Dustdevil

Bummer. I'll be in Holland in March of next year. :?

Actually, the whole premise of the scene is not really believable. Probably the great majority of kids that age who say that they are having back or neck pain are simply going along with the suggestion of the questioning. Kids are made of rubber. Damn rare for them to get muscle soreness like that. That's why they can wreck their mountain bike or skateboard all day, keep going back for more, then sleep like a baby and wake up limber the next morning without any problems. The concept of whiplash is foreign to five year olds and is frankly unbelievable for you to even use. If you are going to have somebody who should know better tell the kid and/or mom that they will be just fine, be sure to make it a fireman doing so. Fire medics -- especially in the big cities -- are notorious for saying or doing anything in order to get out of patient care and paperwork. A responsible, professional Paramedic would never do so.

Heck, I'm just happy to see a new EMT who can actually take an accurate BP at all! From what I see with so many new grads, just taking a standard BP is apparently a very difficult task to grasp. I'm not so sure many of them are capable of understanding orthostatics. But at least if they taught orthostatics, it would force the students to spend a little more time practicing BPs altogether.

Actually, I am NEVER at my keyboard at night. I work twelve to eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. I go to bed as early as I possibly can. And if I am up after dark, it is only because there is a medical emergency or a rocket attack, not because I want to camp on EMT City. You call it a "theory." I call it an ASSumption, just like your previous ASSumption. See what happens when you make ASSumptions and do more posting than reading? As has already been stated, I criticise the inadequacy of paramedic education every chance I get. Okay... so can you point out to me exactly where we disagree? :roll:

Sheeesh... :roll: You guys have gone way off topic with this nonsense. This has nothing to do with Trendelenburg, or terrorism, or MCIs, or spinal immobilization. Just like Marty said in the very beginning, it's all about the pants.

Ever had 2.5mg of IM MS? I have, and trust me, it doesn't do $hit.

I'm not talking about applying the AED. I'm talking about delivering the shock. That will take you at least a minute from arrival at patient's side until deployment.

I applaud you for wanting to expand beyond the narrow box that paramedic education tends to reside inside. It seems like most medics come out of school knowing little more than the difference between "crackles" and "wheezes," yet no true understanding of what they actually mean or where they come from. There are certainly a lot more sounds than just those two, and they can be quite valuable to your ability to accurately diagnose illness. Others have given you some resources here, so just let me give you this piece of advice; lung and heart sounds are not something that you can listen to a few sound clips of and forget about, then expect to know them a few months later, much less what they actually mean. It takes constant practise to master them. And if you don't intend to master them, don't even waste your time studying them. Take every possible opportunity you get to listen to every set of lungs you can find. Your friends, your family, your classmates... they are all your patients when you are a student. Even if you don't hear a lot of abnormal breath sounds, you benefit. Because the more normal breath sounds you hear, the easier it becomes to recognise when you hear an abnormal sound. If you are doing a rotation in the ER, your job is not limited to just taking vital signs and starting IVs. Listen to EVERYBODY's chest, even if they are there for an ingrown toenail. IVs are easy. ASSESSMENT is the one real skill that paramedics have a hard time mastering. Use every opportunity you have to practise it. As for heart sounds, this is really not terribly important to understand at this stage of your education. However, I still encourage you to pursue it for the very same reason as above. Because the more you hear, the more you will begin to get the feel of what is normal, making the abnormal more recognisable. With both lung and heart sounds, your ears will do you absolutely no good if you do not fully understand the anatomy and physiology of the lungs and the heart. You need to know a lot more than just the typical "tracing the drop of blood through the heart" and basic lung anatomy. You need to know a lot more than what your school is teaching you, unless your school requires the full two semester, dedicated A&P courses. Otherwise, those clicks and glallops and murmurs are just sounds without meaning. You won't impress anybody by recognising a gallop if you can't describe what is happening to produce it, as well as why it is significant. The point is, just like with every other diagnostic skill, to keep your eye on the big picture. Make sure you understand the pathology and implications of your findings. Don't settle for simply recognising a sonorous rhonchi or a grade VI systolic murmur. Be able to explain what it means and what implications that has on your treatment plan. And one last thing, don't let your enthusiasm for deeper understanding sidetrack you from staying primarily focused on the standard curriculum that you are studying. If you spend so much time learning about heart murmurs that you don't study enough to pass your next exam on basic cardiology, you haven't done yourself any favours! Best of luck!

Even if your AED is "immediately available," it will take you a minimum of one minute to deploy it onto your patient. With every passing minute, you lost another ten-percent chance of resuscitation. Think about it.

Excellent! =D> I have nothing to add to that, except to implore all students to strive for the same thorough excellence that Asys just displayed.

Glad to hear the update, Kelley! After the last time we talked, I felt confident that you were going to do well. Best of luck, and let us know how it's going!

