firedoc5

"Dispatch, where's Campground Rd. ?" " 5Ida26, by the Campground, stupid!!!"

I don't need any more stimulation. :roll:

I thought we were suppose to be funny here. Wankers, whackers, whatever.

Been there, done that. MotoX and flat track. We never had that much problem though. The only thing was almost every rider begged us not to cut their leathers and wanted to get back in the race. So what if they had a flailed chest and couldn't breath right. We didn't let them go back out.

Sometimes you have to go with the answer that is more right, and that breaks down to opinion. There were many I worked with that were load & go, and they said I liked to stay & play, too aggressive? I don't' know. I signed up twice for PACS/PALS, once I didn't make it due to kidney stones and the other was canceled due to lack of interest. Luckily there were a couple of docs that took me under their wings and taught me probably just about as much as I would have learned in a class. Peds are always difficult, at least for me.

Been there, done that. I stopped counting at twelve kidney stones. I don't know how many ACLS Instructors are here, but you can get a resident doc that comes in with the "I know more than you do, so screw you" attitude. I would just tell them I hope they pass my station, which ever I was testing. I've flunked more docs than nurses or medics. And I wasn't the only they would have that attitude with. You have a nurse that's been on the job for 25+ years that's an Instructor and see how far they get with them. It can be a real wake up call for them. I'm definitely not saying all "resi" docs are like that, just a few. Most will come in and you can tell they had actually studied and paid attention. Sometimes they are too textbook, but that can be expected with most first time ACLS students.

I can relate. But it seems like after you hit 40 they become fewer and farther between.

"We're An American Band" - Grand Funk Railroad :lol:/

Paralysis was immediate with the impact and rolling under the vehicle. Even though he was on a vent he could speak. He said that he remembered at first trying to breath but couldn't, or move at all, then everything "went black". It wasn't for a few months before he did remember. And the first x-rays showed the severity of the multiple spinal injuries which reinforced the immediate paralysis. It was a very complicated case. And it did effect his family. Mom was too stung out, dad no one knows, and an aunt who worked at a nursing home as a CNA got custody of him but had to become a foster parent during his long stint in the hosp. I saw in the paper a few months ago that she passed away too. I knew she had a long hx. of diabetes. Like I said, we became close to the family. Some of the guys had gone by and played chess with him. Since he couldn't move he had to tell his opponent where to move his pieces. Very smart kid, too bad he was shop lifting. The other two boys were charged with it. They didn't him, needless to say.

My understanding was he first attempted the "spinal in-line" mouth-to-mask and intubated ASAP. Denny is not the brightest bulb so I'm not sure how well he attempted to keep the c-spine immobile. Like I said I wasn't there, and the EMT with him really hadn't had enough experience to really understand the situation. I know the c-spine was compromised, but also upper t-spine was an "obvious multiple fractures". Not only was he hit by the car but ran over him and he rolled under as the car attempted to stop. He was also a "big" kid for his age, about 80-85 kilos, which didn't help much.

I had always tried to relieve pain when possible with any patient, especially with the elderly who's pain threshold might be low. I worked with doctors through medical control who did and didn't want pain control in the field. At the time there were always arguments for both. Occasionally with chest pain or obvious fractures I'd skip medical control and go by protocols and give MS. Back then MS was really the only pain med. we carried. We did ask to carry Demerol but they never did approve it. Even though some docs frowned upon it, I never got in trouble for doing it. Actually there were only two docs that stand out in my mind that expressed no pain control in the field which was frustrating. I agree that sometimes pain control is everything, so I never understood why in some systems it is not allowed. I'm starting to ramble today, so I'll stop for awhile.

I use to know several MedStar employees, even back when it was Campbell Ambulance, based out of Centralia, IL. Hate to hear something like that happening. I know how E. St.Louis can be, very dangerous. And the RI incident, very sad.

There was a situation that might make some Medics give a second thought of what they would do. There were three boys, ages 10-13, who was caught shop lifting and ran out of a store. One was hit by a car causing a high spinal chord injury. I was on a coal mine call at the time so I wasn't there, but we were all effected. The first arriving ambulance had my "boss" and an EMT. The first thing Denny, the boss, did was notice the boy was not breathing and he started ventilations. The boy was immediately paralyzed from the neck down. To make a long story a little shorter, the boy was air-lifted to Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hosp. in St. Louis. I forget how many spinal fx. he had. But he was confined to a mechanical wheel chair with respirator and bed ridden at home, totally on a home respirator. We wound up having to transport him regularly back and forth to St.Louis which was a real challenge every trip. The main point I'm meaning is that Denny tended to hint that he might have regretted starting ventilations and have let him go instead of being in the state he was in. Never really knew for sure how he felt, but I think he always had second thoughts of what his actions were that day. The boy did pass away about five years later from pneumonia. With all the activities with the family we actually became close to them. So it was a mixed blessing for everyone concerned.

