Just Plain Ruff

so we have pictures of these idiots. Which one do you think is the medic student? The girl using toilet paper to stop the bleeding or the idiot who thinks it's cool that his blood spurted all over the place. This my friends is why we have darwin awards.

Yeah I know, I didn't read the original date of the post. I was just in an ornery mood at the time I posted it. I hope she did it though.

ok here's the pep talk just a few simple words Get off your butt, make the call and get on the truck. You can't learn to walk without taking a few steps and falling on that butt a couple of times.

Here's what I would do from a hiring committee standpoint Submit your resume 1 month before you go. That way the resume is on file. Then fill out an application when you get in to the area. that way they have your resume on file and if it really piques their interest they might hire you prior to your move. As an offer to the citizens of the city, I used to work on the hiring committee for several systems. If you would like to send your resume to my email address that you can find in my profile I will look over your resume and send it back to you with comments and suggestions. The offer is out there. Make the most of it.

Let's look at this the way Dave Ramsey or Clark Howard would look at it. current situation - Living with mom and dad have a good job going to school minimal debt future situation to be out of the house - RENT payment Job with low pay - not able to put much in the bank let alone live on still goin to school - but now you have to pay for school minimal debt- nope gonna start to increase your debt Here is what I suggest 1. Stay at home and live off mom and dad 2. build up a emergency fund of $1000 for EMERGENCIES(new clothes or a stereo doesn't count as emergency) 3. Next step is to build a 2nd emergency fund which would be equal to 6 months of living expenses if you are laid off or get fired 4. continue school 5. pay off your debt with what you make. Those aren't the steps in order but this makes sense if you ask me. Had I have heard Dave Ramsey before I got in to paramedicine I would probably not have been in a bad situation after my first job and needed to move back in with mom and dad Keep your job at the cell phone company and build up your self and your nest egg. Rent is a whole lot cheaper when it's free. this will also keep your mom happy and will enable you to go get your paramedic cert of god forbid your degree. Trust me, having an unhappy Mother is not a place I like to be in.

The waiter one and the titanic one are so true.

I think the main issue here Laura is that we as a profession are so caught up in MINE MINE MINE mentality and the short term thought processes that it will be very very difficult to get a consensus together. Sure consensus is good and everyone talks about coming together but when you begin to actually come together people will stop looking at the consensus and start to focus of what they possibly will lose. Once you get into that mentality, that they will lose something in order to really come together then all bets are off. It's a me me me type of world out there and people's jobs rely on how much they can get for their service and not how much they can give away. I love your thoughts on this but in all reality, EMS is destined to be the bastard child until something serious or earth shattering were to happen. I have a entire article I am writing on this that i hope to post to the knowledge base soon.

Welcome Laura Buckle up it's about to become a bumpy ride. Welcome to the city

I'm sorry I have to chime in. Anyone who arrives on Scene in pajamas and flip flops shouldn't be there. Volunteers, I've worked with them and I was proud to work with them. But if you can't take the time to have proper attire then you shouldn't be there. I for one as a patient would be very leary of the person who came to my house in pajamas I'd say "who are you?" "You don't look like a stormtrooper to me" I digress but in all seriousness, someone dressed in pajamas trying to take care of me does not give me confidence. If you cannot afford the basics such as a pair of black pants, black shoes, a black belt and a nice shirt and identification then maybe EMS volunteering is not for you. Professionalism, we all say it, it's our mantra here at EMT city but pajamas - just reeks of ricky rescue.

I have a question that I've always wondered but don't think there's much in terms of studies about this. The patient is having chest pain. They are having a Right sided MI. WE aren't there yet but they've called 911 or a family member has. they just took their 1st nitro and dropped. They are now coding. How many of our cardiac arrests do you think are caused by this? If the number is even 1 then maybe giving nitro without a line is counter productive?

well we all have our own opinions. I'd be hesitant to figure a way to explain the EMS aquired pneumonia that ends up killing the patient by saying in my world it makes sense. One big deep breath by your patient and down goes the thick sugary glob into their lungs. That would I suspect be kind of similar to a chemical pneumonia i do not profess to know the world of BLS transport as I've always been ALS based but I'd encourage you to ask your local ER doc this question "Doc, let's say I have an unconscious diabetic patient in my rig. I just put a glob of instaglucose in his mouth, Is that a good idea?" let's hear your answer. ERDoc or BBledsoe - what are your thoughts on this?

