Christopher.Collins

Wow, Im not even a dispatcher and I find this offensive. Its one thing to vent but this is a bit insubordinate brother... you could have done this on a tastefull level at least. Dont go bashing dispatchers in general because you feel the ones you work with are incompitant and out to get you. If you really want to throw jabs at people I can say (unofficially) the only employees Ive ever seen "purposley" screwed by dispatchers are usually incompitant, lazy, disgruntled or a combination. Most of thoes times its actually said employee with an "out to get me" atitude and not the dispatcher themself. Now brother, I know there are times when things are rough. Ive been sent on calls where there is a closer available unit, whos either just getting on the road for the day or had their break, when Ive worked 12, going on 16 hours without one. Its no big deal... if you cant handle it then maybe as another said its time to move on. WE ALL HAVE OUR SHARE of bad days. Theres no problem with venting about this but as I said, you could have been nicer about it. And in case you have no experience as a dispatcher... really bro, think! Ive done a short stint and it wasnt an easy job. Why do you think they get paid more than us? Not saying I agree, but the average dispatcher in CT starts between $15-$17/hr where as the average EMT starts around $11-$13/hr.

My partner and I have been dispatched to a possible CVA at a nursing home almost 25 minutes away. I called dispatch on the phone to verify I heard them correctly and get more info... my medic partner just sat there with his jaw dropped. Not only was the info correct but the nursing home called the non-emergency number and requested a non-emergency response, that they already tried getting their local EMS to respond, and we were probably the farthest away AVAILABLE ALS unit from our own company. So we get there (its like 0100hrs) and the only on duty nurses are at the nurses station. First thing I do is ask where the pt is and the problem... they said she may have had a stroke and shes at the end of the hall room on the left. My partner asked if anyone is taking care of her... nurses said no we are working on some paperwork. I thought he was going to throw the monitor at them. We get to the patients side... shes completley out of it, I dont think lathargic is accurate enough a description. Negative signs of a CVA (forgot what was actually wrong) but she was more than worthy of an emergent response and NOT being ignored by "health care providers." Note: that areas local EMS will not respond to any pyschs, etoh's or (after bed time) calls at nursing homes.

While responding Code 5 (lights and siren) past HQ (dispatch has a near 360 view of the city): Dispatch, "Car Zeus, be advised your emergency lights are off!" Me, "Negative base, we are code 5." Dispatch, "Understood Zeus but again your lights are off." Me now looking at the console very confused, "Base be advised all lights are activated." Dispatch, "1-10 (contact) Base via landline!" Turns out that our ambulance was having some electrical malfunctions. Returned to base and denied by the soup to transfer to another rig regardless of the fact that there were at least 20 not being used that shift. One of MANY reasons why I quit that job due to feeling managment didnt give a damn about safety.

Kinda like that PVT on the ako (army knowledge online) website that posted topics with pink before every name... "pink elephants," "pink trees," "pink cars." Even on a DOD restricted and monitored website you get wierd posts. Anyways I like whatever penlight my partner has (had) on them or whatever is in the FDs or PDs jump kit.

Wow, Ive seen it before... but I just totally pulled that out of my a$$ as a guess. I guess it pays off that we in EMS are human and have human companions... though it is tough having freinds/family in thoes kind of positions (i.e on dialysiss). Said scenario have lead to asking many a time (because of neglectful of the friend/patient) when they've done their dialysiss 'cuz some seem to try to determine on their own if its nessecarry that day or not. Just out of curiosity ever find out why she missed the treatments? Not that its nessecarilly our (your) business... but would be interesting to know.

Ive (VERY) vaugley discussed calls but also very selective of who I talk to and what calls... of anything who the hell goes talking about a rape call on myspace? I mean there are some things just not worth "bragging" about. The car (litterally) wrapped around a tree..., cool lol Lightning strike..., kinda cool lol Standby for bucket heads climbing a tree for a cat..., priceless :twisted: Rape... NEVER COOL!!!!!!!!!

Did she go to her dialysis treatment on Saturday? Hows her skin temp and appearance? Whats the temp like in the church? Last meal and drink?

Dont worry too much its not a big deal. First and foremost that book will only teach you so much, once you get in the field and start doing it you will remember. No one is going to expect you to know absoloutley everything... and the only stupid question is one not asked. I wasnt that great with BPs when I first started in the field and that was with practice... but it came with time. The only thing you should worry about is if youve been around a while and still cant retain anything. But your still fresh so just relax! If you can remember your SAMPLE and OPQRST but most importantly ABCs assesments arnt so bad. Youll just have to remember when to do focused vs rapid. Trauma in itself is pretty easy, I think of it as a (gentle) head to foot full body massage. Again, just relax. You said you wont be in the field untill October? Am I to assume you have a job. Go there and ask them to help you out, it cant hurt and it will show your motivated. We have all been in your shoes and most (Ill be honest not all) will respect that. Best of luck and welcome to EMS.

