HERBIE1

EMTBasic- No degree is waste- at least in terms of personal growth. As for helping you in the future, that's another story. It all depends on what your plans are and what goals you have for yourself. I went back after 25 years in the business and got my Masters in Public Safety Administration. Why? Because I knew that at any time, my career could be cut short because of an injury. I also knew that once I retire from this gig, I will not be ready to sit on a porch and rock away my life. I am now teaching part time at a university, and plan to expand that role soon. Do you want to teach, train, or get into something totally different? I would concentrate on management and leadership classes. Homeland Security is another rapidly growing field right now. It all depends on your age, your resources, and your short and long term goals. The more tools you have in your tool belt(experience, education, certifications, etc), the better off you will be. More opportunities will present themselves, and you will be qualified to do far more things. I would advise you to make a list of what you like about this business, what you don't like, what outside/corollary interests you may have, and where you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years. Don't forget to include a family if you do not have one already- they do complicate and influence your decisions. Good luck.

All great ideas. I would also include Galls.com, a site where you can find all types of things for a personal medical kit, uniforms, etc.

Welcome to the city!

Depressing. I knew far too many of these. LOL Who said it? I Family sitcoms: "Dy-no-mite!" Jimmie Walker, Good Times "Aaay" Fonzie, Happy Days "Stifle!" Archie Bunker- All in the Family "Oh, my nose!" ? II Other sitcoms: "Baby, you're the greatest!" Ralph Cramden, Honeymooners "I know nothing!" Sgt Schultz, Hogans Heroes "How YOU doin'?" Friends "No soup for you!" Seinfeld III News catchphrases: "And that's the way it is." Cronkite? "Good night, and good luck."? "One small step for man ... " Neil Armstrong- first man on the moon IV Cop show catchphrases: "Book 'em, Danno." Hawaii 5-0 "Just one more thing ..." Columbo "Let's be careful out there." Hill Street Blues "Who loves you, baby?" Kojak V Sci-fi catchphrases: "Resistance is futile." STNG "The Truth is out there." ? "Beam me up, Scotty." Star Trek "You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone." Rod Serling, Twilight Zone VI Catchphrases from cartoons: "D'oh!" Simpsons "Heh-heh." Beavis and Butthead "Don't make me angry ..." ? VII Game show catchphrases: "Is that your final answer?" Millionaire "Come on down!" Price is Right "Once you buy a prize, it's yours to keep." Let's Make a Deal? VIII Sports catchphrases: "Do you believe in miracles?" Al Michaels? "Let's get ready to rumble!" Wrestling "Know your role, and shut your mouth!" ? IX Comedy catchphrases: "What you see is what you get!" ? "Mom always liked you best!" Smothers Brothers "Sock it to me!" Laugh In "We are two wild and crazy guys!" SNL(when it was funny) X Variety show catchphrases: "Here it is, your moment of Zen." ? "Now cut that out!" Jack Benny "We've got a really big show!" Ed Sullivan XI Ad catchphrases: "It takes a licking ..." Timex "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" Alka Seltzer "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." ? XII Reality show catchphrases: "The tribe has spoken."Survivor "You're fired!" Apprentice "Smile, you're on 'Candid Camera'!" Candid Camera XIII Political catchphrases: "Oh, the vision thing." ? "They misunderestimated me." Bush? "I didn't inhale …" Bubba Clinton "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Al Gore XIV More political catchphrases: "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Lloyd Bensen? "I'm not a crook." Nixon "There you go again." Reagan "Ask not what your country can do for you ..." JFK

If we recall, this topic came up during Obamacare talk. Death panels, denying of care, determining cost effectiveness of treatment, medications, and treatments, etc. I understand and agree with your concerns. Major surgery on a 92 year old patient? Really? To what benefit for the patient- an extra 6 months- maybe? How does it affect their quality of life- if at all? Just because we CAN do something, does that automatically mean we SHOULD? Think about extended care and ventilator patients. With our technology we can now keep someone "alive" for a long time- even though there may be no hope for any meaningful recovery, much less independent living. Who gets to decide what is appropriate/cost effective/worthwhile? Tough questions, indeed.

I want a partner who is skilled, and treats patients and family with respect. I want a partner who understand that even when the call is total BS, you do your job, and if necessary bitch about it LATER. I want a partner who understands that part of our job is the education of patients, families, and care givers. I want a partner who thinks that a vital part of our job is to make people feel comfortable when we arrive- that they think we are professional, skilled, and knowledgeable- that our presence will help alleviate their fears. I also want a partner that has the same warped sense of humor that I do, and does not take him/herself too seriously. Luckily I have such a partner. We laugh all day long.

