Dustdevil

Don't confuse my weapon with my gun. :wink:

:shock: The "cool factor" is more important than any other concerns. Wankers won't wear it if it doesn't look cool. Obviously, it must have an ANSI certified safety toe, preferably not metallic. Must have a non-porous surface that will not hold fluids and is easily washed off. Must both breathe and be waterproof. Must have a sole that grips well on every conceivable surface or terrain, including ice, without the tread mucking up with debris, and without squeaking or leaving black scuff marks on the ambulance floor. Must be as light, flexible, and comfortable as a canvas tennis shoe. Must have an intrinsic anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, odour eating interior lining and insole. Ankle support is greatly overrated in injury prevention, so unless you have something absolutely revolutionary in that respect, I wouldn't get too caught up in that.

3. Ten as a cop. 33 as a medic.

Yeah, I was just trying to compress the top three pipe dreams into one for brevity's sake. I should have said "being a tactical flight nurse for FDNY while going to medical school" and covered all five of them.

Working on an emergency ambulance immediately comes to mind. So long as you don't do that, I am pretty flexible. :wink: But if you insist on violating that cardinal rule, then here are some other suggestions, in no particular order: Don't go trying to get me to teach you ALS, or waste your time studying ALS, until you have a solid basic educational foundation. Don't waste time not studying at all. Don't tell me about your pipe dream about being a tactical flight medic for FDNY within 2 years. Don't talk to me about the stuff you saw on "Saved," or "ER," or "Turd Watch," and don't imitate it. Don't call my ambulance a bus. Don't ever second guess me. Don't ever tell me, "well, I was taught..." or "I learned to do it this way..." or "the protocols say..." Don't let me catch you not knowing where something is on the ambulance or in the kits. Everything from the thermometer sheaths to the fuse that controls the air-conditioner, I want you to be able to immediately locate it for me. Don't make me feel like I must double check everything you do because you don't get things done, or don't get them right. Don't drive like an idiot. If I am in the patient compartment and can tell that you are accelerating, decelerating, stopping, turning, or driving over a dip or bump, then you are driving like an idiot. Stop it. Don't play with the siren. Leave it on or leave it off. Forget that there are multiple modes. You only need one, and you don't even need that one very often. Don't ever pass on the right. Don't snore, yell, talk loud, listen to loud music (not even with headphones. I want your complete attention at all times), or anything else that interrupts my solitude. Chill out and act like an adult. Don't be a slob. Not in the station. Not in the ambulance. Not in your personal appearance. Your image reflects on me. Don't ever do a single thing during the shift that you have not clearly and completely thought through and come to the inescapable conclusion that it is absolutely the best thing to do, and the best way to do it.

That is a MUCH better plan, in every conceivable respect. If you tell people you are a cop who wants to be a medic, it sounds admirable. If you tell people you're a medic who wants to be a cop, you sound like a wanker. And with good reason. There are no full time tac medic jobs to be had, except maybe in NYC and LA. Even then, they utilise their medic knowledge and skills maybe a few times a year. The rest of the time they are just playing army like the rest of the SWATs. Consequently, your career -- and your career promotion -- will depend upon being the best cop you can be. They won't care how good a medic you are. All patches are the same to them. Concentrate on your career, and go with the medical hobby later. And if you find a PD tac team who claims to engage in "combat," RUN! They're dangerous wannabes.

Yikes! Talk about your bad timing! I hope you and your baby are doing well!

There it is! :thumbright:

Just for clarification, was this "Acme" service an actual EMS entity, or just a transfer service? Not everything with a Star Of Life and paramedics on it is EMS. And if you are expecting professionalism out of horizontal taxi drivers, you're going to be sadly disappointed. These guys have a chip on their shoulders because they bought the big lie. They went to school to be paramedics, and now the only job they can get is driving a transfer ambo. So they cop an attitude and revert to being the slugs they always were, which is probably why they couldn't get or keep a real EMS job in the first place. If you think about it, you probably learned more about EMS (specifically, what it should NOT be) from that shift than you did in your three rides with the firemonkeys. That's a good thing. And I compliment you on recognising that.

Appy and choly were the first two things to come to my mind. 29's a tad on the young side for a choly, but not unheard of. I was going to ask what she was weighing in at, but since it's you...

Big Shears are teh $hit! Makes removing kevlar from a combat casualty a snap. Regular "trauma shears" either won't do the job at all, or it takes a long, huge physical effort to muscle them through the material. I'm the only guy here with a pair of big shears, and when kevlar needs to come off, they look to me. That said, they are NOT the only pair of shears you will ever need. In fact, even here it is damn rare that I need them. The tips and blades are simply too large for using on bandages and dressings, and routine stuff around the clinic. I definitely recommend the Big Shears, but keep you a pair of 5.5 inch bandages scissors too for the majority of things you need scissors for. Now, if they would just offer a wider selection of holsters for the Big Shears!

