canuckEMT

Sorry to tell you Connie, I have both Gravol and Maxeran in my kit. I can also give it for nausea and not just active emesis. Also included in ACS and Analgesia guidelines as well.

Way to go Jake. It was a long road but your perseverance paid off. Now what is next for you, NREMT?

The RN program at our local university now has instituted a 2 shift ride a long with EMS into their program. Alot of the student nurses come away with the comment " I had no idea you guys were allowed to do this stuff". Definitely a step forward in my opinion.

Let me tell you man, it feels AWSOME!!! The hard work is definitely worth it.

Just thought I'd drop a quick note that I passed ACP and now an EMT-P!!!!!!!! Gonna have to change my name now though 8)

When I wrote my EMT it was at Grant McEwen college in Edmonton.

Just out of curiosity Kev, how is Edmonton handling the " no more mass payment of fee's"? Are they giving employees the extra on their cheques or are they sending a seperate cheque for every employee?

Here is a link to the Edmonotn EMS posting on the ACP website: Edmonton EMS Posting

Don't take this the wrong way, but this is the main reason I tell people to go for a ride a long before they make their mind up about entering the program. If it does not interest you a) You don't put in the effort needed and the chances of continuing education and self learning after the course is minimal. Are you just entering this as a pre-requisite for a fire department? It sounds to me like this was a forced decision to enter the program. If it is just a pre requisite then you are going to have to suffer through it. I also have no idea where your thought pattern comes from that this course would be anything like a fire training course. Good luck with it.

You won't find any online Alberta Provincial protocols. They were pulled off the Alberta Health website as they are being changed to include the new expanded scope of practitioners. The best page to look at is the link in the previous post to the Alberta Occupational competency Profile - EMT.

Is it also though not part of our job to be actively involved in educating our pt's about safety? eg: wearing bicycle helmets, participating in PARTY programs, car seat clinics and such? I do believe we are mostly health care professionals, but we also have a role to play in the public safety area as well.

It sounds like this may be a reactive airway exacerbation with "silent chest". If so, and he perked up with the BVM, with accompanying increase in sats, I would choose to go the pharmacological route starting with side stream combivent (5 mg salbutamol/500mcg ipratropium x2), then Mag Sulfate drip @ 2g in 50mL NS and 125 mg Solumedrol SIVP. I would keep my intubation equipment ready but I only have access to RSS with fentanyl/versed so this would be employed as a secondary resort to pharmacological interventions. In regards to your question with Epi IM for Status Asthmaticus, in our protocol it is in relation to intubation. If we get to the point for intubating a near death asthma then we can give Epi IM @ 0.3 mg or 0.1 mg IV 1:10,000 I cannot say though that I have used this with experience and only have had moderate to severe asthma pt's on my practicums so far that we used drugs for and did not even consider intubating any of them. That is partially due to very short transport times as well though. Also having co response on serious calls we had the manpower to do our interventions on scene in a relatively short time span.

Unless you are in good physical and cardio health, I would train for the test. Just like any physical evaluation you have to make sure you are prepared. There are links to the course and description on the U of C website I believe. I have not personally done the test but I know people that have and they said it was a good thing they trained for it.

If there has been a diagnosis by their physician that requires them to be on antidepressants then fine. To promote the use of prophylactic antidepressants is just rediculous. Instead they should be promoting some kind of health and wellness policy and working towards reducing the stress load on their employees. Burnout in a high volume area is quite common and so is the decrease in available staff unfortunately. It seems as well that this is going to become increasingly more relevant in the next few years as the retirements of the baby boomer's. I can see this problem becoming more and more prominent as staff has to work more and more overtime to make up for the shortages.

Hmmmm..well it looks like I totally missed that one. Dopamine would have had some very negative effects with the a-fib.

Ok, Grandma is an unstable bradycardia so I would try the old 500 cc bolus while preparing to pace with no sedation as she is hypotensive. If this was usuccessful I would attempt the dopamine starting @ 5mcg/kg/min. Of course there is room to switch the dope and pacing given the info of the previous post (hee hee). Another thing I would check would be a temp and any Hx of illness recently, cough? The way the family is acting kinda raises a red flag as well. Could we do a 12 lead on her? What does it show, also do we have any meds or a list for her?

If the sternal rub doesn't work I go to the nailbed, if unsuccessful on that attempt with our frequent flyer unresponsives I resort to an alcohol swab in each nostril........that usually works quite well. Anyone else other than the frequent flyers gets airway management steps after the nailbed stimulus.

The only thing I can add for the vitals and assessment questions would be pupil size and equality.

Thanks everyone. I would also like to thank everyone that helped with advice and support throughout the program. It was very appreciated and welcomed.

Hope that tab has a big limit.......it's going to have to be!!!

After 19 long months, stress, traveling, studying till all hours of the night, I have finally come to the end and now a graduate EMT-P (ACP). Not really looking forward to the provincial licensing exam in October though. Definitely looking forward to a few beverages now that I am done ( and also burning that stupid polyester school uniform!!)

If you are looking ruraly try Foothills Regional EMS Dispatch. They cover approx 25 fire, and 11 or 12 EMS services. I do believe you need NAED certification ( priority dispatch) and minimum EMT level of training. Fire dispatch training is a plus I believe but not a pre requisite. Take a look at their website: Foothills EMS

The best thing for you to do is to call LCC and ask them directly. This program is brand new. SAIT no longer is offering classes in Lethbridge and the NAIT program is being administered totally by LCC. There is going to be all 3 levels there (EMR,EMT,EMT-P) and the little information I have on it is that the EMT-P program is going to be roughly the same as the SAIT schedule was, 1 week on/ 1 week off. I apologise, I have no information on the EMT program as I believe their first class is either just beginning or set to start in September.

I found a tidbit of information on the net about a private members bill that is being presented in Ottawa. This bill is going to give Firefighters the same protection as police if they are harmed while preforming their duties. I am trying to help get the word out and see if we can get the assistance of our provincial college's and associations to lobby the government to have EMS workers included in this piece of legislation. Also to get Canadian practitioners to write a letter to their respective MP's. Here is a link to the bill: Bill C400

Correct me if I am wrong but furosemide is in the Sulfonamide category and most Sulfa drugs are antibiotics/ antimicrobials?