dahlio

Vitals are around the same as before Resps. 16. Nothing OUTSTANDING on the 3 lead or 12, but there is something. Head to toe exam reveals nothing except a swollen ankle, which doesn't look recent. Witness states that she saw him pull up to the stop sign, and make a (relatively) full stop, and boom, he was in the woods. Only evidence of him possibly trying to avoid is skid marks, which makes sense since the other car clipped him in th rear. Sorry about the long delay. I stopped getting emails for some reason.

Has the American Heart Assoc. came out with any statements for use of this product in the US?

That Sprinter top heavy much? Seems like with a bad gust of wind it would blow over. How does it drive around turns?

Well, I'm not sure whether you're talking about an actual vehicle, which is something that belongs in the Apparatus Section. If you're talking about how it might work, here is a good example of how I think it should work. You have your duty ambulance crew, and a first responder, who takes the car home. Whenever you get a run, the first responder goes directly to the scene, and starts patient care. The real benefit here, is that patient care is done earlier then if it was just the ambulance. What's also nice is that this first responder will not be going along with the duty crew to the hospital, unless it is warranted. This leaves him available to take a second call, if one occurs. Since those can sometimes take a while to get, patient care won't suffer. Even if it goes mutual aid, it starts the patient care early. There are certain calls that the first responder should not be going on, such as psychiatric calls, and intoxicated person calls (which essentially is the same thing). I've been trying to get this going, however, with the purchase of a new rig, and a building expansion, doesn't look like we will be getting anything anytime soon. Was going to recommend doin it in POV to the squad, but that's giving whackers more of a reason to think about getting light shows on the go. See if the police department, or fire department have an old car/truck to use. Watch out however, because when they get rid of them, they are you usually beat to hell. Also, I've seen, is that if you do get a car, and it comes time to lettering, look around and try to see if a local shop would do it for free, and offer them a color matched, small advertisement on the back corner panel. I've seen a couple places do this. Good luck with this program, and let us know how it works. Note: If this wasn't what you were looking for, sorry for wasting 3 minutes of your time 8) .

All of our units are labeled A-5X, the other two squads in town are A-6X and A-7X. All of our members have radio numbers of 58XX, and the other two squads of 68XX and 78XX. Seems to work well.

He can't remember anything, and he keeps asking you what is going on. No meds/allergies from what you get from him. ALS gets a BGL of 104, nothing on 3 or 12 lead. There was damage in the car, yet most of which occurred on the front passenger side. You play doctor, what could this be?

So I was working at a camp last year, when I had jumped off a stack of mats, and landed wrong. The year previous, pretty much to the day, I had dislocated my Right Patella, and went by car to the ER. My sister who also worked at that camp was in the room along with a couple other people. I yell, "Damn! My Knee." My sister thought I was joking, and I yelled, "No I'm serious, does this look right to you?" So I call my mom, who is furious, and she came on her way. I then realized it was the Left Knee I had popped out this time. I realize that I have bad knees. So the big boss finally comes in to the room, saying, "No! He has to go by ambulance for Worker's Comp. Reasons." There are three squads in my town, and I get one of the neighboring ones. They showed up and were like, "Don't think you'll be riding for a while." I knew the lady in the back, and wasn't in as much pain as I was the last time. I ask her, "Can I see the BP Cuff?" She says sure, and I start to take my own blood pressure, took my pulse. It gave me something to do since I didn't want to be in there. So I get to the ER, and I hear all the nurses saying, "Ouch". With me saying back, "You know that doesn't help at all." Finally get to the ER cot, and an intern comes up and says, "I think your knee might be dislocated." No, you think? Send me to X-Ray, and the Doc comes in. Well, we can do this two ways, pop it in, or put you under. Luckily the year prior, it went in by itself. I chose the 'Pop it in, get me outta here'. He says ok, and said sometimes straighting the leg does the trick. No luck. He then proceeds to put a stack of towels under my foot, and says, "Crap, we're gonna have to hyper extend." All under his breath, and I said, "Dude, I know what that means, give me a second." We finally hyper extend my leg, and still no luck. At this point I'm not looking because it hurt so much. I swear he must have been shoving on it, and it finally went in. After that quick relief, I told the Doc I loved him. It's nice to have things where they belong. Some interesting stories I've read.

Only Two Months Late... But I do appreciate the response. I was actually at a pretty large fire a couple weeks back, and was able to use some of the suggestions from the forum. I was in charge of triage, and it was a lot of fun.

Real quick replies. Thanks a lot guys/gals. You didn't confuse me dust, actually, that really explained it well for me. I'll be starting Paramedic School starting September 2008. Currently taking all of my Pre-Req's now, but I'm sure I'll get the reasoning behind it then. I will however be reading up on Einthoven's Triangle. Now I won't feel completely useless when I ask if the medic needs a hand with anything. Thanks again for the replies!

