Dustdevil

Haha! Things are extremely primative in Afghanistan. There are still a LOT of people in tents and cots over here. I spent plenty of time in them when I first got here. But nurses get their arses kissed here, so I was able to move up to the wooden hut and a real bed pretty fast. Probably wouldn't have such luck in Afghanistan, so I hear.

That it is! I'm going to replace the SOLs with Red Crescent stickers. Might get us a little slack. My new Home Sweet Home. My cubicle is that first one on the right. Here it is... My current clinic. The shrapnel holes in the side of my clinic. Yes, they go all the way through. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle that was taken out by RPG's in town. An M-1 Abrams tank that was absolutely devastated by an IED in town. The town, just outside the base, where all the trouble comes from. And if anybody is interested, there are pics of my medical bag in the Tactical Medicine forum.

I feel your pain, bro, but don't even get me started. The ten-month program takes its time and works with the weak, but the two-year program is so intense that it weeds them out? Yeah, right. There's the very definition of a non-sequitor. And by the way, the weak SHOULD BE weeded out. I think my head is going to explode. :roll:

I, and most every other adult here, call BS on that lie. Simply having them qualifies as driving like an ass. You don't even have to turn them on. Opinions from those who can actually spell "opinion" are more valid than yours. And there is nothing in your jump-kit that will not expire or turn to dust before you ever use it too. Doesn't matter. Just having them still makes you a laughing stock among EMS professionals. Look around you. How many true, experienced professionals do you see with all that crap on their POV? None. Thirty years in this business and I have honestly known none. You just contradicted yourself. Who pays for your education, you or the corps? Or your mom? I'm guessing your mom and the corps pay for everything except your lights. Maybe even the lights too. Because you FAILED to read the forum rules before posting. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Now that I have all my neat new in-theatre goodies, I thought I'd let everybody drool over my jump bag. London Bridge Traders "NSW Training/Coverage Medical Backpack." Basically the same as a Blackhawk STOMP II at twice the price, and not as good. But I got a good deal on it. All of the battle dressings, tourniquets, and haemostatic agents are in the front compartment. All IV (NS and Hespan/Hetastarch) , airway, and splinting/wrapping supplies are in the rear compartment. And what most people use for an intubation pouch, I used for an IV pouch. The intubation equipment is in what most people use for an IV pouch, which is the removable pouch with the blue handle. Here's the packing list: 10 4x4 Sterile Gauze Sponges 4 Petrolatum Gauze Dressings 4 Asherman Chest Seals 5 HemCon 4x4 Haemostatic Dressings 4 Quick Clot Haemostatic Granules, 100gm Packages 2 4x7 Individual Combat Dressings 4 First Care Israeli Dressings 2 Cinch Tight 8x10 Compression Dressings 4 Triangular Bandages 1 Littmann Classic II Stethoscope 1 Adult Sphygmomanometer 1 Pulse Oximeter 3 CAT (Combat Application Tourniquet) Tourniquets 4 TraumaDex Haemostatic Powder, 5gm Applicators 4 4 inch Sterile Kerlix Bandages 9 Angiocath IV Catheters (3 ea. 14ga, 16ga, 18ga) 2 22ga 1½ in. Needles 2 F.A.S.T. 1 Intraosseous Infusion Sets 4 Bacitracin Ointment 0.9gm Packets 10 Alcohol Prep Pads 4 2x2 Sterile Gauze Pads 1 Roll, 1 inch Transpore Tape 3 IV Start Kits 3 Veni-Gard IV Site Covers 3 Tegaderm IV Site Covers 3 3cc Syringes 2 10cc Syringes 2 20cc Syringes 2 Rocephin, 1gm Injection 2 SAM Splints 2 6 inch ACE Bandages 2 4 inch ACE Bandages 2 3 inch ACE Bandages 1 Sterile Burn Sheet 1 Multi-Trauma Dressing 5 Assorted Adult Endotracheal Tubes 1 Cook Emergency Pneumothorax Set 1 Zippered Intubation Pouch 1 Nu-Trake Emergency Cricothyrotomy Set 1 Laryngoscope Handle w/2 C cell Batteries 1 #4 Miller Laryngoscope Blade 1 #3 Miller Laryngoscope Blade 1 Magill Forceps 1 Intubation Stylet 2 Adult Oropharyngeal Airways 2 Adult Nasopharyngeal Airways 1 10cc Syringe 1 KY Jelly Tube 1 1 inch Silk Tape Roll 1 Curved Haemostats 1 Needle Driver 1 Straight Iris Scissors 1 Tissue Forceps 3 Scalpels (1 each #10, #11, #15) 6 Assorted Cyalume Chemical Light Sticks 2 1000 cc Normal Saline IV 2 500 cc Hespan IV 4 IV Macrodrip Sets 1 Pneumatic Pressure Infusor 1 Bandage Shears 1 Mini Maglite Yes, I know it is heavy and overpacked. But I don't hike with it. It is set up mainly for working extended periods in a bunker or aid station, and strictly for trauma. If I were a grunt, I would definitely pack lighter. Comments? Suggestions?

