whit72

Spenac wrote: Me keeping my job is never an excuse for allowing abuse of the system. You say it is not your problem to worry about if they pay. Well thats a pretty noble statement. So you never transported anyone that didn't require transport? Does your system allow you to deny transport? Whats the criteria or is just your opinion? I am sure you are quite capable but is every one you work with? Spenac wrote: if your service still stayed busy only transporting real emergencys which are easier to get funding from your service could afford more people and trucks again keeping you from exhaustion. We wouldn't, no system would without losing half your personnel. If your system does 100,000 calls annually, half of them require an ambulance, they don't staff on for only the ones that require it. They have to staff for everyone that calls. Thats the way it goes. Even if you don't transport you still have to go assess the patient and clear up, that takes time. Spenac wrote: To simplify it further will they die or become permanently worse if not taken by ambulance? Easily 90% if all paper work is done truthfully would be disqualified. So how many of your patients fit that criteria last week. Not many of mine did. So your service could still function with all its staff at ten percent of its volume? Thats why we run a tiered system, the ALS trucks are available for true emergencies while the BLS trucks handle everything else. It isn't a solution but its a start. We can gaurantee when your truly sick you receive the care you require.

We never deny transport, you call you go. Its pretty simple. They pay taxes, well some of them do To many meatheads in this field to allow crews to decide what is a true medical emergency and what isn't. How is it your problem if the insurance decides not to pay? That isn't my responsibility. I know and understand the facets of my job description deciphering what an insurance company will pay for isn't one of them. I have enough on my plate. If you use the excuse that you will take an ambulance away from a truly sick patient. Thats bullshit, we know the percentages of 911 calls that are trule emergencies. If you only staffed ambulances to handle truly sick patients you would have to drop half your trucks and lay off 75 percent of your field personnel. Its understood that half your calls you wont be reimbursed for, thats the nature of the beast. Educating the public as to what is an acceptable reason to initiate emergency medical services is what is needed if you believe your area has a problem. However that could persuade others that are truly sick not call because they don't believe they fit the criteria. Its a slippery slope. Be careful what you wish for because if only the truly sick called 911 half of us probably wouldn't have a job anymore.

One question. If your operating on a BLS ambulance. How exactly would you perform an ALS intervention without ALS equipment?

99.9% of deliveries are BLS, whether your ten minutes out or 3 hours. If your delivering ten kids a year in the field then I believe you may have the oppurtunity to experience more abnormal births and further education is probably needed. If Im thee hours out and I discover a limb pertruding, guess what I am doing? Calling the bird. I am not dicking around with a high risk delivery for three hours that I might end up elbow deep in, when we can fly her there in a half hour.

I dont know about you all. I think I looked under a pregnant womans dress once in my whole career, thats because there was a head sticking out. I note severity, contraction time, gravida/para and move along. Nothing good can come from looking up a pregnant womans dress.

Oh boy this topic is sure to start a firestorm

Nasogastric tubes. They empty the contents of the stomach. It lessens the likelihood of vomiting and aspiration.

ratel wrote: When I returned to base I found out that the ALS unit had put a complaint in against me for not waiting on scene for them. Waiting, fantastic.......I would have filed a complaint against the medics for being retards, you treat trauma with diesel.

I believe every area of a station is considered a working area if you are on the clock. If its posted that you are being monitored I believe you wouldn't have any legal standing.

after she allegedly slappped him in an effort to revive him Our we now slapping people in an attempt to revive them. Wow in my area where still using archaic efforts like defib and CPR. I would have punched her too, and probably followed it up with a body slam. I think we all know the limitations of assessing responsiveness in an unconscious patient. Slapping isn't one of them.

JPINFV wrote: But think of the income that could be generated by PPV and DVD sales of "EMTs Gone Wild" or "Code 3 Club: Medics on the Prowl" Ummm..our you wearing a blindfold to work. The woman I would choose to see naked our far and few between in this field. Nothing personal but this kind of work hardly attracts the beautiful people. Seeing a few that I work with naked would mandate immediate CISD. Not to mention the rest of my life being prescribed some type of sedative so I could sleep.

I would assume that if its their property and you are notified that the cameras our there. Then thats all they would need legally. A sign that stated this area is being recorded by closed circuit TV, behave yourself. Fist of all these people probably sleep in their clothes after being around sick people all day, with God knows what all over them that they cant see. You want to slap nasty s in a bed they just finished rolling around in? Not me. God knows what they would find in these stations if a lab came in and took some samples. Keep your clothes on, tend to your business while you are there, go home and take a shower then think about banging your partner in a somewhat less infected area.

Dustdevil wrote: With few exceptions, most agencies you find still doing 24s are either fire-based, or just plain stupid and unimaginative, with poor leadership. I think you forgot in your opinion those agencies are stupid, unimaginative, with poor leadership. I think every system has to be tailored to their specific needs. Everyone thinks you can use a cookie cutter to stamp out EMS systems around the country. You cant. They all have specific needs and should be designed with those needs in mind. As far as twenty-four hour shifts. I don't see a problem with it., as long as its monitored closely, you shouldn't be doing twenty calls a shift.

In Worcester there were reports of homeless being in the building. This job is dangerous, especially on the fire side. We all know the consequences when we get involved, we can take every precaution available to us and still fall victim. As far as the miners, Its a tough call, but safety has to be of the utmost importance, we shouldn't be risking lives if it is in fact a recovery effort. Does anyone know how long trapped miners have lived? Is it possible they could still be alive?

I don't feel well is a statement I hate to hear. It means either of two things. I will be cleaning up puke or doing CPR, neither of which sounds real appealing to me.