CBEMT

"This is a medical problem, not a police problem. We don't take people to the hospital, that's your job." Back to square one. Not saying it happens everywhere, but some people do in fact have cops like that.

He didn't say the kid legally drove his car into the hospital.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/01/05/2010-01-05_he_got_the_boots___it_cost_his_career.html

Richard, is there a link for that? I'd love to disseminate that through my agencies.

Let's also keep in mind that whether we like it or not, an abdominal exam is part of the EMT-B curriculum and, more importantly, the standard of care. I think it's a dangerous for a provider at any level to take the stances of some here regarding the limitations of EMT-Basics and put them into practice with patients in contravention of their regulatory oversight and medical direction. A first-year law student could plant the idea in a jury's head that if Mr. or Miss EMT had only followed his training and performed an abdominal exam, Mr. Husband and Father of 3 would still be alive today.

He would've been RSI'd at my hospital. I brought in a very similar patient, fought so hard I never even got a collar on him. Trauma staff gave him enough ativan and haldol to kill a herd of elephants before he shut up, then realized they should have just tubed him to begin with because now his airway was questionable. So they did.

Guys, that's not the 3rd party bill for the transport, the way I'm reading this. That's the bill to the department receiving the mutual aid because they can't get out the door, issued by the department picking up the slack. Services rendered, as they say.

Relative of mine had a baby born with cerebral palsy years back. They used hyperbaric therapy in an attempt to improve her cognition and function. I'm not close enough with them to know what the results were though.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/133168.html The comment thread is.... interesting. I will say that, knowing what I do about RI, Tiverton FD having 15 paramedics for a department their size puts them above and beyond the vast majority of the state's departments, considering most of the population is served by sub-paramedic ALS providers.

http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=11600&siteSection=1

http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=11598&siteSection=1 Through a friend who works per-diem in that area, this place is the middle of freaking nowhere (as much as anything can be in New England, I suppose). During a storm last winter he drove 2 hours through the snow at the request of his officer- because otherwise, that town and 7 others wouldn't have had a paramedic anywhere near them for the duration.

Ugh, don't remind me. My state has several different laws giving specific immunity to firefighters (and specifically not naming other "brands" of providers) for medical care provided in the field. Fire owns EMS, the IAFF owns the state legislature, the legislature makes the laws, and the public suffers.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=9427607

http://www.ems1.com/ems-news/735601-nd-ambulance-crews-rely-on-young-volunteers/

I see the remote possibility of new protocol implementation that was supposed to happen in 2009. Fire chiefs and fire unions still deciding what we get and what we don't, and when, and what will be mandatory and what will stay optional. State EMS office still understaffed, and if they keep what they have we'll be lucky. So, just more of the same here.

Umm, decaf maybe? Pretty sure he was talking about demographics being the only thing he writes down EN ROUTE. Not "at all." Since that's what the last few posts were about- documenting en route versus waiting.

We don't "hunt and steal." State law requires them to resupply us. Now. If you ask why that law was enacted.... I have a few theories.

Or- don't shoot the messenger- it could have something to do with the fact that they know you spent more time with your paperwork than the patient. Sounds like you work at a private. Guess how many competent EMTs working at privates the triage nurse has seen in his or here time? I'll give you a hint- it's very likely a small, small number. You could be the best EMT at your company, but if one of your colleges was a moron earlier that day, the nurses are probably going to treat you the same as they'll treat him. Guilt by association. It sucks, but that's life. Just some advice from me to you. As far as the original question, it takes us whatever it takes us. We restock from the ER, including meds. If it takes the supply guy a while to get to us, and it takes me awhile to find a nurse with enough free time to resupply my meds, I could be there 45 minutes sometimes. And that doesn't always include report time (I tend to write more than most people I see). We're required to leave a completed run report copy before leaving, so no matter what dispatch wants, I can't leave until at least then. Nowhere I work has a set policy. One dispatch might start calling if they're busy and running out of trucks in service, or if they have another one for us. They can't order me to clear, but the supervisors might become more interested if I make a habit of very long OOS times.

If the way the company has their internal data gathering at this operation is that you give the dispatcher the patient's information, I don't see how it would be a violation. It's the same as my old job, where all our paperwork went into an envelope and we wrote each patient's name on the outside. Some people refused to do that, citing HIPAA. Except the envelope is an internal document, so it's not. (Can you tell our HIPAA training was virtually non-existant?) Your conversation with the dispatcher is, likewise, internal communication.

Actually, mine came from eating out to often then driving the desk all day.

If there's such a thing as Supervisor's Ass, I definitely had that for a while.

Fixed that for ya.

When the Cambridge PD arrested his dumbass buddy, he couldn't get in front of a camera fast enough. A Muslim whackjob tries to kill 300 Americans on Thursday, and it's three days before we hear from anybody at the Cabinet level, never mind the President.

There's at LEAST have a dozen private companies that operate in that town... he wants to serve 3 nursing homes and a hospital with one BLS truck. Not happening. Problem is, he's doing it all shady-like, and people are on to him. He just tried to close a fire station for the (unpublicized) purpose of leasing it to a friend of his who owns a private ambulance company. IAFF took him to court, got an injunction, and then discovered that when the station was deeded to the town, it was stipulated that the building could only ever be used as a firehouse. Oops. Having screwed that up, he now wants to run this horizontal taxi service, but is selling it to the town based on figures that assume a 100% collection rate. Fail. We're talking about a mayor that sold one of those construction site office trailers as town surplus, except the town didn't even own the damn thing in the first place- they'd been leasing it to the tune of $100+ a month for years while it sat rusting in the DPW yard. Not exactly the brightest bulb. It's already established what company he'd want to get the contract, if he ever got it that far, and let me assure you- the people of North Providence are probably better of with what they've got. Sounds crazy, but its true. I can't really be more specific than that. Of course, the IAFF local would tie him up in court for years, and the company in question would lose at least a thrid of its employees- while gaining 5 million applications from every whacker moron with a license, because they'd be the first company with a significant 911 contract in the state's history. Which would have the side effect of allowing them to continue paying poverty wages.