Just uhh... be sure your using a training defib and not a real one. You know, in case fluffy has a shockable rythm naturally as opposed to humans

BSI, SCENE SAFETY!!! Even if its just a BS practical that dosnt count, REMEMBER THAT!!! I did a practical during class and it began like this... a dark hallway with screaming for help coming from the end of it or possibly another dark room (couldnt tell, it was that dark). My partner ran down the hallway, the instructor, "fail!" Alot of people failed that practical... it was strictly to get you to ask if the scene was safe, the answer, no. Probably wont be a practical for the examn but I believe BSI, Scene Safety is a critical criteria (pass/fail) for all practicals. Best of luck!!!

Thats insane. Unless there is some sort of written agreement between both agencies, or something happens to the other ambulance (Ive seen that happen) there is no reason the other agency should take a hit financially. And it really brings back memories of job interviews where my perspective employers have reffered to other agencies as competition. It really makes me sick to be in EMS sometimes, and not the times where Im being bled or puked on. I dont get that... ok I get it, as in Ive been told to do the same thing many many times. You know what FU*K IT! If someone be it a supervisor or billing or anyone ever again asks me to do it, Ill tell them where to stick it. Ill take the rap for being insabordinate... but if they try to terminate, Im sure my lawyer could easily build a case on being told to falsify a legal document. Sorry to hear you and your bro have been put in these situations. It sounds like you both need a change of location. Goodluck and stay safe. Most of all thanks for being honest and making the job itself whats most important (not money).

Well, next time I get seriously hurt or sick... Ill make sure Im in your area and outside a facility not equiped to handle me lol

Oh yea, Ive had them in full blown respritory distress manage to breath in enough air to say they cant afford it and will go by car... that a family member called 911

No, but the wall caught the surfer quite well :twisted:

Great post bro... sorry to hear your impression didnt go quite as planned. Unless your idea of impressing him was just getting him to remember you, which Im assuming worked well. Dont know how long youve been in that department but one of my old ones had a tradition. If you broke something or do something memorable you would recieve it as an award during the annual banquet. Heres some examples: Our old boat ran up an uncharted rock... the crew of the boat were presented various parts (the drive shaft, prop, etc.) One member tore apart a 5" line (dont remember how)... he recieved a good 3' section of it with the coupling. My point... Im sure it will haunt you forever, maybe even in the form a trophy. I was called to a male unable to ambulate... got on scene to find he was a double amputee above the knees. FYI no prosthetics either. Somewhere along the lines there was a mix-up between him and dispatch between, cant walk and weak and tingly lower extrematies.

That has to be probably one of the most amazing and (sickeningly) amusing things I have ever seen!

Chief Complaint? Vitals (including skin temp/appearance)? SAMPLE/OPQRST? Reason in wheel chair? Able to ambulate at all? Check PMS of lower extrematies; compare to hx/reason in wheel chair and pt's (stated by him or family) normal PMS Start on high 15 lpm via NRBR

In the private service I worked for we wernt forbidden to talk about cost... but we had no personal knowledge of billing as techs. Usually if a patient asks we simply say that any questions can be directed twords our billing department. However during non-emergent transports a patient or family can request a quote for the transport which is usually given to us by the shift supervisor or dispatch. Prior to loading the patient we give them the quote and a special refusal and insurance form in case they decide not to use our services. We could also call dispatch for a quote if the patient or family was very insist upon a quote. Personally however, I do my best (for patients that need an ambulance even non-emergent transport) to convince them that their health is more important. Kinda like every time I buy a pair of cheap sunglasses the guy is always like can you really put a price on your vision? Only Im alot more tact and compasionate to my patients than a salesman. By the way I can put a price on my vision, my aunt is an eye doctor, so I get stuff cheap anyways.

All I can think of right now is the bullet proof thong on "Super Troopers."

Maybe Fiddy Cent and other gangster rappers can invest in reasearch and testing to bring down the cost? Like that basketball player who released a cheap shoe line so kids would stop waisting their money.

Id really love to see JEMS follow up with him down the road, and Im sure we would all want to see a case study on this (the OP) as well.

This is amazing and it goes right up there with last months JEMS article on a man who fell 47 stories from an outdoor scaffhold and survived, then made an almost miraculous recovery and serious rehab within nearly 5 months. Anyways... I always thought Mary's father (in Bringing Out the Dead) was kind of a BS story... but that pretty much occured in the span of an ambulance transport for real. Guess Ill think, before I think from now on.