Both hospitals in our city did. That was one week we actually ate very well.

Sounds like he was very involved and dedicated to the medical/ health field and would have very big shoes to fill. Sorry to hear about the loss.

Calls, runs, whatever. I took my first EMT class during the summer between my Jr. and Sr. year of high school when I was 17. In the state of IL you had to be 18, like most states. But I made my first call/run the day before my 18th birthday. The coordinator talked with state director and they allowed me the one day. So at one time I was the youngest EMT in the state. It was a simple transport from a nursing home to have a CT done. But about five days later I had my first emergency run, which I was called out of school. Turned out to be a full arrest and at first it was just me and a "driver", my partner met us at the scene. I returned to school in time for typing class and the teacher was concerned how I would take loosing a patient. I just told her that it was something that came along with signing up for the job. It helped to run out of school that the principal took the EMT class with me. We'd occasionally get scheduled at the same time, and we had a blast. It's OK to be excited and nervous before your first shift and call/run. Just stay calm, cool, and collected and you'll do fine. Have fun, but not too much fun, is what my first coordinator told me.

When I first took ACLS that is what was said. Give it anyway, it won't hurt. But I've heard the argument(s) that differ. A rule of thumb we went by also then was if the patient was brady but not full arrest, 0.5mg. IV. If full arrest 1.0mg IV and repeat at 5 mins. total of 2.0mg. If not effective at that total dose then it's considered not working. Then they did change it to a total of 3.0mg. But about nine months later they went back to 2.0mg. It made us feel like "I'm not as think as you confused I am :banghead: :dontknow: ". I know things have changed even more since I've been out of the field.

I use to do that with the "boss"/son of the owner of a private service I worked for. We'd go toe-to-toe then I would just say "Denny, you're right" and walk away leaving him standing there like an idiot, which he was.

It would probably be easier for me to use my user name, but I'll try my first name. Your Name: Wayland 1. Famous singer/band: White Snake 2. 4 letter word: Wine 3. Street name: West Dr. 4. Color: White 5. Gifts/presents: Wallet 6. Vehicle: Winnebego 7. Items on a menu: Wine List 8. Girl Name: Wynona 9. Boy Name: Wayne 10. Movie Title: "Whales" 11. Drink: White Wine 12. Occupation: Wrangler 13. Flower: White Oleander 14. Famous Person: Walt Whitman 15. Magazine: Word of Truth 16. US City: Winnfield, LA 17. Famous Sports Team: White Sox 18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Women 19. Something U Throw Away: Waste 20. Things You Shout: Whoa! 21. Cartoon Character: Winnie the Pooh So I used "White" a lot.

"Take a Little Piece of My Heart" - Big Brother & the Holding Co./ Janis Joplin

I plead the 5th.

"Do You Feel Like I Do" - Peter Frampton (I can't get the intro outta my head, argghh)

There's been times when someone was on VOX and not realize it and it is picked up. One big thing with slurs or anything else is that it can ruin the reputation of your service. It can ruin an individuals reputation on the street if the name of the person who said it get's out. In the mid 80's we always had racial tensions running high. Luckily the private service I was working with had a good reputation. At times it did work to our advantage when we were called to the "projects". There was a particular family who had an elderly father that was bed ridden at home. There were a few of us that treated their daddy right and in turn we had there help in certain situations. If someone or a group in the projects was giving us a hard time all we had to do was yell for Frankie or Leroy (yes, that was his name) and it was like the Dead Sea parting. I can't think of the other brother's name. Then we had no trouble at all.

Sometimes you might have a patient with chronic COPD and or long hx. of asthma that will describe it "tight" themselves if they have experienced in the past. In that case you can state that the patient described it as "tight", which you can verify by the decreased air flow as the others have stated. I myself having asthma, what Delta and AZCEP described are right on.

Yep, that's it. Thanx for posting it. I needed a laugh today. I cried when John Ritter died.