Dustdevil

Dude, this is so 1960s. :roll:

Plus 5 for using "strategic principles" in discussion of a profession that seems to be wholly oblivious to the concept.

Minus ten. and...

What the well-dressed Iraqi Army officer is wearing these days... Colonel Amir, Lt. Col Mohammad, and some guy who looks a lot like me together for midnight tea time. The schmag (headscarf) is a gift from the Iraqis.

Yes, the guy I am talking about (the Brit) is with KBR. Although you are correct, there are quite a few other civilian providers out here, but none on a large scale. There are at least two British security contractors out here who hire medics for outside-the-wire work that pays better than the KBR jobs too.

:?

:?

That is an indication that you chose either your profession, your employer, or your location poorly. Sounds like a personal problem. Don't take it out on Thumper.

Yep. And then after you are seen by "whom," where do you go? Beds are all already full thanks to the onslaught of customers. So yes, you are seen right away. Then you go sit in the waiting room for the next two hours until a doctor finally gets the chance to look at the urine specimen you left when you first got there. Smoke and mirrors. The hospital got out of it exactly what they wanted: free press.

Yes. And for $41.38 cad, you can too! http://www.amazon.ca/Rapid-Interpretation-...TF8&s=books

Well, if you are interested in trying, let me know. The top guy who approves hiring of civilian medics out here is British, so you are already ahead of the game. This is the ultimate "exchange" programme. Sorry to hijack. Carry on.

So many things about your post scream out, "I am not British!" How do we know we can trust you? 8)

Buy? No. Play? Uhhh.... no. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :wink:

Come on, NR. You're really too smart for this silliness. You're contradicting yourself right and left, and the answer is really so obvious. Just think about it for a couple of minutes. Ponder these two words: supply and demand.

Wow, you made it all the way to Geometry? You're a farking genius compared to me in high school. I never got past Introductory (read:dummy) Algebra II. Just one step above "Fundamentals of Math" for the total losers. I didn't do any better in college math than I did in high school. Yet I never have any problems working out drug calculations in my head, quickly and accurately. As you eluded to, mathematics tends to be taught in a really crappy way in this country. It seems the more logically you think, the less likely you are to understand math instruction. Math has become like EMS (or vice versa), in that it is all about "protocols" and training instead of true education. They don't teach kids to actually UNDERSTAND and think mathematically. They just train them to memorise a bunch of "rules," theorums, and formulas that cannot even be explained or justified mathematically. Consequently, those who think logically or linearly have a hard time understanding the foundation, or even the reason why they should know any of this, and they fail, just like me. Ever see that old 80's movie, "Stand And Deliver"? That says it all. Too bad the farked up education system in the US didn't learn anything from that movie. Anyhow, I think I have said here before that, even though I totally sucked in every math course I have ever taken in my life, I have no problems whatsoever with the algebra involved in medicine. Why? Because instead of trying to learn it from all the stupid formulas they try and teach you, I simply applied myself to figuring it out on my own. It took awhile, but once YOU figure out how to solve a problem on your own, using your own ingenuity, you never forget it, and it becomes easy. Consequently, all the nurses I work with who made straight As in high school and college math still can't figure out a simple drip calculation without a formula and a sheet of paper, and they run to me to figure it out for them rather than even try. Yes, mathematics is extremely important to the practise of medicine. But failure at formal mathematics learning is not necessarily an absolute indicator that you will have problems in practise.

Damn... Asys almost talked me into believing in organised labour just now. :shock: I must be losing my principles in my old age. But yeah... a little light just went on in my head. :?

I dunno. But that is certainly more profound than anything I've ever said after being shot at. The F word is usually involved.

Unfortunately, as anal as they are about prohibiting "war trophies" here, it's going to be hard enough just getting this bullet back home, much less the rifle it came from. The guys who go home with shrapnel still in them are lucky to even get out of the country with it! Getting a Hummer home would be easier. You can steal Uncle Sam blind out here and nobody bats an eyelash, but try and bring home an Iraqi uniform, or a few pieces of Iraqi money and they want to throw you in the brig. Typical government nonsense. :roll:

Anyone in particular? What'd they do to you? :? If I'm not mistaken, such threats are prohibited at EMT City.

Yikes! Newark? What's the matter, couldn't get a job in Trenton? You are a glutton for punishmemt! AKs are $200 usd from quasi-legitimate sources here. But a double sawbuck will get 'er done if you find an Iraqi soldier with a gambling problem. Or a mistress. Trust me, if there is ANY way to get one home, I will find it! RPGs, complete with rocket = $5 dollars Fragmentation grenade = 75 cents And while the US is issuing crappy old Beretta M9s to our troops (or a Sig P226 if you're a SEAL or other Spec Ops guy), the Iraqis are issuing brand new Glock 22s to theirs. Funny thing is, their officers don't even like the Glocks. They prefer the Russian Makarovs and Tokarevs. Now don't get me wrong, I love Russian women, but the Russians can keep their pistols. I'll take the Glock anyday! This place is Heaven!

As well as MD/PhD combined programmes for students coming out of pre-med.

Roger that. We are not required to fight a certain amount of time, or sustain injury before we can take measures to end the fight. That's what these guys did, and I'm behind them one hundred percent. I hope they took his wallet too!

That's a relief to hear, because in the other topic, you stated that you started 2 IVs in each AC, which sounded a little extreme to me. I just figured it was another case of an EMT taking advantage of a situation to practise outside of his education by overdoing it.

I noticed the same thing as Anthony. That guy came strutting through there with a swagger and his chest all puffed out, obviously looking for confrontation. I could tell that much in the very beginning, when it looked as if he were just some guy headed out the door. Went right up into the face of the firefighter in the IN doorway instead of out the out doorway. This arsehole was looking for the $hit, and he got more than he bargained for. Once a threat is made, he who strikes first then wins. Look who won. Nuff said. You watching a different video from the rest of us? How can you tell? I sure couldn't tell from that video. Besides, he doesn't have to "go anywhere" in order to continue his fight and cause injury. A couple of nice rib kicks took the fight out of him real fast, didn't it? The struggle stopped immediately after that. I'd say that is great justification, right there. Beats the hell out of a choke hold, positional asphyxia, beating his face in, or worse yet, the struggle continuing long enough to allow him to hurt somebody else. And ending the fight right there allowed the medic to immediately return to the patient. There is another justification for you. The bald guy took charge and let it be known that anybody else who thought they could strut in and start some $hit was in for the exact same treatment, and rightly so. You can't show weakness to a building full of dirtballs. They'll eat you for lunch. The best part of the video was the cop waltzing in and dragging the scrote out of there on his face without any hesitation. Kudos to the cops for coming in and immediately rectifying the situation and cleaning up the scene without a bunch of pansy arse formalities.

You're not wrong at all. In fact, the rest of your post said in much better detail exactly what I meant. Everything you said was spot-on. EMS kept me out of med-school by killing my motivation and my ability to devote full-time to pre-med. Indeed, had I been absolutely determined to make it, I would have. EMS just offered an convenient excuse to fail. It does that for a lot of people. For others, it simply covers for the fact that they couldn't have made it even if they had tried.