Kaisu

aww... ya know I lovs ya right?

OK Dwayne... I stand corrected.. once again.... game on

I cant believe that the most informed and intelligent posters on this site are taking pot shots at each other over MISREADING each other's statements. It is beyond ridiculous. Would everyone please take a deep breath and re-read the statements. I believe the original comment about churning post counts was directed at the OP, and NOT Artickat. After that we were off to the races..... (BTW - I disagree with the motivation ascribed to the OP - I think he is a smart, experienced medic with an acerbic personal style which he clearly warns against in his screen name.) Now I may be wrong, but jeez folks, this is a great discussion. I personally will be on guard against practical jokes that have the possibility of escalating but I am not in the camp that all jokes are bad and unprofessional. The discussion has expanded my mind and affected my behavior for the better. That's what the best postings do.

Michael I just love you man but it just doesn't follow. This statement is a clear example of selection fallacy, whereby picking 3 definitions out of the thousands in the dictionary is designed to convince of the truth of an argument. Tsk tsk Michael... perhaps with others but not with me.... :wink:

No - what it is is a Danish article which looks at 4 other articles all dealing with "the prevalence and long-term consequences of physical and psychological aggression in the form of nasty teasing and violence and/or threats of violence and short-term consequences of bullying at work including physiological stress response in victims" It specifically defines psychological aggression as something that has an "intent to do harm" as opposed to "unintentional" harm. While I generally enjoy most things Michael posts, I miss the relevance of this article to the discussion at hand, unless it is intended to refer to the behaviors of some of the posters to this thread. Perhaps I am being obtuse.

I think there is a fine line between practical jokes and dangerous horseplay but the line is NOT invisible. I was all for the KY on the door handle - the stuff is water soluble and is pretty easy to cope with. The water on the seat was ok too... especially in the desert where stuff dries really fast. The Arby's sauce was close to the line in my opinion, but it was in two gloves only. Pretty easy to deal with. I know what this tomfoolery did do - we are all newcomers on the shift and it did bring us all together in a way that hadn't happened before. I know it was good for our morale and I know that no one was hurt. I sincerely believe that it will not go beyond this. I KNOW that we had a pretty good discussion afterwards about what was out of line and what wasnt. I am looking forward to my shifts with these people and I think they are pretty happy to see me walk through the door too.

My EMT partner last shift is very tall - 6'6" and I am the tallest woman at 6'. Our erstwhile colleagues amused themselves by moving the seats up in our rig. We would jump in and re-introduce our chins to our knees. This happened twice. We retaliated - we had to.. it was the honor of the team at stake... We put KY on the door handles of their rig, water on the seats and Arby's sauce in the gloves... And before you all go ape, our 3 teams of 1 EMT - 1 Paramedic ran 27 calls between noon and 3 am with one a long distance transfer. Our response times are monitored and we have to answer for anything substandard. We did a bang up job.

Even in a non-responsive patient, you can turn them to a lateral recumbant and administer glucose in the dependent buchal.

Depends what you're treating. The vast majority of my calls need hand holding and a non-judgmental ear. I try to offer up one constructive thing to the drug seekers, the emotionally needy, the neglected, the marginal and even the assholes. Quantitative medicine comes first, but I am treating a person and not a condition. Pretty touchy feely but I LOVE my job and I work in a hellhole. PS... this is good for about 20 minutes.... the long distance transfers have me gritting my teeth... PPS.. for the original poster - I agree that you have to let it go. Those MDs will ALWAYS cover each other's asses - even when the medicine is absurdly bad...

Now I am going to get hooted off the forum but I love all of my patients a little. I may not like em, but I love 'em all. PS.. I'm easy - not cheap.... :wink:

Here's the thing tho... none of us in the time allotted to us as pre-hospital emergency health care providers can really know what the chances of survival are. There are just too many variables and not enough research. All we really have is anecdotes and personal judgment. We just don't know enough. The 29 year old drops and no ROSC. The 80 year old drops and voila - ROSC. In this case, the oldster had enough time to develop sufficient alternate blood supply to survive (anamostosis). As I don't have enough valid information to form accurate judgment on quality of life, when that one precious life is in front of me to treat, I sure as hell won't have the information to form a valid opinion on chance of survival either. I may think I do, I may wish I did but I don't. Now a case where the individual has a terminal illness and has arrested without a DNR, then YES, my judgement of survivability is probably easier to make, but that wasn't the scenario.

oops misspoke.. bad math... its 48 on - 96 off....

Because Dust, they are all trying to cut costs. If they implemented a normal schedule, they would have to raise hourly rates, thus paying more than now for the hours that we now sleep (if we are lucky). Paramedics accept 11$/hour because with 48 on/72 off they make a livable wage. If they did what normal industry does, not only would they have to raise the rates, they would probably have shift differentials in the evenings (making it even more expensive when people "sleep"). They would need more people too.... All this would put upward pressure on wages. By convincing us that we are "special" they con us all. I know most people at my station gloat over the fact that we get paid to sleep.... nevermind that our hourly wage for when we are the side of the highway working a trauma is less than everybody else on that scene - including most patients (I mean, they can afford pretty nice cars) At least thats why I think this is.

That is flippin hilarious. I wish I had that kind of wit.

didya notice the forum topic it was posted under?

ROTFLMAO - I love the star of life wagon wheel.... **** wheezes, tears ***** stop it..... I'm dyin' here - maybe send a couple of those wagon wheels my way...

Defiant 1 - our rule says the have to be on vibrate. Any audible tone from a personal cell phone while on shift is a violation. I personally turn mine off and check it between runs. Anyone that knows me knows to leave a voice mail when I am on duty.

Spenac has it right. Our service banned them completely due to a few dorks... the scatter gun approach. They rescinded the ban a few months later. The rules are what he stated and so far its working... (1 1/2 months with no problems)

We are unlikely to be aware of these sorts of conditions and God help us if we start making these kinds of decisions.

Good work, congratulations. I am always thrilled when an educated (as opposed to trained) paramedic joins us in the streets. Now go out and do good.

It's Christmas man... buy yourself a present.... :twisted:

It's an interesting question, and one we will sooner or later all deal with. Generally speaking, I take my cue from the family. If they are all standing around accepting of what had happened, then I will not work the code. If on the other hand, they are attempting CPR or screaming don't let gramma die... well, then we work it. (for the record, I do NOT do aesthetic CPR. It's all or nothing with me.) This is not an option in your scenario tho. I have a general policy that it is not my job to make quality of life judgments. I know that at my advanced stage, I appreciate things that when I was younger I would ignore. Even in the position you describe, I think I might enjoy another sunset. My answer for your scenario is - I would work it. What clarified it for me was my answer to the question I asked myself "what if this was a 12 year old in a similar situation? The way my simple mind works - if I would work the kid then I need to work gramma. Kudos for the topic.

I am sorry for the loss.

Right on Doc. I guess I am a little oversensitive about the issue. I have friends in Canada and 3 of my 4 kids live there. I also have family in Finland. I get a lot of hate my way. Thanks for clarifying.

I am a Canadian who has lived and worked in the US for almost 10 years. While Canada has many wonderful qualities (Yeah for universal health care) the US is the most dynamic, inventive, diverse, creative society on the earth. I know most people from other countries dont want to hear this. They would rather focus on the overbearing strength of the giant. Americans work harder than any other nationality. They put up with working hours and conditions that would have most Canadians revolting in the streets. Why aren't there Canadian texts? Why are Canadians not writing them?