Dustdevil

LMAO! I hadn't thought of that! I suppose some would legitimately see it that way. After all, I can remember elections where I didn't want to vote because all of the bastards running were no good. Forcing me to vote for somebody I don't even support would indeed be contradictory to freedom. Maybe if instead of forcing people to vote, they could just force you to at least show up and vote nil? Sure, you're still being forced to do something, but at least you're not violating your political principles. Whoa... talk about straying from the topic! :?

I suppose that is a fundamental difference between us and the rest of the world. Americans don't believe that ANYthing they are *forced* to do is a "good deal." Restricting my personal freedoms and choices is hardly a good deal. Making me pay for something I'm not even using is not a good deal. Kinda why the whole communism thing is dying a painful death. It's only a "good deal" to those who produce little to nothing for society. The rest of us get farked. Not to mention that if it weren't for free enterprise in the American healthcare system, the rest of the world wouldn't have most of the innovations they are currently using. Without financial rewards, there is no incentive for progress. You cannot possibly be so naive as to actually believe that any of that is "free," so why would you be so dishonest as to say it is?

Hey SA, are you seeing any of this out in your area? I've seen two cases of MDR out here so far, both from Uganda.

I think that was the whole idea behind spraying pot with paraquat in the first place.

That's the important part. And remember, it's what you learned that counts, not what you scored. Best of luck!

Wow, long time no see, John! Welcome home, and thanks for the great post!

Haha! That was totally the best line! Although, I like the "nursemonkey" term!

I wanna know how many lost their virginity at work!

Kinks? Didn't they do that song, "Lola"? I'm staying a LONG ways away from that one! :shock:

Their concept though is to eliminate EMS involvement altogether, beyond call taking. And you wouldn't have room to transport after you stick in the x-ray machine and other diagnostics they are bringing. Yeah, one of two things is going to creep its ugly head into this situation. If they're lucky, it will be NPs arriving two hours after the initial call, finding a really sick patient, and calling EMS back to send medics. If they're unlucky, it will be either NPs arriving to find dead people, or finding really sick people but not calling EMS for them. Either way, the patient is getting screwed.

Great point, BEorP. Once you really consider this proposal in context, it almost seems back asswards. The elderly are the ones most likely to actually need hospital diagnostics, not the young people. Writing them off as non-emergent on the telephone is just a disaster waiting to happen. Just ask the Dallas Fire Department and the Detroit Fire Department, and the many other crappy EMS services who tried this and lost their arses in court when somebody died.

Again, a topic directed mostly at the physicians, PAs and advanced practice nurses here, bur anybody with experiential input is welcome to answer. Anybody have a decided preference between the Bates Physical Exam text and the Mosby? I've been using the DeGowan text for the last twenty-something years and it's getting a bit dated. It was the med school standard back in my day, but I'm looking to replace it with something better illustrated and up to date. I read a good comparison discussion between Bates and Mosby on another forum awhile back, but now I can't seem to find it. Anybody have experience with these two books? EDIT: Doing some more Googling, I found a review for the Saunders text "Textbook of Physical Diagnosis: History and Examination" which concludes with this helpful morsel: Guess I'll keep Googling and see what else I can find!

It was the new level of practitioner that was proposed in the National Scope of Practise draft that I spoke of the firemonkeys shooting down last year. Again, it'll never happen in the U.S. Yes, there are companies hiring medics to perform advanced practise, but there is no such level officially established. It's just crazy-in-the-head medical directors putting their licences on the line to let morons practise medicine without a licence in remote care, like the oilfields.

I agree, Dwayne. Although it sounds like a solid concept on the surface, the dispatcher is ultimately going to be the weak link in this system. And elderly people will suffer for all these good intentions. If I were a senior citizen (which actually isn't that far off), I would be raising hell about this plan. If I've paid taxes for over 65 years, I expect the same consideration and emergency response as every other taxpayer, not some bimbo pawning me off on a rent-a-nurse because she doesn't want to wake up her precious firemonkeys.

If there were enough women with waists under 40 inches in EMS, the manufacturers would crank them out accordingly. Unfortunately, those women are about as common as BLS saves and military intelligence.

