Kiwiology

We have been using the LMA for about six years, it works well and most of them are used in cardiac arrest; lube it up, shove it in, blow up the cuff and viola. If an LMA is in place (regardless of setting) and working well we are actively discouraged from swapping it over to an endotracheal tube See our basic airway management CCE videos here

We use midaz also and its great stuff

I'm fine ... a little messed up in the head but I think that was before the earthquake

I am not a surgical registrar or OB .... so I don't need ultrasound

Oh bah, we have Intensive Care Paramedics who from 2012 will have Advanced Degrees. They sound way cooler

Take patient to hospital; decompress the pneumo and give a small fluid challenge to the GSW should they become indicated, little oxygen if they are hypoxaemic but that's about it.

Real life is often not able to be taught adequately in a two day weekend workshop or placed into a standardised, no thinking required, see and do format for barely trained Houston Firefighters

I would try but if it doesnt respond to a good dose or two of atropine its time to move in to pacing

Symbols, abbreviations and codes represent major clinical risk .... simply don't do it!

Good on you mate you are a true striver for excellence in a setting which barely demands what is acceptable and was done away with in other parts of the world a decade or more ago. Of interest is that our Bachelors and Graduate Degrees (for Paramedic and Intensive Care Paramedic respectively) make small use of the American textbooks; probably because lifting the Bledsoe "Essentials" book is an OSHA hazard as it's so damn heavy! The other thing that grinds me is the US can have a two year Paramedic (ALS) program however up to what, like half of it, is in arts and underwater basket weaving or getting drunk 101, WTF! Our Paramedic program for example is three years full time, 24 classes and I can tell you all 24 are Paramedic specific as we do not have general education requirements. Once again, good work mate, Kiwi owes you a beer. ... or we could get drunk at the Circus in Reno with Dr B

We just put 1mg of adrenaline in a 1,000ml of NS and run at 2gtt/sec ... I dno, you tell me what that is

Primary Care Paramedics probably understand fluid homeostasis and venous anatomy just as good as me, renintastic n all that. I say they are more than qualified to slip in a drip, if 200 hour wonder Intermediate EMTs can cannulate and infuse surely somebody with two years of education should be able to do so as well Good lord if I can shove in a bloody cannula and not f it up what does that tell you? ....

kilo mike, standard missed approach, we'll come back downwind for the GPS Alpha approach Let's see, Patient ... secured Landing gear ... down, green Minima ... set Flaps ... *waves arms about OK all set .... City traffic, Medivac descending

It is very simple, the President has alredy been decided well before any "election" which is nothing more than cheap theatrics for the duped masses. He is selected and groomed then placed into office where his goal is nothing more than to act as a puppet to his investment class criminal bankster masters and make thier agenda somehow palatable. Should he pose a risk to such agenda, he is removed from office quickly by either a new selectee or just killed off by a "lone nut".

Like NWO puppet Oblunder is any better

Oh my eyes, I have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! Can I get an Amen?

We have enough problems with Paramedics being recognised as legitimate professionals here thanks to the Johnnos, I hate to think what would happen if the Fire Unions got involved. Phil, when are you getting ordained mate?

I am sure there is more than just "squirt wet stuff on red stuff" but coming from a family of firefighters I am well aware the Fire Service is a highly skill based profession that does not require volumous amounts of knowledge. The same cannot be said for prehospital medicine. Somehow it gets lost in translation.

I agree with Phil here; we are now teaching the Load And Treat Enroute (LATER) concept. That however does not mean we have to race everybody into hospital on red lights at breakneck speeds just to deliver them to the trauma team nor that everybody should just be thrown on a scoop and extricated from the scene in the least time possible. We need to focus on which patients are time critical and which we can spend a little more time on. Should we have just ripped that old lady off the floor, thrown her on the scoop and driven to the hospital or was it appropriat fror us to spend an hour at the job ensuring adequate pain relief and minimally agressive extrication? ... as an example.

Most interviews I have been to have involved the STAR method (situation/task, action, resolution) or the behavioural based type questions ... tell me about x, y oz z sort of thing. Think of some good strong answers about why you should be hired, what value you cann add to the company and what sets you apart from other applicants. Know your history, know what the company is looking for and how you can meet that. Be confident but not arrogant. Do lots of research and ask great questions that shows you're not just another bottom feeding suction eel who wants a paycheck

agreed

If in doubt, take patient to hospital Keep your Ambo phone handy to ring up and have a chat with the Medical Advisor when required

Thats it, the IAFF have officially made my enemies list, right up there with the freaking New World Order! Between the flouride in the water, cancer in the vaccines and piss poor Paramedic education programs .... GAH!!

I think AA has it right, trauma is increasingly a non surgical disease. Does that mean we should piss around on scene shaking our wang and playing Doctor, no, does it mean everybody needs to go into hospital on red lights because they might need to be operated on? No as well. Yes there are some patients who are emergently time critical who require surgical intervention to stop internal bleeding or some other surgically correctable problem however that is not everybody. Some people need to go to Intensive Care and should have thier scene time minimised. partic those who are traumatically brain injured. Then there are those people who are not emergently time critical. We spent an hour getting a little old nana with a NOF fx out of her house because that is how long it took to get her adequately packaged and pain under control. Should we have just dragged her out on the scoop in two minutes and raced her in lit up like a christmas tree?

Hey shut up, thats only if you are giving birth. Oh and that last bit should have said can IV fluids replace the oxygen carrying properties of lost haemoglobin, no it can not. They need blood and not salty water in a plastic bag from the Ambo's batman kit.