice for paramedics includes.