This is aimed mainly at the nurses and physicians here. I need to order a new drug guide. Unfortunately, I can't run down to the med school bookstore and thumb through the dozen different handbooks available out there to see which I really like best. I'm hoping you guys have worked with some different ones and can offer me some advice on which you like best and why. They all cost about the same, around $40 usd, so that's not a factor. At my previous base, we had three drug books floating around. We had a Nursing 2005 (Springhill), a Davis' Drug Handbook for Nurses, and the Physicians Drug Handbook by Springhouse. The Nursing 2005 (now 2007, of course) book seems to be the most popular one, as I see it in the most ERs, but personally I didn't care that much for it. The info is good, but it's got a really weird layout that isn't very intuitive, making it hard to find what you are looking for quickly. I like the Davis guide a lot, but I don't have anything but the (now 2007, of course) to compare it to. That's why I am looking for some more input. There are also these nursing drug guides out there that I am hoping some of you may have used: Mosby Lippincott Prentice Hall Saunders Springhouse PDR Nurses Drug Handbook I briefly used the Physicians Drug Handbook owned by another nurse at my last base and loved it! And, quite frankly, my practice here is much more physician-like than nursing-like. However, from what I can tell on the net, 2005 is the most recent printing, which I am not comfortable with. Any advice or recommendations?

Hey Ozzie! Good to see you back, Mate! To answer your question, I don't always have my "kit" with me. I work mainly in an aid station where I work out of cabinets, not kits. I don't have an ambulance. Just a Chevy Tahoe response vehicle with no locking compartments in it. When I leave the aid station, I need to take my narcs with me in case I am needed outside of the aid station. If I kept them in the kit, that would present two problems. First, I would have to bring the kit with me everytime I leave the vehicle, including to the office, to the chow hall, to the post office, to the gym, etc... And second, I would have to have a way to secure the kit at all of those places. The easiest way is to simply keep all of them in my pocket. That way I am always 100% positive of where they are, and that they are all there. There is no other way to do this. The previous person at this aid station thought they had a way figured out and, as you may see in another topic, she is no longer here because she ended up with missing narcs. Not to mention that since her narcs were always in a cabinet in the aid station, she never had them available with her out in the field, which the powers that be were none too pleased about in retrospect. I ain't goin down like that!

Did you sleep through Waco? I thought about your idea. Too bad the ATF never thought about that idea. If your idea of superior firepower was even minimally valid, Vietnam wouldn't have lasted eighteen years.

Look at it? I've BEEN on the other side of the situation. And I still think it is a joke.

Or maybe not. Or maybe any other medic could have done the same thing without a weekend-long course on how to dress like a ninja. And maybe his condition was actually worsened because this team thought that since one of their members was a "Tactical Medic," they didn't need to have an ambulance standing by, delaying his transport.

I absolutely agree with you there. It is excellent experience. When you do finally take to the field, you will be way ahead of your peers because of your ER experience. And, like you said, it pays better too. Not to mention that hospital schedules make it a LOT easier to attend college than EMS schedules do. You could have a tonne of ER experience and a degree in EMS or Nursing in two short years if you stay disciplined and focused. It's a win-win situation. Best of luck to you!

LOL! Well, I think you may have been one of the few medics who even bothered to carry the thing in with you. Most of us left it bungeed to the floor of the ambulance and dragged the patient out if she needed an EKG. Heck, I knew quite a few medics who even continued to do that when they got the LP5s! Laziness is a constant in EMS.

Ooooh! You're using those? I wanna work there!!

Cool. I'd like to check them out. Congrats on winning the bags! I wish I had that kind of luck! I'm especially interested in the fibre they are utilising to manufacture these bags. It's an awesome concept! Probably be next Fall before I get home again, so don't go anywhere!

You've got that right! People will wait hours and hours to be seen by a doctor or ER back home. But then they get over here and expect instant service. They walk into my clinic, and if I have to send them back to their quarters for their shot records (which they are told to carry at all times), they whine and bitch about what a long hassle it is. If I am seeing another patient at the time, they groan and stomp away whining about how they don't have time to wait. Ruff is right. It doesn't matter how fast you are. People always want it faster. And society is only getting worse with that attitude with every passing day. It's an ADD world out there. That's why people vote against funding the war a month after they voted for it. Retards.