Quakefire

My thoughts go out to the family of the medic who lost their life, I wish the attendant in the back a speedy recovery, and MedicNorth all the support possible

KED is really nice for hip fractures as well, MAST pants work great for pelvis fractures (yes we do have a car that still has a pair on board) The hardest thing on the KED is getting the padding on the head just right

Thanks Mateo I kinda assumed that the 12 lead was non diagnostic

What was the indication for a right sided 12 lead? Not normal proceedure here anyway. Has he been out of the country recently? I'm thinking there must be some kind of parasite or something

Cool Story! We usually give gravol with morphine just in case of nausea, just whats done by our medics and the hospital here. As for SIRS, why was his HR so low with a BP like that? From what I understand (which probably isnt much) He should have been getting tachy, as a compensatory response to the hypovolemia. Was there something else found to account for this? Or was he previously borderline hypotensive and possibly tolerated it better. Last question, how was his response to the levophed?

I too agree that if a big is too heavy to be comfortably rested in your lap, the book is too big. But don't let them hear you say you should break it down into smaller volumes as they would still charge over two hundred for the book, but it would be for each volume instead. I too come from a science background as a physics major, so physics chemistry calculus philosophy and psychology. Glad to hear there are some BC people getting back into school. From the two BCAS people we have in our class it sounds like that wasn't happening too much lately

I guess it would depend on the substance then wouldn't it? A chunk of steak is less likely to plug the tube than say a giant glob of peanut butter

Just my two cents, after completing our first week of the ACP course. Our A&P started with intro chemistry and bonding and so on. Unfortunately it has confused most people. The issue with it is most of the people have been out of high school for well over five years and remembering chemistry (not a requirement even for the PCP course) isn't all that easy. Quantum mechanics scares alot of people. As for text books being "too smart" or dumbed down. Well we kind of need a middle ground. We are using Emergency Medicine by Tintinalli. The book is too "smart" for our purposes, besides as Kiwi stated, its an OH&S hazard due to weight (it hurts to study if the book sits on your lap). By that I simply mean that most people require a dictionary to read the book. Yes we understand it, but a lot of the terminology used is not common in EMS (at least around here). I'm not against big scary Latin words, just it would be nice to have it written in a way that would allow those of use without a medical internship to catch up on some of the terminology.

We have to use a program called CompTracker which runs on the iPod touch and iPad to keep track of our skills during clinical, coursework and road practicums. Interfaces with a website showing what PCR we have the skills attached to, a signature from our preceptor and required skills remaining and completed.

See if you can find one of those ant and crawling insect sprays that leaves a residue to keep bugs out. Spray around windows and doors. Might help

I have heard the rumbler sirens work quite well because you "feel" the siren coming as much as hear it, down side is you may just thing its a dumb kid with a big sub in his sunfire. I'm sure you could work out a cost sharing plan with the RCMP (insert police force here) for the cameras, would have to link speed, status of emergency systems and location, maybe just a video camera like the dash cams cruisers have made to read plates?

I was just looking at a manual Stryker bariatric cot, rated for something like 800 pounds full height and a whopping 1600 pounds at lowest (how would you get 1600 pounds up the foot or so to the cot). It also had an attachment for what I would assume to be a winch., it all makes my back hurt. My experience is with the 500 pound range of patients on a stryker hydraulic cot in a standard unit. Even that is difficult (we had to tie the lifting net around the pt. kept them from over hanging the stretcher too much) We do not have a specialized unit available for these patients. I've never seen an ECMO that would make for a very interesting transfer

Somehow Mobey I knew you would be the first person to reply to this. There is no longer any training for the ICP level in Saskatchewan as SIAST has dropped the program. No where near as many people were taking the program since they dropped the ICP requirement for admission to the ACP program, so we may soon be rid of the non CMA recognized title (and some zero to heroish types) License still says EMT but I can at least now use the title on my certificate.

Howdy, The titles of PCP, ICP, and ACP have now been written into the Paramedic Act in Saskatchewan. Although the old titles will still be used for licensing, we can now all use the title of Paramedic, identifying the level of our training with the Primary, Intermediate and Advanced care titles. SCoP News Release

Is it just me or does this councilor seem to have a very low opinion of EMS? We were specifically targeted, being grouped in with noisy motorcycles, and yet there is no mention of Fire or Police, saying that if we use a siren there must be no reason for it, yet when they do there must be lives at stake. They also chose the one service outside of their realm of control. I dont know how many times people have not seen the ambulance till im staring at them through their passenger window, lights, sirens, air horns it doesnt matter to some people they still wont see us, so using quieter sirens makes sense how? If we have to be less "noisy" than the motorcycles then how is anyone going to hear us over the motorcycles?

Ok so if it was an electric vent there should have been an alarm. I have never worked with an oxygen powered vent before so forgive me if im wrong. Vents arn't the quietest of devices, why wouldnt you hear the vent stop?

I know you cant really ban a religion (well you can but bad things tend to happen) but Islam isn't the problem. Don't get me started on intelligent design and creationism, there was a guy in the US who ran one of those "earth is 2000 years old" "Museums" (and I use that term loosely)who claimed that he was exempt from taxes because God is his employer and the Church doesnt have to pay taxes. Geez you wander around talking to God and you get locked up cause your crazy, go to a staff meeting with him/her and all you get is the IRS. For the record I believe everything was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster May he touch you with his noodley appendage and bring you into his sauce

I do believe its time to ban Christianity on the same basis that some believe Islam is a "dangerous" religion. Look at all the damage it has done, the dark ages, the KKK. Its easy to look at something foreign to you and pick out something to hate while ignoring the same aspects of your own religion. There are extremists everywhere doesnt matter what book they read

Annual General Meeting, because as members of the college we get to vote on any resolutions the college wants to pass, so we all get together once a year, then complain about the results for the rest of the year

Haha I saw this thing on youtube. It looks interesting. I wonder how it does when the rig is sitting off level? Either to the side or on a hill.

I actually agree with Tniuqs, somehow my interview focused alot on my Rock Climbing, and if I free solo..... Now somehow I'm always on/in the roof go figure The ability to step back and reevaluate is fantastic. This job will throw something at you that will leave you flustered, being able to step back and calmly reevaluate your treatment, your extrication, or just how your dealing with a difficult patient is a major plus. Ask questions! In class, on car. to the medic your working with, even ER docs or nurses, the more you know the better!