And most of them are bilingual too! That puts them leagues ahead of most EMTs in the education department!

I've used them in ER and OR, but never in the field. If you EVER use one in the field, you had damn well better know these two things for absolute certain: need to IMMEDIATELY have the ring removed. b. There was NO other, non-destructive way to get that thing off of there. If you fail to positively qualify both of those criteria, don't be shocked when, after the dust has settled, you have a VERY unhappy patient. And I've been in this business long enough to know that unhappy patients = unemployment, regardless of whether you are right or wrong.

That is the quote of the day, right there! =D> Reminds me of all them wankers who reach for their window punch before ever bothering to find out if the other door is unlocked. :roll:

Sweet! Which colour? I definitely worked with the Burdick. I had forgotten about that one, but we had those and the MRL at the same time. I remember how totally blown away we were by the Lifepak 5s when they came out around 1976. They were so light and compact. Now we're back to carrying huge, worthless pieces of crap again (coughlifepak12coughcough). Funny how things come full circle. I wish I still had my old Dyna Med catalogues from the 70's so I could remember what all we have forgotten. There were the Hare Extrication Collars, which were just the old foam whiplash collars with high sides on them. Those were the state-of-the-art until the early-mid 1980's. I still had a couple of those in my attic until my last move, a decade ago. What other blasts from the past have we forgotten about?

Double post monster. :x

I have more faith in you than I do in most of the EMTs I know in the US, so come on down (or up, as it might be)! But actually, very few medics go the two year route. Most do it in 9 months to a year, part-time. :roll:

I'd be interested to know how many services carry cold fluids on their ambos. Here, I have a large Coleman cooler in a side compartment with 12 iced 1.5 litre bottles of drinking water. Inside, I have a smaller cooler that has 3 1 liter bottles of saline, 3 .5 litre bottles of drinking water, and 2 1000ml bags of NS IV. We are always prepared for heat injuries or other cooling situations.

I think the problem is two-fold. First is the disjointed manner in which EMS training occurs in the US establishes this "BLS before ALS" theory where, in reality, it simply does not exist anywhere else in medicine. This causes those in EMS to believe it is somehow the norm, and actually an advisable situation, which it is not. Second (which is really a by-product of the first) is the pervasive mistaken notion that the practise of medicine is nothing more than a list of skills that you memorise and practise according to a cookbook recipe. Again, nothing could be farther from the truth. As Rid very correctly stated, medical practise is a wholistic process that encompasses the entire human being and all of the knowledge and procedures that contribute to his assessment and care. Anything less is just first aid.

Remember those big, Godawful, flimsy plastic trauma kits from DynaMed? They were originally blue, I think, then later came in orange. They were huge, and fell apart in no time flat, but EVERYBODY got them in the early and mid 70's til the Plano 747's came into vogue. There's got to be a few of those floating around still in decent shape. I know I still have my thirty year old Plano box that is in pretty good shape!

Great pics, man! Very nice job. Thanks for sharing those! Brings back some fun memories. I wore those silly Dyna Med smocks on many a run. And I have worked with every one of those old monitors too. The Miller-Meteor ad reminds me of Bandaidpatrol. I sure miss Bob!

Damn, just when I was winning! :x

That's good news, Fiznat! I hope it is all coming together smoothly for you. There is very definitely a bell curve in Paramedic school, and once you are over that hump, it is generally smooth sailing for most people. Good luck with your rides!

I think this is especially a good idea for systems that utilise basics. Since they want invasive skills so badly, I would be more than happy to let them handle the rectal intubation necessary to properly cool the core. Maybe then they can legitimately lay claim to occasionally saving lives. If not, well then at least it gives them something to do and gets them out of my hair. Kinda like sending the father-to-be to boil water.

Haha, nah. That was back in the early to mid 80's when everybody up and down the Gulf Coast was still using Med channels. The ones I had were channeled up and had good batteries and chargers, and the buyers put them right to work on trucks. Sold a couple to East Jeff near New Orleans, and to Mobile Medic in Biloxi. I am pretty sure I have two left, but I wouldn't swear to that number. At least one that I saw last time I moved, ten years ago. Would probably work with a good battery in it. If I have more than one, I'd certainly part with it to somebody who would put it in a fitting tribute and not just part it out or let it collect dust in a garage. That was actually my purpose for holding on to it, as I too thought maybe someday I would do the same. I even looked on eBay for a big arse MRL monitor/defibrillator to go along with it for awhile. I'd like to restore an old 1970's Type I ambo with Dallas Fire Department markings and put all that stuff in it just for parades and such. Never happen, but I can dream!