letmesleep

Hi all, it's been a while since I've visited the city, and here I'm asking for your opinions and maybe even a little help. First let me catch you all up on my life since I last posted. My wife and I were married last May, we bought our first house together, and 7 weeks ago my son was born health and happy. I've been a little busy to say the least. Now to my question..... Here at work, as I'm sure in many places nation wide, Management has challenged us to find ways and to come up with ideas to cut cost and to save money. We are almost entirely paper-free after approx 12 months of tiresome hard work, we have controlled water usage and electricity waste, phone lines have been condensed, supplies have been reduced to cut out the unnecessary items, and many other issues. I am in a group of 3 who are researching solar power to run our stations, and we are just getting started. I have done some looking online, and have found that we do not have an original idea with the use of solar power, but we are still pretty excited about the possibilities it may bring. That is where my questions pops up: 1) If you are using it at work, how is it working for you? 2) Is it reliable enough for what we do, will it power a station enough? 3) Has your employer seen a big difference in the electric bills? 4) Is it worth the cost with or without any state funding or grants? I have seen many articles about different departments implementing solar power, but can't seem to find much about how it is doing once it has been installed. It's your opinions, and hopefully your first hand knowledge that I'm looking for. We may be lucky enough to qualify for grant money from our local electric company considering we have a major power plant in our District (we're crossing our fingers). Quick FAQ's about my District: We staff 23 full-time medics and 1 EMT that is testing, and approx 40 part-time personnel (EMT and medic). We have 4 stations and run 4 trucks 24/7/365. We cover approx 244sq miles including 10 miles of interstate roadway, and average approx 3500 calls per year. Thanks

Unless I'm missing the entire point to this thread, it is my belief that it matters NOT what walk of life a provider comes from as long as they can perform their duties while working on an ambulance, or in a hospital for that matter. How many times have we seen the over weight medic or EMT that completely fills their half of the cab of the truck? How many times have women been questioned about doing the job because they are 5ft 2in and weigh 100lbs soaking wet? I am not bilingual, so am I worthless in the section of my response area because I can't proficiently communicate with a particular culture that I am treating? I work with an EMT at my part time job (on the street) who has an AKA to his left leg with a robotic prosthesis, anybody want to challenge me if on whether or not he can do his job? If there is such a problem with people who speak another language working in medicine, then how do you treat a pt that doesn't speak your version of the English language? My point is simple, as long as any of these providers can perform their job and be effective then why is it such an issue for anyone here? Does it really matter what language their test was in, or whether it says ambulance on the rear doors of their truck or ambulancia?

Our dispatch agency status checks us every 20 mins, unless we ask them to stop. If we are status checked with no response the appropriate PD is dispatched to secure us and our scene. We are equipped with 2 mounted radios in our trucks (front and back) and 2 portable radios (HT1250 in believe) which have panic buttons, however this has a problem. The problem with the panic button is the protocol that dispatch follows when the get a panic alarm. Dispatch will begin to call us, and in a stable/ accidental "set off" situation this is no issue, but in an unstable situation (hiding for instance) we would have to turn the radio off in order to remain safe. The biggest issue we may run into is that approx 75% of our District is covered by the county SD, and we have been known to stage for extended periods of time, for example: 40 min wait time on suicidal OBS is not unheard of. Therefore, if I am being held at gun point, I may be there (with my fingers crossed) with NO radio communications waiting for an undetermined amount of time for SD to arrive. The ambulances are also equipped with GPS that can be utilized by dispatch as well as our duty officers, so I have never felt the need to "fight" to keep my ambulance. Our rule is "if you have a weapon, then you now have my truck".

Ok, good catch! I agree with maintaining the pt's modesty from gawkers, as well as, their privacy. I truly didn't think I'd have to remind a "professional" of those issues. Honestly the OP's question doesn't seem complete to me (no offense). Vent, you seem a little pissy tonight.

Explain the procedure. Remove all clothing......this includes the bra. Find and follow your landmarks. Place your leads. Acquire your data. Is this what you were asking? Nothing should change just because your dealing with a woman......large or not. Let me know if your needing something other than my response.

Sorry, I was interupted before I completed my thought. the bold highlight is an edit.

We had a documentation class today, and it was your typical class about the subject as far as what we should and shouldn't be writing in our PCRs. During the class a few different types of documenting formats came up, such as: S.O.A.P. C.H.A.R.T. C.A.T. Do you use a format? Are you required to use a format? Is a format PCR a good idea (in your opinion)? At my place of employment we have no specific format to document, and we see good and bad results from this. I personally write a narrative that is specific to each call with numerous consistencies from one but I am interested to know if there is a way that I could better my PCR skills.

My thoughts exactly, a little comfort and compassion will go a long way!

Given the information noted above, I have 1 question for the pt and family........Do you want transport to the hospital?

LOL, agreed! They got those meth labs to protect don't ya know!

I will say that I honestly did NOT look up the FDNY Chief's salary, but I have a very hard time believing that it comes remotely close to the money being spent here in the fire services 5 horn club. Even if it was in dollar amounts, I would bet that the work load has NO comparison. The FD I noted above has 2 engine houses.....yes I said 2! With that said, it just goes to show that even in the Midwest, we through TONS of tax money at the powerhouse, and leave EMS which adds up to approx 80% of the FD's call volume hanging.

My partner today is a part-time EMT with my district, but works full-time for a Fire Department that does NOT run an ambulance. This AM we started discussing EMS v. Fire based EMS which led to a statement that he made......."Money has destroyed the FD!" His example was the difference in pay between the Chief of FDNY v. the Batt Chief of Creve Couer FPD ( http://www.ccfire.org/ ) staffing, stations, apparatus, etc. The Batt Chief of Creve Couer manages so much less than the Chief of the FDNY, but takes home an annual salary of approx $166,000. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/special/firedistricts.nsf/0/585415870E5B797086256EF7006E1EB3?OpenDocument All of this got me thinking if this is another reason why the FD should stay out of EMS......you know, in order to save the FD, and bring them back to reality. Thoughts?

Average is approx 20mins ALS or BLS, but with no expectation, as long as we are within reason. We restock, clean, and write PCRs after returning to the District. We also try to carry enough supplies and equipment to catch another call upon returning in service, but this will depend on how "out of whack" the truck is, i.e., major cleaning to be done. With the use of computerized dispatching and ePCR, we can start our reports en route back to quarters and fax copies to the receiving facility, but I have the remainder of my shift to complete this task. At the hospital we get insurance info when available, two signatures, give a report, and hit the road (not in that order). On average our calls (with transport) last approx 1.5hrs, which is down from the 2.5hrs prior to ePCR and computerized dispatching.

At my part-time job information is sent to alpha pagers if you’re on the list. They will include address and complaint, but that’s all. It is a nicety at this job because of the mumbling and/or screaming that goes on during the dispatch, just depends on the type off call. At my full-time job we don't do any of this because of the onboard computers which provide damn near everything you could ever want and more as far as info. This includes run cards, GPS mapping, call back numbers, so on and so forth. It's a good system, and does have some issues, but over all pretty good. somebody please subtract a point for this drivel...........geez!

I don't want to sound negative by saying this because the theory is interesting, but I'm curious to see what the yearly stats turn out to look like. There are tons of positioning systems out there, and they all have their bugs, but this one seems to be more "high tech" (for lack of a better term) than anything I've ever seen. It’s been a while since I have worked in an area that moved trucks based on potential calls. The one thing that I have a hard time believing is that they are going to add 2 years to the life of the trucks. The mileage is still going to be there, isn't it?