Can we and/or should we try to learn from each other? Absoloutley... in fact it is in my humble opinion that if your not into constant learning and adapting to surroundings, then your not cut for this line of work. I mean hell, we do have to continue our education to keep our certifications. This is not to be confused with being "learning impaired" however, sometimes there is a cure for that I recall a specific time when I was training a newbie. Said newbie had been on the job for at least 12 years... me, more like 5 years. So here I am wondering how Im ganna approach this guy and teach him the ropes. And Im sure when he met his partner (only been in the company 6 months and almost young enough to be his son) he was probably thinking something along the same lines as I... or maybe even as simple as "he's training me?" We got to know eachother a bit and I asked him about his work history and experience, there already seemed to be some tension. So once I felt that he knew his stuff (cuz lets face it, we all know people who have survived in this job longer than they {for the greater good} should have) I came up with a short little BS speach. Essentially I broke down that I will do my best to respect his knowledge and experience, that Ill try not to be bossy and that all I ask for is he understand this and tell me if I am. At the same time, Ill be more than willing to help him learning company specific things (radio codes, SOPs and SOGs, the ePCRs and Toughbook tablet, getting around the area... etc.) and finally I added that I as well would like to learn from him in any way. It really seemed to break the tension, in fact he asked me a few times to even critique his PCRs. I cant say I gained much knowledge from him, we didnt really do anything outside of "routine" (I really hate that word) calls. But I did gain a great deal of confidence, personal and proffesional.

Just out of curiosity... when someone has a theory on a new medical treatment, especially one requiring a patient whos clinically dead, near dead or unable to consent to something experiemental (the topic at hand for instance) how do they test it? I realize there are animals with simillar human anatomy. But how does it get to the human testing stage? There are still differences in anatomy and mechanism of how treatments (compresions in this case) would be performed.

zonk~ Its not so much that the page defines your skills... its more so that it defines you. And thats not a bad thing dont get me wrong... but if joe public sees something they dont like and that your a public servant, it can cause harm. It may not even be something distastefull, people these days are more than capable of picking apart, misconstruing and overanalyzing things (Im one of thoes types :twisted: ). Now, I dont mean that as a personal attack against you what-so-ever... I realize you said your profile is private. Just pointing out the ever-so-obvious that joe public still does not accept the EMS community as human beings. One other thing though a private profile dosnt even mean anything these days... Ive had co-workers (who are FREINDS) ask me about things Ive said, even though its not accessable to general public, perfectly legal and not even a violation of any kind of regulations, sop's or sog's. My own uncle once thought I was suicidal just because of some music and things that I like, and he reported that to my damn mother... Im freaking 23 years old!!!! I keep one to keep up with friends who have moved away or are off in Iraq and Afghanastan, alot are Marines. But thats about it. And from lessons learned I dont even talk to family and co-workers on there, nor do I place proffesional/employment info on there... its simply a glorified email for old buddies. Just a personal choice though, not saying anyone should follow. They all know where, when and how to get ahold of me, thats enough. Other than that I tottally agree with Spenac. There really is no formality in this country anymore. Courteous greetings have even become, unnessecarry small talk. I went to Westover Airforce Base a little while back with one of my NCO's and the MP at the gate greeted us... my NCO just kinda told him to screw off with the "small talk." Hell, Ive gone to businesses for applications or to submit my resume' and they either have me fill out an app on their computer or tell me to go home (or the library to do it). I understand that some jobs are competative and its more efficiant to organize dozens if not hundreds of applications electronically... but there is absoloutley no formality. What ever happened to fist impressions? Yea they arnt always accurate, but Im not going to hire someone who cant put on some nice clothes to fill out an application. And I wouldnt hire someone that just comes in and says, "hey uh, you hiring?" Discriminatory? I dont think so, I wouldnt make judgement on someone based on what they are wearing or who they are... but if they cant conduct themselves in a proffesional manner for 5-45 minutes of 24 hours, then Im not interested. And how can you get that first impression through an email? Aside from a well put together resume? The resume could look great, but the person could be a total scumbag and then youve wasted 45 minutes on an interview, when you could have figured it out in 5 minutes of them dropping off an application. For that matter there isnt even proffesionalism in interviews today. I see people leave and enter (PROFFESIONAL, not retail) job interviews wearing jeans and maybe a polo shirt at the most. Hear I am sweating my @$$ off wearing a button-down, long-sleeved shirt, tie and slacks with fresh polish on the shoes. Maybe thoes people had proffesional atitudes... thats great and most important, but again, cant wear something nice for 5-45 minutes... why bother? Electronics are killing us. Our atitudes towrds other people no less... thats pretty sad.