EMT6388

Hi, I thought that this would be a good place to ask this question. I did a search and didn't find anything so here it is. At a recent staff meeting my employer asked us to start asking our patients if they are on supplemental health ( more commonly called welfare). His reason for this is because once he enters the PCR into the computer for billing as a normal call and then he finds out that it should be billed to supplemental health not the patient it is very hard to change it once it's sent off and usually ends up eating the cost for these trips. Well enough about the background of my question. I find it difficult to ask my patients "Hey are you on welfare?" without offending them. Any advice on a good way to word it without offending them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sure I can explain that. I took my PCP program in Winnipeg, Manitoba but I ended up getting a full time job right away in Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan the schools teach the PCP program as well but the government / EMS regulatory bodies have not switched from the EMT-B, EMT-I, EMT-P to the PCP, ACP, CCP designations. So my education level is PCP but my scope of practice one of an EMT-B which is almost identical to the scope of practice in Manitoba

I took my PCP program in Winnipeg 3 years ago. A & P was not a prereq but it was the first chapter we took before we even opened the EMS textbook. Personally I thought it was the hardest chapter of the whole course. The course that I took was CMA accredited ( Canadian Medical Association ) so it met all of the standards that a PCP program should teach. There are two courses that I want to take Anatomy and Physiology 1 and Anatomy and Physiology 2 each one is 18 weeks (either home study or online) with two labs each, There is no way that a PCP course could even come close to covering that much information in the time that we spent on that chapter. I agree with you Ridryder911. I am just gathering information about the course that I want to take but in our PCP program we got to go and watch an autopsy. I don't mean in a special room behind the glass I mean we glove and gowned up cause we were close enough to get stuff on us. It is an experience I will NEVER forget. We got to do this for two reasons 1. it one thing to read a book about anatomy and physiology but it's something else to see it actually in the body. The coroner was great. He explained everything. 2. So the first real dead body you saw wasn't on a call, you never know how someone will react. I was fine.

I took my PCP 3 years ago in Manitoba (Winnipeg) and we used the Brady Prehospital Emergency Care 6th Edition. The book was ok, it really was an American EMT-B text book ( I don't know of any Canadian EMS Text books) with some enrichments sections at the end of each chapter. I didn't like the Patient Assessment Chapter in that book but we were taught a different pt assessment so it didn't really matter. Like you we also used the Brady Anatomy and Physiology book and I liked that one a lot.

Hi am I looking for some advice about more education. I am currently an EMT-B (PCP trained, I'm Canadian). I LOVE my job, but I just want to learn more. I am considering taking an Anatomy and Physiology course (university entrance level). I'd be taking it through home study sine I live 2 and a half hours away from the closest urban center. Are there any people here at EMT City that have taken this course or one like it that could share there experience with me. What I'm really wondering, am I biting off more than I can chew for the level of education that I'm at right now? I've heard that it's a difficult course, but I'm up for the challenge. Any advice welcome.

NCFD18 we carry D50 as well, but we have glucagon as well in case we can't get a line then we go to Glucagon, D50 work much more quickly so it would make no sense to use glucagon a a first line drug. The area that we cover has a lot of older pt's and a lot of the time there veins are not the best so getting an IV is not always guaranteed. It's very rare that we use it.

Thanks for the response. That makes sense. now it will be a little biteasier to remember.

Here is my situation. I am an EMT-B and I have been going over some of the drugs in our drug kit and I have been having trouble with glucagon adverse reactions (I know that I can't give it but our advanced can so I need to know about it because I may have to call for an intercept) I don't really like memorizing a list of reactions ect. I find it much easier to remember if I know what is going on in the body to cause that reaction. For eg. with nitroglycerin one of the reactions is hypotension. That makes seance, the med dialates the vessels in the periphery, which make the pipe bigger thus lowering the pressure in it. The problem I am having is with glucagon. Everywhere I look it just lists the reactions that glucagon causes. I want to know why does it cause that. This is where I need the help from the people here. The adverse reactions that I have are 1. Hypotension 2. Tachycardia 3. Nausea and vomiting 4. Uticaria. The only one out of those 4 that make any sense is #4. a possible reaction to the med. But hypotension and tachycardia how does glucagon effect the rate and the blood pressure of the body. Plus lastly how does glucagon cause nausea and vomiting. It's a med at is used for diabetics and blood sugar. Now that I have explained my questions I do realize that I am an EMT-B (PCP trained - I'm Canadian, We did cover this drug but just briefly) so my knowledge base in not that big in the grand scheme of thing compared to a paramedic but I was hoping that I could get some help here to improve my knowledge base. PS: I did do a search on this website so I didn't post something that had been posted already 3 times

We are a smaller rural service we don't have 12 lead capabilities. We only do 3 leads

Thanks everyone. I was thinking the same as everyone else here so that's good. This one was definaltly a learning one!

No, he didn't have parkinson's, but somthing must of been happening because he is since deceased. But then again he is 98

I'm not really sure where I should put this post because in our service 3 lead EKG is a BLS skill but I do realize that a lot of places it is an ALS skill and I am interested in the opinions of EMT's and Medics experienced with EKG's. With that said if your just learning feel free to take a stab at it. You only get better with practice. A little while back my partner and I ( both EMT's ) were called to local the nursing home for a 98 y/o male pt c/o SOB. My partner had been to this gentleman previously and said that he has a previous cardiac Hx so we brought in the monitor. O/A we found supine in his bed, a little lethargic, obvious signs of SOB other than a SP02 of 92%. All vitals were WNL. No past medical Hx other than a previous MI. Pt was place on oxygen and a 3 lead was done due to the previous cardiac Hx. This is what we got. (sorry if the Hx was a little vague but this call happened a few months ago. A few days ago I came a cross the PCR and wanted some more opinions about it since are staff had a few different interpretations of it) Sorry if the quality of the image is not the greatest but I scanned it from a photocopy of the original PCR. Also for our documentation we have to put our interpretation on the bottom of each strip so that is what those marks at the bottom of the strip are. I tried to crop most of it out with out cutting out any of the rhythm. Any help anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

The problem is that we don't carry vacum splints and MAST. We just got the basics, rigid splints, traction splint, ect. I was thinking to myself if we ever go a tib/fib fracture that is angulated to much to get it into the normal splint how would I do it? So I was looking for opinions on how to do it.

I was just wondering what every ones personal preference was when it came to splinting. When you can't use a normal b-splint because a leg is angulated too much and you have to splint in position found.