Siffaliss

Maybe one of my patients tomorrow will be high on PCP ...

Or better yet, Mother Jugs & Speed style. Squint, you could be Mother

Very well said, thank you.

Sure, people get into the field to help others but being able to help yourself is also important. It's unfortunate that my American counterparts get paid the little that they do. As much as I'd love to live and work in a nice warm climate somewhere south of me, I can't picture that much of a decrease in pay. We are also starting to get saturated with green providers trying to break into the field. There are some changes being made here right now that a 'precious few' feel will benefit everyone. Unfortunately that's not the case, so several are jumping ship and leaving the province before EMS crashes here like it did in another Canadian province not too long ago. As for people (in any walk of life) who live beyond their means, it can only be done for so long before it catches up with them. I only know a few in EMS who did so, they're all facing bankrupcy and most are friends who never made much to begin with ...

Lest we forget that since being forced into HSAA, wages of the higher paid EMT's in the busier urban centers where it's more expensive to live will soon be frozen until the rest of the province catches up. Could be years. That was the word at the one and only HSAA union meeting offered here so far. Last I heard the new OT rate was only going to be 1.5x but I could be wrong. Not sure how some are now going to be able to continue to afford the ever-increasing cost of living and perhaps the thought of EMT-P education if their wages are frozen, especially those with families to support.

That's bullshit. Sorry. It's just so freaking careless, and you wonder what kind of karma will bite that high school kid in the ass. Hopefully it's as least as painful as the grief he's doled out. Good on the friend for knocking the kid out cold, that's a teeny taste of the punishment he SHOULD be receiving. If you want a pitiful justice system, move to Canada. It pales in comparison to our health care ... *insert snort here*

I didn't think there was an end to the game. Interesting little test though ... Here's one reason why I don't text and drive ... Towards the end of August 2009 I attended to what came in as a car vs ped. My patient turned out to be an 18 year old male who was working with two others, planting some trees in a median on a busy city thoroughfare I've driven on hundreds of times myself. He was walking behind his work truck that a co-worker was slowly backing up, picking up traffic cones as they had completed their work. A 24 year old female was driving along at around 70 to 80 km/h texting someone when she smashed into the back of this truck. My patient's coworkers apparently say she jumped out of her car, supposedly while she was still in the process of texting/perhaps sending a new message. They asked "well what about (patient)"? The female driver had no idea she just pinned this person at the torso and legs between a large, modified steel truck box and the front of her Honda. Longer story short (and without going on about on scene stuff, if you want to hear more send me a PM), I feel his carotid disappear under two fingers on my right hand shortly after we get his now meaty-pasta looking legs unpinned. So this decent kid who came to Canada 6 years ago and was working to support his ailing mother and sister while finishing high school dies. The driver of the Honda lives to drive and text on, I have a CISM, life goes on ... for some ...

I was trying a search for Smith's Ambulance, which was the first service in Edmonton. Came up with this link which has an area you can contact the site ... I work with some who have been in the field for 35 years, and are happily close to retirement. I'll chat with them as well next week. http://www.emsclassics.com/columndetails.php?Number=23&Content='4%20Stretcher'%20Ambulances

I liked both of those movies ... outsiders won't understand our kind of burn out as they don't do the job.

I was only there for a few hours on Friday during the awards ceremony and banquet. Unfortunately I can't report on anything else.

Pretty much everything these guys said. Good thing you're looking at schools that have CMA accreditation ... make sure in a few years if/when you do your medics, you consider the same.

CCEMS has never actually had CMA accreditation for their EMT program. Come to think of it, they never had it for the medic program either. The medic program disappeared around 2 years ago I believe, not entirely sure why but I remember seeing it removed from the ACoP approved programs list. If you want the possibility of future mobility, be smart and take your schooling (EMT or EMT-P) at a school that has their CMA accreditation. Those schools are held to higher standards than that of their non-CMA counterparts. Potential future preceptors and employers will also look at where you have taken your training. I have never attended CCEMS for any training, however 5 years ago when I was looking at getting into this field I was also at that time cautioned against the school. The things I heard mainly were no CMA accreditation, difficulty with placing for practicum, lack of quality instruction. I attended PMA for my EMT and have both good and bad things to say about it. I am glad however that I did not attend CCEMS, as for the short 5 years I've been in the field the opinions of the school from students/preceptors I know have not changed at all.

Dennis Hopper you mean?

AHAHAHAHAHA!

Depends on the book one reads, but I've seen anywhere from 60 to 80 plus 2 times the age in years for an average normal systolic in a pediatric. tsk is right, he needs to study more (as per several conversations I've had with him). It's easy to recite the requirements for something from a book. It's knowing how to recognize abnormalities and what to do when you see them (as per your scope of practice) that takes a bit of thought. Good luck on your test.

Would pacing hurt someone who was already dead? Of course not. Are you likely to get electrical capture on confirmed asystole, even with the gain turned up all the way on your monitor to detect any little spark? No. They're dead, there is no spark. Would you get mechanical capture without a yes answer to the above? No. To the original poster, do you guys get ACLS training there?

LP15 is pretty cool, I can hardly wait until it starts rolling out here.

Annie my friend, you are funny when you're sarcastic! How come I've never heard of that pneumonic? The others were right when they said "lowest common denominator". I'd like to say that to be in this field one is required to have a certain degree of common sense. Laziness can sometimes prevail and mistakes are made, which is why protocols such as some discussed here are in place.

Even if they're obvious x 7 days? I know it's done under certain circumstances such as last seen a few hours ago, no signs of life or viability, perhaps peripherally cool but centrally warm ... but several days?

Well said. I think everyone takes something home at one point or another. The important thing is to recognize the signs when they appear and seek a little help.

... and 6 hours after you shaved your moustache?

Haha ...

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/weird/2010/04/15/13598806.html