i offer a different viewpoint as to your protocol here is what you wrote: In MD our protocols for BLS Altered Mental Status/Unresponsive Person state in part: "...Administer glucose paste (10-15 grams) Between the gum and cheek.." This is from your BLS Altered mental status/unresponsive person protocol. I offer that the administration of glucose paste is given to the altered mental status and not the unresponsive person part. I have never been taught that you put anything in the mouth of an unconscious patient and would never advocate or teach that. Just because it's in the protocol, you have to read or think outside the box sometimes. Altered mental status/unresponsive person is a huge broad spectrum. If given that protocol, I'd be on the phone with med control saying my protocol states yada yada yada but I don't feel comfortable giving the oral glucose in this unconscious patient and I'll bet that every physician you talk to would reem your rear end a new hole if you put a sticky substance inside the mouth of a unconscious patient. That protocol needs to be rewritten to say something that oral glucose is only to be used in patients that can control their own airway and not otherwise. you give that gel to a unconscious patient and they aspirate and arrest or whatever and their outcome could have been prevented by following sound medical guidelines and not just following protocol and your liability is greater than not giving the instaglucose.

I agree that cisd is not worth the letters it's written on Professional counselling is your best bet. Get someone who deals with Emergency workeres and their stresses. If your department has a chaplain then you can go to them. over a year and you are still dealing with it does seem quite a long time but again, it's your healing time and you may need a longer time than others. Good luck and god speed.

The concept is good and sound but as soon as you tie a financial incentive to it, the concept is invalidated. I used to work for a service where one medic in particular had a key to the locked box. It was a bad thing.

be happy that you have a place to go on downtime. I know of many many many ems'rs that eat, sleep and fart in their ambulances for 12 to 16 hours a day.

Haven't we been arguing against this exact sort of thing on this forum. Whackers I say, whackers 85 in a 55 and a cop playing PITT the nutty emt/ff. This is just the example that proves our points for lights on povs'

this post just proves the God watches over idiots and the like. Remember, scene safety. If you die then who takes care of the patient?

that defied classification - I can't believe I watched any of it. I'm ashamed.

First question, did you report this to your training site? Second do like everyone else here has said go get checked out - the longer you wait and do nothing the longer you will be out of clinicals. Take it from someone who has suffered 5 back injuries over a period of 15 years - they do not get better without treatment - they get progressively worse. Why do you think I'm mostly out of ems now.

Drugs are in my drug box. Lots of drugs man.

ok so this is fiction why is there playground equipment that will allow a child to climb 30 feet up anyway? Well let's deal with the scenario Arterial bleeding and the nearest rescue crew is 4 or so minutes away, the child will bleed out in that time. I say Yank that hand free and save her life. Not the best answer but hand or life, I choose life.

and now we have the ultimate in taxpayer ripoffs in california If you are illegal, and you work in the citrus industry then you are entitled to unemployment assistance. WTF where in the heck did we go wrong. You are in here illegally and you get unemployment assistance. I just don't understand this. if you or I were in mexico illegally working and we were out of a job, could we expect unemployment assistance or some sort of assistance from the Government of Mexico, sure we could expect either a jail cell or a quick trip to the US border. When are we gonna get tough on this stuff? Until the pantywastes in the US are put away we will continue to funnel millions of dollars to illegals and their kids while bonafide americans get the Shaft with a Capital S There's got to be a way to hold the people in power accountable other than the voting booth. Maybe a class action lawsuit for all americans(the ones who are in America legally) not the mexican americans who are here "Illegally" If you are here legally then you should be given some of the rights of citizens but you have to follow the rules.

Altamedic wrote: emtek wrote: I also like the heart monitor idea. Unfortunately I don't work for an ambulance company, I work in the ED as a tech so I'm not sure that the hospital will be willing to lend one out. You dont need to ask there is usually 5 or so laying around that rarly get used, I believe that they are on things called "Crash Carts" They wont miss one for an hour or so. I'd hate to be the person who took that rarely used crash cart monitor and took it to career day and my grandpa walking by that code cart and he codes. That would be bad. I think I'd ask before I took that rarely used monitor off that rarely used crash cart. Remember in EMS if it's in the least bit needed you will need it at the least opportune time.

Hey who keeps changing the titles of my posts?

Another one Mighty funny 2 of three isn't bad