You want to see a scary statistic? Check out the percentage of those are burned out that do NOT stop working in EMS! :shock:

Okay, so I guess you are so much tougher and wiser than all those unfortunate weaklings who let some stranger on the Internet chase them away from the field they supposedly think is their life's calling. Come on, man. Do you really believe that you're the only man strong enough to withstand my criticism without quitting the field? I think you need to give others a little more credit. Those who are meant to be in EMS will be here regardless of anybody on the Internet telling them they have mistaken notions about the profession. Those who run away from a stupid message board, crying with their tails between their legs, simply weren't meant to be in EMS. It's that simple. And I think you are grossly underestimating all the other newbies here by assuming they are that pathetically fragile. In fact, I believe they should take your comment as a personal insult. :wink:

Personally, I call it "La Bomba." In most of Texas, "truck" is the most popular term. Although, firemonkeys in Texas tend to call it "the box," for the reason that Asys stated, to prevent confusion with a ladder truck. Of course, there are a lot of wannabe firemonkeys working for private ambulance services who call it "the box" trying to sound cool. "Bus" is almost unheard of in Texas, and is generally uttered only by FNG's who learned everything they know about EMS from Turd Watch.

Hey Bro, do you know where you are headed yet and with what unit? Where were you first time around? I'll still be here for a very long time to go. Drop me a PM!

So be it. If the shoe fits, wear it.

LMAO!!! Dash cam video from the ambulance would be cool! Engine cab audio would be even better! :laughing6:

Ooooh! You're good! :shock: That's exactly where I stole that joke! I'm a drummer! Anyhow, I like this guy. He's open to discussion, not hypersensitive, and taking a serious interest in exploring his options instead of making serious career decisions that will affect his loved ones' lives based on an impulsive whim. Mike speaks teh wisdom, my friend. Go his route and you can feed a family of four AND be in EMS AND be among the best in the field instead of just another ambulance driver. Best of luck!

Ah, I better understand now. Thanks for the clarification. I tend to generally agree with the theory of working and calling on the scene. And the primary reason for that is to prevent screaming runs to the hospital which put the crew and the public at unnecessary risk. However, there is also a legitimate argument to be made that if you DO happen to revive your victim, they will then probably need hospital level definitive care, and the sooner the better. Therefore, it is better to have revived them on the road, minutes from the hospital, than on a scene across town or out in the sticks. I think a reasonable solution is -- dependent upon your proximity to the hospital -- to transport those who have a chance of survival while continuing ALS resuscitation measures enroute. But notice that I said to TRANSPORT them. I did NOT say to race them at top speed, lights and siren blaring, busting intersections, jumping medians, and leaving tire marks all over the city. Unfortunately, that is a hard mentality to break in EMS because let's face it, driving like an arsehole is why the majority of EMTs got into this business in the first place. Well... either that, or else because they were too fat/stupid to get hired by the fire department.

Someone's gotta tell us who Jack Bauer is and what it is that he does. :?

And if your supervisor let this go and actually accepted the transport, he sucks. Which may explain why this employer sucks.

Hmm... I can't quite picture this, or even why it might be beneficial. Where is the suction tip or tips? What exactly are you suctioning? The tube interior or the patients airway?

Do you know the difference between an EMT and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four. If EMS is your "calling" (which many of us will contend is BS), then spend the next two years becoming a paramedic and then go find a career position that pays you a living wage. EMT is not a career. It's a job. And you are correct; only an idiot would trade a GS position for a simple low-paying job with no future.

Those who actually read the Terms Of Service that they agree to when they sign up for this board DO know about the search option. It's written in there. Here's Helpful Tip Number One: ALWAYS read the directions. Those who do not read directions should seriously consider another field. Preferably something that doesn't involve human lives.

I would have serious doubts about the professionalism of an organisation that put an arbitrary time frame on their orientation period without defining the actual quality and quantity of your exposure. In KE5EHI's scenario, the quality and quantity of their 3 week orientation is a known quantity because of their scheduling and call volume, as well as the preceptorship being guided by recognised training officers. In the case of most volunteer organisations, you do not get any of those benefits. There is a good chance that the so-called "experienced" EMT's you are running with have very little real world experience themselves. Just a lot of time on the roster. And six months of showing up to weekly meetings and checking out the truck, while probably evaluating fewer emergent patients than the number of meetings you have made, doesn't really amount to "experience" in a realistic sense. How long somebody has been an EMT is an absolutely worthless statistic in terms of measuring their competency or experience. I think this department needs to have two very different standards. They need a probationary period as a member, which 6 months is the standard of most volunteer departments I have encountered. But they need a separate standard for new personnel to be released as primary caregivers that needs to specifically address a number of patient contacts, as well as a number of specific kinds of patient contacts. And, of course, the quality of your performance on those contacts should be critiqued by somebody qualified to do so. That means somebody with SIGNIFICANT long term experience and advanced education, not just any other volunteer with 6 months on the roster. That is how professional EMS providers approach this situation. If that is not what your organisation is doing, run. It sucks.