Welcome to the City!

Sadly, in too many instances, I think it's too darn close to being true. Funny as hell, though.

Yep- men are ALWAYS wrong. Just ask a woman. As an FYI for men- Want revenge? Tell a woman that if you want her opinion, you'll give it to her. (and then run like hell...)

Godspeed to all involved.

Wow. I don't fault the trooper too much. I'm sure they haven't had much- if any- haz mat training, but common sense would dictate you do NOT run into a cloud of unknown vapor- especially when the overturned tank is clearly labeled. He also had to run right past the tank, but this is a classic example of tunnel vision. He saw the man down and did not check the scene. As for the fire dept- BAD, and a major fail on many levels. Unknown about wind speed and direction, so unclear if they are even approaching downwind. They essentially did it all wrong. Should be required viewing for any scene safety class.

Teach. I'm not sure if it's possible in your area, but work in an ER as a tech.

Most likely the patient suffered from too many birthdays. I would say the MVC had nothing to do the eventual outcome- especially if he died 2 days later. I don't see anything EMS may have missed. The crash was minor, so I don't suspect a missed injury, but anything is possible, I guess. Nothing wrong with exploring other possibilities so I'm not sure why the OP received grief for it. If something was missed, then it could be a teaching moment.

Dwayne nailed it. The discussion he had with his wife about listening sounds like similar conversations I have had. Part of the problem is the male/female thing. I am constantly trying to be a good listener and resist the ingrained male urge to fix everything. Because of what we do for a living, that urge is even stronger. Is that what's going on here with EMT155? I don't know. Although my wife works full time in education, the trials and tribulations of her day are no less stressful than mine- just in a different way. She tried to tell me once that I did not feel her line of work was as worthwhile or important as mine. I understand the idea, but in fact SHE felt that way, not me. I have always maintained that anyone involved in education should be well compensated and deserving of far more respect than they get. She admitted that this was actually the case. Regardless, I still try to be a good listener, but I admit it is not an easy thing to do sometimes. As Dwayne mentioned, sometimes we have a horrible shift, horrible calls, and talking about Oprah or "Can you believe what Tina said to Jessica at the office!" is the last thing we want to hear. Patience, take a breath and LISTEN. Unless specifically asked, do NOT offer a solution- let her vent her spleen. Again- this is about understanding ourselves and being honest. Are we the type of person we want to be? Have we changed in some way? How do others perceive us, and is this perception different than what we think about ourselves? Am I being a good partner, friend, or parent? How can I be better? Unfortunately I have major family issues going on right now, so these concepts are all too fresh in my mind.

I have no doubt the TSA agents are being professional- too many people are watching this. That said, I think this whole thing is ridiculous.Patting down 6 year olds and little old ladies? REALLY? Why? Can someone give me ONE GOOD REASON we are allowing this to happen? Here's a novel concept: How about targeting the people who actually pose a threat to us and stop not only wasting our time and money, but stop needlessly invading our privacy? Even a cop must have probable cause to pat a suspect down. What probable cause do these TSA agents have to pat down random travelers? Last time I checked, the folks who have been committing 99.9% of the terrorist acts have a very specific profile. I realize this is old news and an even older discussion, but I for one am sick and tired of this PC BULL.

You don't say what business your fiance is in, but I assume it's not the medical field. This topic has been talked about here many times, but it's one that's important enough to merit another look, IMHO. Depending on what you did before EMS and for how long, were you 2 involved BEFORE you got into the business? In my opinion, this business DOES change you in some way. Depending on where you work, and what you see, many folks become more cynical, and yes, we often blunt our emotions as simple coping mechanisms to what we see. You note that her complaint is that you do not seem to care about anything anymore. Do you agree with her? Would this be a significant change in your personality vs before? Do you see a problem with that change- if you even agree that it occurred? We all change over the years- regardless of which profession we choose. Hopefully that change is still compatible with our spouses, but sadly that is not always the case. The problem is, in our business, that change may be more dramatic than in another line of work. A person who is young and idealistic often tends to be more cynical, pragmatic, and.or realistic after doing this for awhile. Sounds like you 2 need to sit down and have a heart to heart. You may not see a problem with your behavior, but clearly she does. The easy answer is to not let what you see at work affect you at home-ie what happens at work stays at work. After 30 years, I can tell you that is essentially an impossible task. At some ;level, events of work WILL affect you- whether it be unconscious or not. Think about how we find humor in some pretty gruesome things- gallows humor. Think about what we see. When I first started, I had an old timer tell me the converse- that whatever your problems are at home, leave them at home, because it will affect your ability to do your job, and there is little you can do about it while at work anyway. Again- easier said than done. I guess relationships are always a lot of work, and maybe because of our business, it's even harder. Tough situation, but I suggest that getting this all out in the open now is better in the long run.