More randomness from the Sunni Triangle of Death.... Hardcore killa! OOORAH!! My totally pimp ride! (yes, there is water in the desert!) Some wanker stuck those Stars Of Life on there before I arrived. :roll: I'm going to scrape them off. :twisted: Marine gunner hams it up for the camera as we fly over Fallujah. Convoy photo through the windshield of my response vehicle. Rocket hits fuel storage farm not far from me. I dunno what the Iraqis used this building for, but I feel sorry for whoever was in it the day the war started! I feel sorry for whoever was in this Russian made Iraqi cargo plane too! Well... my image host crashed, so I suppose I'll have to post the rest later. Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. Send porn!

That is so lame. It would be better if when you accidentally shot the towers, they would blow up.

Texas has such a law, and it has not cut down on the number of abandoned infants. In fact, the numbers of abandoned infants has steadily increased since the law was passed, and the number of infants dumped at hospitals has decreased. The number of infants taken to fire stations has remained as before the law... almost non-existent. More proof that do-gooder laws are pointless.

And I will say it again.... it never ceases to amaze me how many medics don't give a second thought to playing in traffic like a farking idiot, yet those same medics would never even consider entering a violent scene. WTF? The numbers don't lie. Traffic is what is killing us. If the police aren't there, and the road is not closed, refuse to make the scene until it happens, just like you would for a shooting. If the police refuse to close the highway, leave. Screw them. When they can't finish their little investigation because there is no fire or EMS, they will figure out what they need to do.

I've been in twelve ambo wrecks over my career. Never been the driver, always the medic. For the first eleven, I never got anything worse than a sore neck for a few days. The final wreck broke my neck (c6-7), my skull, right arm, right forearm, right wrist, six ribs, and my left knee. Had I not been wearing body armour, I would have been killed. Two others were killed. This ain't a goddamn game. This is serious business.

The Closer? You can't be serious. I haven't seen "Saved," and I don't plan on it. But I accidentally caught an episode of "The Closer" in a hotel room right before I left the states. That is the most horrible, over-acted crap I have ever seen in my life. That phoney arse Southern accent on that chick makes me wanna vomit. It's so bad that I couldn't even concentrate on the show. The accent was too distracting. That chick is horrible.

OH! Okay, I understand his point now. Thanks for the clarification. It had appeared to me that the issue with the third truck and the "retarded" comment were unrelated. So yeah, I agree with the Captain. That is pretty retarded to maintain a volunteer system in a community that can afford more brand new ambos than they need. The citizens there are getting screwed.

Ha! Obviously you've never spent time in the military. Medical Officers are the one person that everybody is happy to see! Pissing people off is acceptable when you're right. But when you're talking out your arse, it's just stupid.

JP, he DID say they were replacing the third ambo, not sacking it. But yeah... was there a point to this thread? :?

