Dustdevil

Well, it's not just you and me rapping here. There are a lot of people listening, so I wanted to make sure that others did not make any mistaken assumptions about what either of us were saying. But that's not the focus of this thread. We are speaking very specifically about EMS, which is an occupational situation, not a personal one.

You're the only one who seems to be stressing over it, Mr. All Caps.

Bullshyte. If he isn't unemployed yet, he hasn't taken responsibility. What policy is going to fix this? A policy against breaking policy, maybe? Idiot.

Failure to read thread. AK, you don't have to be running hot, fast, or even with a critical patient to wipe out. I've been in some serious accidents while just cruising at low speed, so that's not really a factor. Again, regardless of the numbers, the risk is unacceptable when the prevention is so easy. RIP Bandaidpatrol.

Honestly, who works 350 lb arrests?

LOL! Five year thread bump! That's impressive! I'm surprised I didn't comment on this thread when it was first posted.

I can't speak for DC law, but at least in Texas, a Criminally Negligent death is considered Homicide. The official charge is Criminally Negligent Homicide. It is probably the same in DC.

Well, kudos to him for speaking out, even if belatedly. While his primary point is certainly not the primary problem with the merger, I do have to agree that it is probably a significant one. Problem is, even if you made it an all black department, the remaining problems would still be significant enough to doom this department, so it's sort of a moot point.

The evidence is clear, regardless of the numbers. They always help. They never hurt. So what does it matter how often it happens? Regardless of how often or how many times it happens, those numbers do not change those two basic facts. The facts remain constant regardless of numbers. There's your evidence. What numbers do you need to convince you that it's not worth thirty bucks worth of prevention to save an employee's life?

I have. They're called FD stand-by and rehab. But other than that, I agree with you.

Holy crap! I sure hope that was a metric to US conversion FAIL! I don't work anymore, so I won't skew your poll numbers with a vote. On the streets of the Dallas area, I wore a level IIa Second Chance starting around 1980. Bought a new level II in 86, with more wraparound coverage and a level IIIa plate. That one saved my life in 1989. At my last gig, it was level III armour by Global Armour of South Africa. Level IV ESAPI plates too, but that was Iraq. This issue has been thoroughly cussed and discussed here, sometimes to the point of people being banned, lol. Be warned. Mike, I find it interesting that you are so pro-vest, but so anti-helmet! Damned impressed that your agency has such high compliance though! But I'm thinking your vest is probably IIIa, not III.

Absolutely! But it is far, far from the thrill-a-minute roller coaster that television makes it out to be. And I believe that anyone in this field for more than six months honestly feels a little disappointed in the excitement level that is their reality, as opposed to the one they envisioned.

I don't give a flying fuck what the statistics are. All I know is that I AM one of those statistics, and I damn sure wish I had been wearing a helmet. Skull fractures are no fun. And I was already ugly enough without this scar over my eye. So yes, I am all for REQUIRED headgear in the ambulance. I was pleasantly surprised to see it being worn in Japan (where you can't go ten minutes without seeing an ambulance flying by). But no, I do not know of any agency that currently requires them, nor have I ever been with such an agency. We had a very thorough discussion of this issue here a few years back: http://www.emtcity.com/index.php/topic/3679-would-you-wear-a-helmet-during-transports/page__hl__helmet I'll repeat my initial (among many) response to that thread: A quarter of respondents to that thread said they would voluntarily wear a helmet. A quarter said they would not, and would even defy any policy requiring them to do so. The other half were somewhere in the middle. I'm curious if the numbers have changed as the makeup of the board has changed.

Oh geeze... well, that's the risk you run in that field. I went to undergrad at a university that had a huge, well known grad school of social work, and the atmosphere of that was palpable. Lots of fat lesbians and old guys with grey ponytails running around campus. I remember them being incensed almost to the point of rioting both times that Reagan won. I can only imagine how horrible the Sociology section there must have been. Luckily, I didn't take sociology until nursing school, where the instructor was actually very good, and didn't have a heavy-handed social agenda with her curriculum. But if you can separate the preaching from the teaching, there is a wealth of very valuable knowledge to be had from an intro sociology course. Most of us have a decent understanding of only the psycho-socio-economic lifestyle we grew up in. Getting an educated glimpse into all those others that we deal with is immensely beneficial to our ability to relate to them when caring for them.

So he's a liar? If he doesn't care about our opinions, why would he lie? Oh no, you didn't imply that at all. I can't speak for everyone here, but personally I take offence to the suggestion that I cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. Perhaps you cannot, but I feel confident that most of the people I know here can. And someone has to focus on the details. Who is better qualified to do so than us? And no, it wasn't me who gave you a negative point on your last post.

Excellent point!

Definitely. You'll need to find the shift key on your computer and learn how to spell "preparation" before you hit the job market. If you're in California, I'd get some Spanish behind me too. All the Asians tend to assimilate and learn English. Few of the Mexicans seem to. And they will represent a large percentage of your patient load. It's more than good. It is absolutely essential to competent professional practice. Only a small percentage of your patients will require medical intervention from you. But every single one of them will require you to communicate effectively with them, understand their psychological state of being, and respond appropriately to it. Intro Psych, Developmental Psych, and Abnormal Psych are minimum requirements for a well rounded medic, and I hesitate to hire anyone without them. Sociology too. The difference between medics who have those, and those who do not, is blatantly evident. An above average mastery of elementary algebra is necessary, or you will absolutely fall on your face as a medic. If you already have that (as some HS grads do), then statistics is an excellent next step.

Almost four years since Rosenbaum, and the fail only increases. Heads need to roll, beginning with the mayor, the fire chief, and the EMS union. I'm actually surprised that the lawsuits aren't avalanching on this city. Unfortunately, not everyone has the legal resources of the Rosenbaum family.

Discussion here: http://www.emtcity.com/index.php/topic/17879-more-bad-news-for-dc-ems/page__pid__237633__st__0&#entry237633

The FAIL continues. Rosenbaum is rolling over in his grave.

Let's be real. You have FAILED to read the articles where the series' creator said he was listening to us. A little situational awareness FTW. You're the one who came here telling us to shut up and deal with it, so don't play the victim. It's not becoming of you.

Umm... so now that the creator has stood up and took notice of us, we should quit? Yeah... right. Deal with it.

Hehe... I remember you saying that now. So hopefully the new and improved episodes will still be better.

This must have been filmed before the hiatus, because I don't see any of the positive change that was promised by the creator. The Good No explosions. At least Marisa is wearing her flight suit zipper lower. The Bad Bimbo still way too hyper. Still too much medical speak. Still too much indiscriminate HEMS use. Still flying with only one medical crewmember. Still too much off-duty fraternisation. Poker game? Puhleeze. Still basics performing advanced procedures. Rabbit allowing a LEO to pose as a medic = huge no-no. HUGE dopamine dosage error. The Ugly With all the bad stuff Rabbit has pulled, and should have been fired and decertified for, it’s ironic that he gets busted for a situation where he was right. Although, that’s pretty typical of real EMS, so it’s certainly not inaccurate. Rabbit’s response to Acting Captain Boone was good and earns respect. Bimbo’s claustrophobic freak-out was very poorly portrayed. It is obvious they scripted it to facilitate her partner’s ALS aspirations, and not to realistically show a freak-out.

Yep. I wondered about that. However, it may be a realistic portrayal of how both sides refuse to associate themselves with the other.