crotchitymedic1986

You cant raise wages in this economy, sorry.

No, being drunk is not necessarily an emergency, but once someone suffers an injury or illness while drunk, and an ambulance is summoned, I believe that the EMS crew should transport. As stated previously, someone who is under the influence can not understand the consequences, and their signature on a refusal form is therefore worthless.

I didnt say "replace", but most places have a "personnel shortage". By reducing the standard, we could provide jobs to these thousands that are unemployed. These people would just fill vacant slots.

i have no problem being called outdated, and yes I do advocate transporting all drunks. How can someone who is under the influence understand the consequences of not being transported ?

scott, does your doctor perform ABGs on hyperventilation patients ? Same thing. P.S. I have not claimed to be the only right voice, i have just submitted my opinion.

Someone who transports patients to the hospital who have suffered and altered level of consciousness indicates poor ethics ?

I doubt it is real too, but i dont think you can say outlandish. There was a story on 20/20 or 48 hours that talked about a rapist who approached beautiful women in the mall and told them that they were "model" material, and handed them a business card. He would tell them to call if they were interested in modeling. He would then have them meet him at an abandoned business, where he would rape them. I wouldnt think anyone would be dumb enough to meet someone under those conditions, but he had several victims.

not to me

The ER I worked in routinely did CBC and a pre and post chem panel (usually just a chem 7)

I have no responsibility over what happens at the hospital, that is the hospital's problem. My responsibility is to do what is best for the patient in front of me. In the absence of lab and xray you are taking a "gamble" everytime you leave a patient behind. For minor injuries and illnesses, the gamble is minimal, but for patients who lost consciousness for any period of time, it is a much greater gamble. You will probably win that gamble 80-90% of the time, but when you are wrong, the patient could die. I hope you are right 100% of the time.

I transported the type of patients you routinely refused to transport because it was what was best for the patient. Money had nothing to do with it, as most were uninsured or insured through Medicaid. The problem is that often times, transport decisions are not based on what is best for the patient. Just google "paramedics / emts / ems / ambulance blamed in patient death".

when you have an unconscious trauma patient, do you wait for them to wake-up and "make a decision" ? Seizure, syncope, drunk, and diabetic patients are greatly underserved by EMS in my humble opinion

Jan 1 - Jan 28th 2009 statistics: Ambulance Crashes: 28 EMS Personnel Injured: 28 Ems Personnel Killed: 0 Patient Injured: 4 Patient Killed: 0 Other Vehicle Injured: 15 Other Vehicle Killed: 4

I agree with mandatory transport of these patients: 1. You are making an assumption as to what caused the hypoglycemia, it could just as easily be due to overdosage of insulin, an infectious process, or a metabolic problem. 2. You are administering a medicine to a patient and then leaving them behind with untrained personnel to monitor the patient. I doubt that you routinely leave a chest pain patient at home whose symptoms were relieved by 1 ntg tab that you administered. Why not give 5mg of Valium to a seizure patient and then leave them at home, or give 5mg of morphine to that chronic back pain patient and leave them at home ? 3. At best, the patient is mildly altered while signing your refusal. 4. You have no guarantee that their blood sugar will not drop again. 5. Most services are operating at loss or razor thin profit margin, and it is expensive to send a crew to the scene, administer meds, and wait with that patient for 30-45 minutes. Insurance does not pay for no transports, and most patients do not pay if you do bill them some minimal charge.

Lucille Ball was in Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Stuart Nisbet who was in Murder in the First (1995) with Kevin Bacon Link Kevin to Fred Astaire the dancer

First of all, to patent anything is expensive, it used to be around $2k just to get the ball rolling. Then you have the problem of it possibly being a "medical device" which requires a whole other level of approval. I would suggest making intricate drawings of the device, do the minimal copyright/trademark that you can do, and then shop it among some of the bigger ems suppliers to see if they think it is a good idea, before you invest thousands. start surfing here: http://www.uspto.gov/

As your lawyer AK, I still suggest you make no further public comment on this, as riduculous as it is.

Since no one has actually answered your question, here is a link that may help: http://home.hiwaay.net/~theholt1/NURS1100/iv-calc.htm I wouldnt worry about "med-drip" calculations as that is way over your head for now. As far as IV drip rates, in reality you are probably only going to have two drip rates, KVO and wide open. But it is good that you want to be precise, and learn things that are above your skill set, keep it up.

Its hard to pick three, cause i have bounced back and forth between country, rock, and other: I could have just as easily said, Alabamas Greatest Hits, Willie & Waylon, Elvis' Greatest hits, Eagle's Greatest Hits, Chicago's Greatest Hits, Led Zepplin 4, or even Purple Rain by Prince. What is interesting is that it is just us old farts that are answering, I am wondering in the age of downloading single songs to your IPOD, if the kids have ever even listened to a whole album by anyone ?

Problem is that you are dealing with someone who is delussional and irrational, so there is no telling what is going on in their mind. And dont bet that some lawyer wont take a swing just to see if they can scare you into a small settlement. Hopefully, you have the power to make a transcript of everything these two persons have said in forums, AND CHAT ROOMS. Maybe you can find something embarassing on them to swing back with, like them admitting to an affair, trying to have an affair, or some other sorted thing that they didnt think you had access to (maybe a comment about their employer, or something racist). P.S. Dont assume they cant win, and act accordingly (I dont think they will, but you never know in today's society).

Well once you stick your 5th or 6th kid, and your 2nd trauma patient (forgot how many rookies are here), you will realize: Kids veins are basically in the same places adults are, if you know your vein anatomy, there is no reason that you shouldnt be able to get a saphenous stick on any kid. As far as trauma, less than 10% of multi-system trauma patients have a c-spine injury, and i doubt anyone was there to hold c-spine during the immediate 5-10 minutes after the accident. With that being said, an EJ can be started with c-spine being held. As far as waiting until my b/p hits 90, you might want to read up on compensatory shock. At the point, my b/p hits 90, i will no longer have good venous access, which is probably why you have started so many IOs. An IO is not less painful or less dangerous than an IV. Obvioulsy, if you do not have the skills or confidence to get an IV, then you should go to IO, before your patient dies. But you will learn later in your career that difficult IV sticks and intubations are all about confidence, not skill. I was the one the hospital called when they couldnt get an IV or intubation, and I never went to a special class that they didnt take. I was trained the same as everyone else.

dang i was wrong, i was going to guess "rearranging the jump bag and cabinets" for you and dust.

You know the crew, the laziest, sorriest crew in your organization. You open up the doors to your truck, to check off your equipment, and once again, they have done the one thing that just absolutely pisses you off. What is that one thing ? For me, it was not emptying the trash can(s). Nothing I enjoy more than the smell of taco bell leftovers and all their other trash that is spilling over the top of the can to the floor.

Maybe defined your life is abit strong, but I heard this question posed: If you could only take 3 record albums or CDs to the deserted island you would be stranded on, which three would you choose ? Mine would be: AC/DC Back in Black Journey Escape REO Speedwagon Hi Infidelity or Foreigner 4

no, i was talking about USA. Maybe in your region there is no shortage, but my friends there tell me the paramedic shortage is still high.