medicgirl05

Of course when ALS arrives BLS should step back, and unless I know and trust the BLS counterpart I don't really care what their opinion is. Ultimately whatever happens is on the ALS crew. Any time I do CPR, transport gets put on the back burner. Either I get a pulse back or I call it in the field.(I do work in a rural area.) A 12 lead in this situation is not important, until the patient is stable. A 12 lead while doing CPR is a complete waste of time. Epi and bicarb can be administered in the same site. Push one then flush, then the other. You shouldn't give one in a line that is an infusion, but the drugs that are given during cardiac arrest should be a push, not a drip. Though the routine use of bicarb is not advised in the prehospital setting. Go to paramedic school, then you don't have to worry about it. ?

We were called to an older unresponsive man. Upon arrival the wife met us on the porch giggling. She attempted to quietly tell us that they were smoking pot in the bathtub while drinking wine when the man passed out. We found him sitting in the tub, water drained, no clothes. Pale and clammy. Super low BP. While my partner was assessing him I asked the wife if he'd taken any other medications. More giggling. She said they used some medicine they bought in Mexico, but she didn't know what it was called. She produced the package from the trash and I discovered it was a topical jelly called "Kumagra". The lady was giggling, the man was giggling, my partner was standing in the tub with a naked man, and I'm holding the Kumagra packet. I had to step out for a minute. I took the package with us to show the ER staff. Everyone got a good laugh, patient included. Plus the patient was fine.

I did worry after posting that this may be someone trying to sue someone. I also wonder about the accelerated idioventricular rate at 164. That seems strange, but maybe I'm missing something. Maybe the OP was a basic on the call and doesn't understand everything that happened?

A fellow paramedic once had a patient go into asystole as the ambulance pulled up to the ER. He chose to disconnect everything and take the patient inside, rather than begin working the code. This caused a delay in CPR, airway management, and the patient did not recover. The ER Dr ripped him a new one. Your call sounds similar.

What is the pulse to go with the monitor reading? Is the patient still breathing? Do you have a paramedic on board? Or are you a basic truck? If you think CPR is necessary, I would start it inside. CPR and early defibrillation should never be delayed.

Can an admin delete this Julia Edward? She obviously doesn't work in EMS, and I'm thinking she isn't a real person. It's annoying.

I thought it would be interesting to share some of our funnier stories from calls. You know stories that aren't really funny when they happen, but years later are hilarious. One of my most significant memories happened many years ago. I was a green paramedic working a shift with a seasoned old medic. We got a call for a baby choking on chicken bones, while en route the baby became unresponsive. Upon arrival at the scene the plan was for me to grab the jump bag and monitor so we could get to him as quickly as possible. My partner was driving. So we get to the scene and I jump out and jump into the patient compartment to grab the stuff, when I am ready to get out I notice that my partner is RUNNING beside the patient compartment door. After a few seconds of pondering how that was possible I realized the truck was rolling towards a steep embankment as it wasn't in park. Luckily my partner was able to jump in and throw the truck in park in time. We went into the house and did our job. The kid was fine. Afterwards my partner swore he had put the truck in park and it slipped out of park. I think he was panicking and didn't pay attention. Lesson learned? ALWAYS USE THE PARKING BRAKE!

Nope. I'm from a shitville about 2 hours south of San Antonio.

It's not surprising that you can only live on one place a very short period of time. I bet you piss people off pretty quickly. I don't think your attitude would allow you to be a very good paramedic. I would recommend you look elsewhere for work. Good luck to you.

I'm sorry to hear about the job. The Christmas tree farm sounds awesome. I help with a kids horse camp during the summers. Animals are my therapy. Good luck to you.

What is the rival site?

Where did everyone go? I was here a couple years ago, the place was booming. I had to take a break due to work issues, came back and everyone is gone. I even went to Dwayne's new forum and it's dead in there too.

I've been a paramedic for 8 years...I tested national registry to get my paramedic, but let it lapse 6 years ago. I'm wondering, if I test to get it again...but fail, will I lose my state cert? I'm in Texas.

Can we get rid of her? She's annoying.

Without a medical director or protocols you can't do any more than a normal civilian can do. Grab some bandaging supplies, 4x4's, roller gauze, cravats, etc. All you can do is CPR or control bleeding until EMS arrives.

My paramedic was a "hybrid" class of sorts. It was an online class, but we went to class twice a week 4 hours each day, with a couple Saturdays thrown in. It was a terrible class, left me with a lot to figure out on my own. 12 people started, 3 people passed National registry, including myself. I would look into it very thoroughly before taking it. Mine was offered through my department, so it was free with the promise of working there 2 years as a paramedic.

I really needed this laugh. I've always worked in "shitville" apparently...funny thing is I've never known it. Actually, I've worked in 3 different "shitvilles" but I have trouble locating "shitville" on a map. I don't know much about Canada...what does "PCP" mean? It is obviously some sort of paramedic, but here it means Primary Care Provider.

