nsmedic393

Thats not stupid. Actually its the first thing I thought of when reading the initial post. Lay him down with his feet up. O2, IV and fluid bolus, 12 lead, atropine, pacing and then finally dopamine if all else fails.

Even if it were a good idea it would be completely unfeasable to have even one doctor on one ambulance arround here. We are suffering from so many rural ER closures due to lack of doctors its not even funny. Actually when they can't find a doctor we post an ambulance to the hospital and the paramedics run the show. So perhaps once we get all the ERs staffed with doctors we can think about the ambulances....

Of course things will go wrong. When something that is unpreventable goes wrong we roll with the punches. A psych patiant freaking out in the back of an ambulance can be prevented by simply not putting them in the ambulance in the first place. This does not apply to every person with a psychiatric problem of course but there is the option to have them transported by the police if you think there is a chance they might harm themselves or you. I can make myself aware of possible dangers all I want but awareness isn't going to be able to physically stop a patient that is trying to jump out of the ambulance while were going 100 km/h down the highway, or trying to grab the steering wheel or trying to harm me. If I have any doubt at all that the patient will be cool, calm, and collected the whole ride than they aren't getting in my ambulance.

Things getting out of hand and going wrong is not just part of the job. Timmy, that is just about as ignorant as you can get. My safety and my partners safety come first. If I took the attitude that I would just take whats coming because I get paid no matter how many calls I get, I wouldn't be around to do too many more calls. Its no about blood, guts and good calls. It is the fact that psych patients can be unstable/irrational and sometimes violent and that we as medics are woefully untrained in how to deal with these patients.

Seems like a simple answer to me... Take it and put it on the supervisors desk. Asuming that he is sitting in it..... Things like how and why it is there don't concern me. If my supervisor wants to investigate that is up to him. I wouldn't have anything to worry about since i didn't do anything wrong.

When I get a psych call nine times in 10 its a bipolar patient. I guess I am just blesses. :roll: They are by far I think the most challenging but they make for some great stories.

Just be professional, treat your patients as best as you can and lend a hand when needed without getting in the way. If they don't respect or like you for that than they can go screw. Also remember that since you are new it may take time to win people over. As you already know hospital staff aren't usually that friendly to veteran medics let alone new ones. Be consistant and patient.

Perhaps you should take it easy as well. Cleaning the truck after a call is sound advice. But in some areas just because you are not back in service doesn't mean you wont be needed to respond to a call as the closest unit. Also there are some services that stock the truck with enough gear to respond to several calls without restocking. Where I work we don't have the option to restock at the hospital we restock in quarters.

The most common problem would be placement of the pads. If that was correct i'm not sure...Perhaps thoracic impedance...was he a large lad? As a side is it typical for your service try pacing before dopamine?

I know our LP12s can be turned onto diagnostic mode is you can find the right buttons. The answer is yes...However if your machine will not print in diagnostic mode any ST elevation you may see means little to nothing.

God this thread should have been left to die.... But since it wasn't, I drive a 1991 ford half ton. Burgundy in colour with rust holes in the body i can now fit my fist through. It is equipped with two front facing headlights, two rear facing brake lights that also double as turn signals, two front facing amber lights and two rear reverse lights. I could make siren noises out the window if i wanted to....but i don't. :roll: People who think they need lights and sirens in their personal cars are way overrating their self importance.

as soon as i lay down for a nap.

That is the point. When considering minors on an ambulance the rules need to be made for the majority not the minority and the majority of teenagers don't belong anywhere near a sick patient.

We use racemic epi for infants presenting with stridor, i have used it once and it worked pretty well. I actually gave epi for an asthma attack a couple of weeks ago. The girl had a near silent chest and I couldn't hardly bag her. Gave an IM shot of 0.3mg and started getting good a/e and compliance to bagging within a couple minutes. By the time we got to hospital she was sitting up and able to take a mask.

Not necessarily. Our whole province is contracted to tri-star and I would give my left nut to have a Demers truck.

The bast advice I can give you is to be very aware of where the airbags are in the vehicle you are working on. Look for airbag symbols on the steering wheel, dashboard, pillars and door frames. I have even gone so far as to take out the owners manual and get the rookie to leafe through it for airbag locations. Once you identify all the airbags stay away from them. Use the 5-10-20 inch rule. Stay at least five inches away from a side impact airbag, 10 inches away from a steering wheel airbag and 20 inches away from a passenger side dash airbag. Even with the assistance of the fire department you can't guarantee that airbags will not deploy. You can use a steering wheel cover or cut the battery cables, but often the capacitor that deploys the airbags remains charged even after power has been cut.

LMFAO :!: :!: :!:

If you didn't need it yesterday why would you need it tomorrow???

Timmy, when i read you quote I thought it was a good little piece of advice, actually so good that I though perhaps you pulled it out of a textbook. Perhaps the medics who gave you that advice, to whome you refer to as "try hards" actually learned a thing or two when they spent all that time studying in university.

Sorry, I confused your first post with one above it in which someone stated that they were treating people. Now, to the rest... When someone dials 911 they have the expectation that two qualified EMS providers are going to walk through the door and help them. They are not banking on inviting lay people into their home to have a look for curiosity's sake. Everything past the doorway/in the back of the ambulance is patient care to say that you are not actually touching is splitting hairs. You just don't get it. I'm in my mid twenties and already I have more memories than I can count that I wish I could erase. Have you ever been driving down the road on a nice sunny day in a great mood and suddenly have horrible visions flashing through your mind? Kinda Kills your day... Have you ever been kept up at night when they haunt your dreams?? Kinda Ruins your night..... How many different therapists have you been to?? In my relatively short career I have been ready to throw in the towel on more than one occasion. It doesn't make me weak it makes me human and I can guarantee without the maturity and coping skills that develop with life experience I would be working in a different job now. You just don't know what you are talking about here... If anyone is seriously interested in EMS they should wait until they have to coping skills to deal with it properly otherwise that career they want so bad could be over before it even begins.

We do, everytime we introduce ourselves to the patient and ask if they want our help. Its called consent. If you wern't eligible to work on an ambulance until a proper age then at the age of fifteen there would be no need to commit to anything. If you are comparing what we see on the streets to what you are watching on cops then you don't have a clue about what goes on in EMS. Forgive me if I don't have alot of respect for your medical director. The fact that he allows sixteen year olds to work under his license is a testament to the quality of your system and a blow to EMS being a recognised/respected profession.

Sorry posted twice...

So who asked the patient for permission for them to be viewed at their sickest by a fifteen year old kid? or for that matter attended for by a sixteen year old kid? I agree with that, but I don't think that a fifteen year old should be riding to experience a job that a person should at least the age of majority to do. oh let me count the ways....... All have been mentioned in this posts and previous posts on the subject. Is there anyone out there that supports minors riding on an ambulance who isn't a minor themselves or hasn't rode as a minor?

What service exactly is a fifteen year old getting from riding in an ambulance? There is no reason they should be there to begin with. maybe its just a culture difference but I just can't understand why people think the back of an ambulance is any place for a kid.

Well said Rid.