Again, it will be dependent upon where you work. If you go to a RM operation that is not a fire service, I wouldn't go mouthing off about your fire "training" because they are likely to not be impressed by it. I know I personally usually won't hire anybody with fire training in an EMS operation because they are usually not going to stay with me long term. They're just looking for something to tide them over til they get a fire job.

Obviously you have.

I agree with Rid that, although I cannot read the supervisor's mind, I would seriously doubt that this had anything to do with money. And frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the constant Canadian assumption that there is a private profit motive at fault for everything that goes wrong in American EMS. The grim reality is just the opposite. It is the cheap arse government who is responsible for most of those problems. But, I digress. I would like to hear the supervisor's rationale, and if he is a good supervisor, he gave that rationale, so I am surprised that firefighter 523 didn't share it with us in the original post. Also good to share with us would be whether the EMS is a fire function there, or if he's just a volly fireman working EMS for a living. If it is fire EMS then, again, this talk of private profit motives is way off base. My guess is that the rationale was simply that it is not usually prudent to take first responders' word for medical assessments when making medical decisions. He's probably been burned a few times -- as most of us have -- by doing that and it turning out that the FR's were idiots. Yes, it is unfortunate that we have to be so sceptical, but it is our licence that is on the line when we make medical decisions based upon third party info, not theirs. I am betting the supervisor is just tired of him, his people, and his organisation looking stupid because of faulty first responder assessments.

I'm going to bite my tongue and not even get into the wisdom of expanding your scope of practice from EMT-B into pharmacology and invasive therapy through a quickie online course. If you really think that's all you need, then go for it. Just stay away from my family.

Required of you to do what? Call yourself an EMT like a million other uneducated and unemployed wankers? There it is. The root of your problem. You actually think a certificate is the same thing as proper education. That is why your drivel is unworthy of response. You are either too dense to comprehend, or you are too dishonest to admit reality because it cheapens your little 80 hour certificate.

EMTs are not my co-workers. That would include getting the proper education to do so. Image is everything. If you aren't worried about it, you aren't doing your job in a professional manner. Do you by chance have any ideas that aren't contradictory?

Better him than Puff Daddy. :?

If the conclusion was that quality was a non-factor for use in cardiac auscultation, then that pretty well tells you how important it is for simple blood pressures and lung sounds. Nada. Save your money for a Star of Life tattoo.

I will half-second AZCEPs recommendation. I too recommend you don't get a pocket guide because a.) you probably won't use it, and b.) it tempts you to use it as a crutch instead of just learning your $hit. But I dissent from the recommendation to get a PDA program for the same reasons. You should be learning your $hit, not looking for excuses not to. Make your own field guide. By looking up, typing up, and printing up all that info, you will be engaging in a form of study that will result in learning. That should be your goal... to learn. Then, you won't even have to use the guide you just made, because by making it, you learned the material. That is why good instructors will have you make your own drug cards rather than buy them. Worked for me. Works for most. Good luck!

Just curious... did they really butcher the grammar that badly, or are you just paraphrasing? :?

That's sort of like asking if WalMart is a good place to work. Every store is different. Same thing applies to RM. Each operation is only as good as the people running it locally. And, of course, that is also going to be dependent upon the city you are serving and their contractual requirements, etc... Working for RM in a city where you do nothing but run nursing home transfers and take the Fire Department's rejects sucks, no matter how good management is. Working for RM in a city where you are primary 911 sucks if your management are arseholes. You simply can't generalise the answer to this question and it have any relevance. That said, there are certainly very real benefits to working for a large, nationwide provider like RM. Mobility is among the bigger benefits. And, of course, larger companies tend to have more professional standards in many ways. They have people who do nothing but continually work on medical education, safety, benefits, equipment standards, etc.... Joe's ambulance service has Joe making the rules, and his fat wife administrating all of the above programs. On the other hand, Joe is also more likely to take a personal interest in you and your success than an RM CEO in a big expensive office 5000 miles away from you. There's good and bad to all providers. Overall, RM is a very good company. But your local RM operation may be shite.