If this is something that would show up on your criminal record I would think it would be difficult to become certified as an EMT. It might depend on your state, I would certainly contact your licensing agency before taking the class to see if it would prohibit you from getting licensed. The next thing, if it's something that would show up on a background check, but you are able to become certified...I think it would be incredibly difficult to find employment as an EMT. I know I wouldn't pass your application up the chain knowing EMT's are a dime a dozen around here and most don't have a history of sex crimes.

Why do you continue to post when the OP has not returned in months? You're not a medic, so don't claim to know what it takes to be one.

Tell me what I would need to do to be qualified for such a job. I'm interested.

This brought back a memory that made me laugh. We responded to a choking patient, no reason to question scene safety. As we were walking up the sidewalk we were circled by about 30 family members screaming and hollering. We couldn't get back to the truck, we went inside to find an obvious DOA. I was a basic at the time. My partner told me to start CPR. I later learned he feared us being separated as I went to get more equipment would have been more dangerous. We were WAY out in the county, and had just gotten radios with an emergency button. I tried to talk to dispatch, but I was unreadable because of our location. My partner hit the emergency button and we just did basic CPR as we waited, and hoped dispatch would know what it meant. Eventually officers showed up and most of the family scattered, we learned a lot of them had warrants. We were very thankful. Another time, an officer radiod to dispatch that they needed a "fleet", a term the dispatcher didn't know what to do with. She sent every available resource, fire EMS and all the officers in the county. We arrived to find the officers vehicle had rolled multiple and the 2 officers were not in good shape. Now I rely on the emergency button, luckily I have never had to push it since that situation.

My local ER, is a small ER with very limited capabilities. The doctors that work there are NOT ER doctors, most of them are just primary care doctors who are moonlighting and haven't been in an emergency environment in 30 years or so. There are some that are VERY good doctors as well. Now I can respect the doctors that know they are in over their heads, they reach out to us and let us give input when they are unsure of something. We "help" with all codes, and if they are busy we help triage. My issue is, there are doctors that are too prideful to ask for help. For instance, one night we had 2 codes working at the same time. We had been busy all day, when the ER settled down they had only one patient. The patient was on a ventilator after we had RSI'd her. She was relatively stable. We decided to go back to the office so we could get a little sleep while waiting for the ER to arrange a transfer. When we came I walked into the patient's room to see how the patient was doing. I found this person still intubated, rails down, eyes wide open, thrashing around on the bed. This person had disabilities which would cause the inability to understand things on a normal day. I tried to calm her and hollered for more sedation. The ER dr refused. I persisted, and he asked my partner(a basic) how much fentanyl he should give. I was not opposed to the fentanyl, but it is cruel to keep a patient awake and intubated. A nurse gave the fentanyl which did nothing. The patient had tears running down her cheeks, I was trying to comfort the person the best I could. This went on for about 15 minutes. At one point the patients guardian was in the room and the dr walked in. I lost my cool. I told him to either extubate or sedate. There was NO reason not to sedate. My supervisor arrived and told me to take a walk, which was needed. Eventually the paperwork for the transfer came in and I prepared sedation as they loaded the patient in the ambulance. The patient was sedated, causing an almost immediate improvement to her vitals. She made a full recovery. This same doctor needed me to explain the pharmacology behind sodium bicarbonate as well as the dose after I suggested it while working the code, he ordered midazolam about 2 minutes after he ordered and a nurse administered Versed. He had no idea they were the same thing. My issue is this, I am not at all claiming that I am smarter than any dr. I do however think I have more knowledge and experience in emergency situations than a few of the moonlighters. Is this something that is a problem at all small hospitals? How do you handle it?

I think that depends what's available to you. I took my EMT class during my senior year of high school. Where I am EMT classes are everywhere and simple to get into. Paramedic classes are a little more difficult.

I've been working in the field for over 10 years now, and my body is beat up. I've had multiple surgeries, not all EMS related, but they certainly don't help my situation. Most recently I had a stretcher malfunction and caught about 350lbs without being prepared. I've already had 2 back surgeries, and while I'm hoping to get back in the field I am realizing that I need a new long term plan. I don't know how you long-term guys have held up all these years. So the problem is, I LOVE my job. I've worked 911 and seen so much and while I definitely complain at times, ultimately I can't imagine not setting foot on the ambulance ever again. Ive contemplated being an ER tech, but in my area(rural) the ER's use paramedics to move patients and change sheets, not exactly my ideal situation. Financially, I'm not going to make as much money doing anything else because I don't have any skills other than my paramedic skills. Other than I short stint at a grocery store in high school I've never done anything else. My neurosurgeon and I discussed that I have to decide if I love my job enough that I'm willing to give up my hobbies for my work because my back will only get worse. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated!

I took my EMT-B class while still in high school full time and working 30+ hours a week. That class should not be that difficult. Even my paramedic course was taken while working full time and still having a life. If it is that difficult there is some other issue.