Nate

Lighter....you could hold a ship in port with an Lifepack 5.

I prefer to use pads, however both services I work for have pads still with their monitors. Some of the paramedics won't give up their paddles. I will admit that the paddles are great (and cheap) for a quick look.

I've witnessed first hand, and I've seen/others who have had to "borrow" from hospitals to get latex free gloves. They get expensive, and you can't write them off unless you itemize (IRS people, correct me if I'm wrong please), so they are forced to take them. It is a shame this has to happen, but good luck getting most private services around here to pay for them. My city job has four different kinds of jobs. From the "lunch lady" ones to the purple ones. All different materials, all latex free. I truly believe that it will take the glove makers to simply stop producing latext gloves for us to truly go glove free across the healthcare field.

I think the problem with pain control is that it is the one vital sign that can't be truly measured; which makes abuse easy. If you work in the urban setting where drug seeking is common; it becomes hard to tell those who fake from those who have pain when it is obvious.

I agree, the ESOL funding is getting a little out of hand, and we are now seeing fourth start programs for drop outs. :shock: But I don't mind paying for taxes to give some of the more gifted students who want to learn the chance to see/learn first hand outside of the text book. :wink:

To be honest, I can't really say what I would do if I was in your position. As long as you were following protocol, you have nothing to worry about. I agree with the statement above that it doesn't sound like the doctor was attacking you.

Werd, I think that they could better used figuring out how they are going to pay for our schools then banning latex and trying to enforce that.

Hey Hitler...how you holding up?

Now if you are costing the state money, they are all over it. :wink:

What OSHA says and what really happens in the real world are two different stories. Getting black listed in the EMS community in Houston is the end of ones career...I've seen a few paramedics have to go out of state just to find work after they played the OSHA, labor law, or department of health card.

Now, I'm going to play devils advocate and stir the pot up a bit. (Keep in mind this isn't a personal opinion.) Now, as an owner or director of a service; there is nothing in most state laws that require me to provide you with latex free gloves, however in Texas you must provide "assistance" in paying for such equipment for an employee. On a side note; I know of a few services that have fired people who made a big enough stink about latex free gloves. (Although they had a legit reason to put on the papers, I still feel they were fired because of this.) It is sad, but most for profit services are interested in their revenue, and latex free gloves often cost more then their latex counterparts. So for a while, until they come down in price...I don't foresee a latex free ambulance becoming the normal attitude out side of small private companies and municipal departments.

CPR is taught as part of most health classes here in Texas; however an actual card isn't required. I have to agree with the plan above, that does sound like it would work the best.

Maybe he thought you had some nasty stuff growing on your knee....

I don't know who is more annoying, the ADA or Jessie Jackson and his Rainbow Group.

There are over 250 ambulance services that use Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center...it is next to impossible to remember which one has that "bad apple" when EMS has such a high turn over rate. So they generally won't give orders to someone they don't know. That is why I make it a point to know my patient, so that if I ever need to get an order the doctor remembers me. Most of the orders I ask for are pedi and thats because I have some wild idea and I need a doctors okay to deviate from protocol. (Such as my atropine in an X OD that had the 13 year old talking to me by the time we got to the hospital.)

I wasn't insulting you or bashing your views. I simply think that not every single patient requires gloves. For instance, how many times out side of the medical field have you shaken the hand of stranger. Several if you've interviewed, bought a car, closed a deal, etc. My point is, that for all you know, that person could have just whipped their butts with their bare hand, checked their BS and happen to have HIV, etc. If the patient is dirty, has body fluids on them, or appears like they might be expeling body fluids in the near future, then I dawn my BSI. If the patient is some little old lady who simply wants her BP checked, then I don't...I can always wash my hands. :wink: It just adds a personal touch...next time your in a hospital, notice how many doctors making rounds don't wear gloves.

Yeah, I've seen a few people try to do CPR, but they didn't know where to compress the chest...so they just did it where ever. Sometimes they were right, sometimes they were wrong. I think that we should make CPR part of your drivers licnese test...and every four years you have to take it again. Its great we are putting AED's every where, but what good is it if people don't know how to compress the chest when it says start CPR.

Thats how it is around here...then again most doctors don't want to be bothered around here unless it requires them to gain money. Calling a head and asking an ER to give you an order...doesn't happen around here unless he knows you personally.

You need to read what I wrote again. :wink: No one was telling you that you should go glove free, I was just telling you how I do things. It has been proven that repated wear of latex gloves can lead to a sensitvity. I opt the remain glvoe free as long as possbile, I can always wash my hands. If they have no body fluids, or no open wounds I'm touching, I'll shake their hand bare handed...its no different then meeting someone off the street and shaking your hand for giving them a buck. Hmm, I don't think we are on the same page. I just gave an example of why I tell a patient I wear gloves. I never said I didn't explain all of the other things I was wanting to do to them. However; for c-spine I tell them I'm going to put this collar on them to keep their spine in alignment because I don't have an x-ray (most don't know the difference between an x-ray and a CT, to them its all the same). When I did do transfers, I always took my own equipment. Maybe it is a habbit from 911, but I don't see walking into a hospital, home, or anywhere and not being able to work anything that is thrown at me by myself. I count on dispatch to give me a place to go, that is it.

City of South Houston...SoHo. One ambulance serves 20,000 residents. We are VERY slow compared to Houston Fire Department, which I believe just passed Chicago to claim 3rd largest City next to LA and NY.

Aren't they running a turbo charged four cylinder engine? Can't you get them in a dulie setup?

No, I'm talking about the stories they recreate...not the live stuff.

Has anyone ever noticed the really bad acting that TLC has on its health shows? The even had one actor with a paramedic patch on one side, and a basic patch on the other. :?

OMG, you mean you can talk to the doctor? In Houston if you call a doctor you'll be at the ER before they pick up the phone, and you'll probably retire from EMS before they pick up the phone. I just went from a service that carried the bare cardiac drugs to one that gives me extra drugs (not just cardiac), the ones that make being a paramedic easier because you can actually treat people. I'm like a kid in a candy shop at this new service. Hold on, I think I have a drug for that. My old service didn't carry phenergran, now this service that I'm at does. All of my old patients always c/o N/V/D and would give me a little sample...here no one does.