A couple take home points here- Since you are BLS, I understand you are limited in the tools you have available. That said, it makes a good set of vitals massively important. The most important thing you need to do is ensure you have a solid baseline to work from- good solid vitals. As you noted, lung sounds are difficult to master, but the only thing you can do is keep at it. I cannot tell you how many times I've picked up fine rales in the bases of someone's lungs, even with no obvious respiratory distress. As you probably know, someone with CHF can QUICKLY decompensate. Minor distress can progress to full blown pulmonary edema and sometimes it can be hard to mitigate the problem. Thus, it's imperative to be able to distinguish between the various types of abnormal lung sounds. As I have mentioned, a person with diminished lung sounds may have underlying wheezes and/or rales, and as soon as you administer albuterol, the patient begins to move more air, and those problems become apparent. in other words, you address one problem, and another may soon become apparent. Good for you for exploring, asking questions, and trying to be a better provider. Keep up the good work.

Schools are always good for multiple victims. Could be noxious fumes, CO, one student with stomach flu and multiple students with "sympathetic" nausea and vomiting, etc. Want to inject psychological issues PLUS a real medical/cardiac emergency? Have an elderly person(ie.spouse of deceased) at a funeral home develop chest pain, an arrythmia, syncope, etc and then need to deal with their refusal to leave the wake. Had more than a few of those. Have a school bus full of of autistic kids in an MVA. Real life for me. Minor accident, but the psych first aid component was HUGE. 20 or so scared and disabled kids.

I disagree Dwayne, but then I define "save" in pretty broad terms. To me, if it is likely that a patient wold not survive WITHOUT our intervention, I call it a save. That could mean something as simple as opening an airway, or as intensive as dumping the drug box into someone on a complicated megacode. Yes in strictly clinical terms I suppose we could say that the only way to define a "save" is when you have ROSC, but we could also say that would be defined as a successful resuscitation since a person is in cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. Semantics? Maybe.

Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. ... 'In honor of this holy season' Saint Peter said, 'You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.' The man from Nova Scotia fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. 'It represents a candle', he said. 'You may pass through the pearly gates' Saint Peter said. The man from Saskatchewan reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, 'They're bells.' Saint Peter said 'You may pass through the pearly gates'. The Newfoundlander started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's panties. St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, 'And just what do those symbolize?' The Newfie replied, 'These are Carols.' And So The Christmas Season Begins......

That's why you get the "big bucks"! LMAO

Welcome to the city, Jim. Looking forward to hearing from another geezer(no offense)- there are a few of us here.

Funny story anyway.

I'm waiting for the punchline here, Richard. Did this really happen?

Had a "near save" the other day. 12 year old boy with muscular dystrophy and autism, bedridden. Met at the door by frantic parents and family members- kid was upstairs, back bedroom, in a hospital bed. Walked in the room and saw the kid w/ agonal resps and cyanotic. The family said they were trying to suction mucous from the kid with a (tonsillar cathether) but it was not working. The boy was gagging, biting, and would not tolerate the suctioning. As the kid became more hypoxic, he was fighting them. Not any more-now he was just about ready to code. Put the kid on 02, bagged him a few times, and the kid's color improved almost immediately. He started looking around, acting more normal. Whew. Vitals OK now, sats at 100%, but still tachy at 160 or so. The cousin asked if she made things worse by giving him mouth to mouth before we got there. I said no- she did the right thing. The family had a CPAP machine for his use at night, in addition to the suction. I instructed them if he got that bad again and they could not get rid of the mucous plug, call us and then put him on the CPAP machine- it may dislodge the plug- or at least push it down into a bronchus, which although is not good, it's still preferable to apnea. The kid was lucky- we were literally a couple blocks away, picking up from another call, so we were on scene in about a minute-and he literally didn't have any more time than that. Enroute to the ER, I asked the kid a few questions, and he simply repeated what I had said, looking around. Family stated that was normal mentation for him and clearly relieved. One for our side... I am constantly amazed at the lengths people will go to in order to care for a special needs patient at home. His room looked like an ICU, except it was covered in homemade pictures and artwork from his siblings and other family members- very touching. He was impeccably clean, no bed sores, clean gown, clean diaper, hair combed, clean linen- clearly top notch care, and obviously an abundance of love. I told the parents they- and their whole family- were doing a helluva job taking care of their son. They really seemed to appreciate that.