Went on a call today to the Diabetic Emergency. As usual, I ask the paramedics what I can do for them. An older medic asked me, oh, can you set up the monitor. I told her, I'm not sure where to place the electrodes. She then told me: White on the Right, Red on the Rib. Smoke before Fire. Has anyone ever heard this? She seemed like an old time medic. This was also the Lifepak 12 as well, if it makes a difference. This kind of confuses me as you place an electrode on the pt's leg. Thanks in advance for your clarification.

Ouch. Anyway, have you considered the thought that maybe the car wasn't actually going 55 miles per hour? Dispatchers get things wrong sometimes. [s:46abf06fdc]Anyway, [/s:46abf06fdc](I tend to overuse that word) [s:46abf06fdc]w[/s:46abf06fdc] Welcome to the city, and good luck finishing EMT-B school.

Definitely, A very well detailed explanation. So if my service doesn't carry full non rebreathers, then the only way one of my patients are getting hi-flow O2 is through BVM? Interesting.

I was always taught 1-7 lpm, Nasal Cannula 8-15 lpm, Partial NRB, I don't believe we use true NRB anymore. Anything over 12 is considered High Flow O2. Supposedly we should hook the BVM up to 25lpm of O2, but I find that to be wasteful, and 15lpm keeps the reservoir pretty full. Like I said, this is what I was taught.

We have the following: 2000 Medium Duty - Frieghtliner Chassis - Horton Box 2002 Medium Duty - Frieghtliner Chassis - Also a Horton Box 2006 Type III - Ford E350 Chassis - Horton Box Did have a 2004 Type III -Ford E350 Chassis - Horton Box, but unfortunately a drunk driver T-Boned it. We were able to keep the 2000 Frieghtliner until we could buy a replacement. Just put in an order for a GMC Chassis PL Custom. Should be here in the spring to replace the 7 year old Frieghtliner. -Boot

Right away slap (not literally) a NRB at 12lpm on him, make sure you brought the BVM in, call ALS. What is this chest pain like? Crushing, Dull, Constant? Does it radiate anywhere? Lets do a quick stroke test (arm drift, squeezing fingers), is he leaning to one particular side? While partner gets vitals, does he have a medical history, was he doing anything strenuous? AO times ?

I agree with spenac, take it and move on. It's definitely a good thing that someone else was around, just in case he was going to pass out. But overall, it is the patients decision if he's competent, of legal age, and AOx3(or 4, whichever your prefer).

Watch the old TV Show Emergency!

Glad to see this thread went to hell. Thanks Beegers for the only appropriate answer.

Yeah, but when the basic screws it up, and doesn't get in to a vein (due to lack of training/education), it will take more time for the paramedic to pull that one out, and start a new one.

Well I wasn't asking whether or not a Basic should be administrating a drug, I was asking various other questions which you can read in my first post... So when I'm a medic, do I get to give out points?

Understood, but as a basic starting an IV line, you won't be pushing any drugs to raise the pt's b/p, so what's the point of the basic starting the IV line? I'm not saying the IV is unnecessary for ALS, but there is no need for BLS to start a line.

Any NJ BLS providers currently have Epi-Pen's on their ambulances? How is it working for your service? How many times have you actually used them? How many have you had to waste due to their short shelf life? Is it worth the cost to carry them on your ambulance? If you're from another state, and do carry Epi-Pen's on your BLS service, please answer as well. Those who don't know about the (not all that) new policy in NJ, you can read about it here.

Basics in NJ can assist with nitro, not give it. Have to check for contraindications, and make sure of the 5 rights. Right patient, right dose etc. Also in NJ need to have a Systolic B/P of 110 in order to give nitro to them, same goes for ALS in NJ, if they are going to give them Nitro. And do what with it? Wait for ALS? I'm only a basic, and as much as that Saline Lock of Life cures everything, I don't think it's going to raise your pt's B/P. I don't see any reason to have to start an IV. ALS is usually dispatched along with Chest Pain, and if not, should be requested since Basics can't/don't know how to use the little squiggly line machines . Just my 2 cents..

You have a box of hospital sheets? Damn, hardcore.

GPS systems can be great, especially for door to door directions. It does take about a minute or two to type all of the info in on one screen. I've heard many places where they have configured their GPS system to automatically add itself when the call goes out through CAD (Computer Automated Dispatch). But like I said before, GPS systems can be great, but it shouldn't be a replacement for map reading skills. Many times has the GPS been wrong. It is only a computer...