Chief1C

I'd document their level of consciousness and that the patient has an altered mental status with unintelligible speech and their response to verbal command. Whether or not it was an appropriate response, etc.

EMS has changed me A LOT. It has injured me, opened my eyes, made me appreciate time a little more, shocked me, made me sick, made me cry. I try to give myself fully to every patient I can, when I see something bad, it bothers me. But I don't think that makes me a weak, but stronger and able to give better care to each individual patient. A lot of people (notice I didn't say everyone) say that over time, the things they see don't bother them anymore. Well, I'm kind of like a total opposite. Maybe I'm just a little too traditional, but when someone asks me what I enjoy about EMS, I have to start with the compassion and the values and quality some of us put into it. It bothers me even more when someone tells me that they don't care about the patients anymore, it's just a job. When I look at EMS, now, I fear for its future.

Patient can leave the hospital, and live a life free of having to be bed ridden or attached to some machine. Complicated, but basically, has a quality of life similar to what they had before the illness or injury. I'd be satisfied if the patient had one last chance to say good bye to their family, to give them some closure.

#1 Unknown Medical - Non-specific complaint Then the other two are chest pain & CVA.

Will there be a point that transporting morbidly obese patients becomes a liability? I noticed that after transporting an 840LB patient, our cot lock bar was loose, it wobbled back and forth. But it was tight as could be. The patients weight actually bent the locking bar, and made it impossible to reattach and lock the cot. Luckily we had a second, but had there been an accident with a side impact, it's likely this lock would have broken off. And the bolts of the floor hook were actually broken. These items were meant to hold 650lbs. So, knowingly exceeding these manufacturer guidelines, seems like a legal risk to me. Is there some sort of kit available to retrofit a rig for bariatric transports. Personally, I like the look of those ambulances in the UK w/ the lifts on the back like stretcher vans have.

I was thinking more like this...

If your protocols or OMC tell you to do it. I've heard of it, I've read about it; but it's not an option, according to our BLS protocols.

I go more for the firefighting collectibles.. I have a bunch of street signs, novelty signs, old extinguishers, cast iron fire engines, code 3 collectibles, Faraday alarms, a Federal Signal Gas siren (well the casing anyway, the motor never worked), Emergency "51" Helmet, books on various fire engine manufacturers, histories of firefighting and the like items. However, I do like old EMS stuff, resuscitators, empty cases that things came in, various lots of supplies, the old green hudson oxygen boxes, Erickson & Johnstone resuscitators, Emerson resuscitators, books on the subject of EMS history, Cadillac ambos, Cotner-Bevington ambos, Pontiac ambos. I also have several DVD collections of films that are about EMS, rescue squads and firefighting; and I own the "James O. Page Collection". I take the stuff to flea markets, etc, and trade it for firefighting stuff. It's the hobby side of emergency services.

I was being mildly sarcastic.. Although, I can see where the time is eaten up, doing things the 'old fashion' way. http://julieraeengelsman.com/scratch.htm

Wow. Victims of Trauma were being transported in hearses and make shift ambulances, and doctors cars; and that was horrible. How could the richest and most powerful country in the world have such conditions. Death in a ditch; so EMS was born. Now it's better to skip the ambulance and go back to the car? Where did we go wrong?

treat the kid.. lynch mob the mother.

I wonder how many Johnny & Roy related injuries there were over the years?

Ambulate Before Carry

Hell.. Whatever your on.. I WANT SOME! Anyhoo.. We can cure that. I suggest 1000cc of EMTCity Chat. Kitchen Confidential? WTF is Kitchen Confidential? Is this going to be a combination of the mentality of 24 and whatever the heck Kitchen Confidential is? Maybe we should stick to reruns of Emergency!

That had to suck

Plywood, rope and a pair of sneakers...

Totally nude, wearing only your scope... hanging from.. anyhoo. That would be a bad pic.

After u get certified... Working with other EMT-B's that are dumb as a bucket of mud. My hardest challenge: Convincing my captain that there are protocols to follow, and that it actually is X year, not 1950. Oh wait, I just did that twenty minutes ago. Best thing to do is run away. Fast.

a pair of gloves, a pen, a small note pad, my cellphone, my wallet, my pager, my watch, a penlight; oh.. and a HURST combo tool

It's true... Have you ever tried to open a coconut, with only kitchen utensils? We tried that in our hotel room in Florida.. To the maintenance guy: Do you have a hammer and screw driver? or perhaps an axe? chainsaw? TNT? Ended up going to a hardware store to buy a hammer/hatchet combo tool, more weird looks.. After six or seven hard smacks, there was coconut milk everywhere.. and you do not want to drink a lot of that stuff. No way.