paramedicmike

Night Court > Night Shift There's an 80's flashback for you.

Steve Revier, paramedic, PA-C, has been missing on the Klickitat River in Oregon since May 17. An extensive search of the river bank did not result in anything. Steve is listed as missing. The search for him has been suspended. I worked with Steve outside of EMS for several years when we were both whitewater guides for the same outfitter. We paddled together on occasion for fun. He was smart, exceptionally knowledgeable, personable and extremely safety conscious. He was an all around good guy.. the kind of guy you wanted with you when things started to go bad. He was an experienced whitewater paddler and swift water rescue provider and instructor. For anything to have happened to him under the conditions in which he was boating something would have had to have gone unforeseeably bad. Steve and I lost touch after he moved to Oregon several years ago. However, this is still hard news to hear. Condolences to Steve's wife, family, friends and coworkers.

"Uh... officer! Please secure this weapon! Thank you!"

I've used this at work. I think I even have one or two sitting on my desk here at home. The idea is that it's supposed to limit blood flow for distal finger injuries for wound repair purposes. In theory, the idea is great. In practice they're a little difficult to place. They'll catch the proximal edge of the wound making it difficult to actually place the ring on the finger without causing further damage. Most of the time, if I have a distal finger or toe injury where I want to slow the blood flow for wound repair I'll just grab a tourniquet from an IV start kid and tie that off, complete the wound repair then take it off.

I wondered about the litigation aspect of a call gone bad. I'd think offering immunity to the docs involved in the process would be needed simply to get any interest from them much less getting them agreeing to participate.

Welcome.

Think it'll work?

Also a valid question.

... not that it's really news to any of us. There is an EMS tie in. Linky link.

Yes. It'll get better with more experience, exposure and practice. Are you still a student as your profile indicates? If so, then practice more. Practice with your classmates. Practice with your instructors. If you're working then find someone at work and practice with them. Read. Study. Run through mental scenarios. Visualize a situation. Visualize what you'd do in that situation. Think about situations where you think you had a hard time. Run through it in your head. Think about what you'll do differently next time. It's all just as much a mind game as it is a physical act.

Welcome.

Don't mind him, Levi. He's not a health care provider. He just like to pretend to be one.

Age is just a number. Approach it with the right attitude and demonstrate you can do the job... just like you would any other job prospect.

That and online learning takes a lot more discipline than one might think. This is especially true if you're at home with a variety of distractions around.

Kareem was pretty insightful on this topic.

If the train conductor can kick you in the head you're too close.

Looks like two scenes to me. MTA: Looks like ERDoc and I had the same idea.

As I mentioned, the information you provided changed as your posts progressed. That's fine if you expect to be taken at face value. Just don't change your answers. Respect, as you know from the fire service, is earned and not given. You don't walk into a new house and expect the same level of respect you would elsewhere because the guys in the new house don't know you. You want to be respected? Earn it. So you sink to their level? Seriously? Think about that for a while. This has already been addressed. As has this. As has this. So you think being the better person is a bad thing? Again, you want respect you need to earn it. The same goes for those interacting with you. If they don't earn it then that's on them. It does NOT, however, mean you stoop to their level of immaturity or idiocy. Do what you did here in real life on the job and you'll lose your job. Sorry, friend. Despite the news stories of teenage internet bazillionares most jobs, for most high school grads, start low and you need to work hard to earn those raises. It has always been this way. It'll always be this way. Nowhere did I say this was the best site. I said you won't find one better. There's a difference. I've been around. I've been a regular on multiple sites. As have a lot of the regular posters here. There's a reason we choose here. The rest of your comments have already been addressed. Pay is even greater for someone who goes to college and gets a degree. Why not proceed with those plans?

Welcome. If you're interested in doing well in your EMT class please sign up for a college level anatomy and physiology course prior to taking EMT. The knowledge gained from that class alone will be infinitely helpful both in class and on the street. Ask questions as you think of them. You won't find a better or more widely experienced group of providers.

Alright. Let's all take a step back and take a deep breath. Swampmusic, yes. Some of what you wrote was misunderstood. Whether that was intentional or not is up for debate. Assume that it was an honest mistake and chalk it up to experience. Much of what you wrote was questionable based simply on your writing style. That's why you were asked so many questions... some of them repeatedly. So this can go both ways. Improve your writing and people will improve their level of understanding. You have to admit you're being a little antagonistic here, too. Ok... I just reread some of your replies and I think you're being very antagonistic. (Along with immature... really? Name calling? Come on, dude.) As I mentioned previously, nothing here is personal until it is. Don't make it personal and it won't be personal in response. If you're feeling like some of the comments you've received were getting personal then take a step back, take a deep breath and continue reading. We get people here with alarming regularity who present with an attitude/background similar to yours with questions similar to yours. These people, almost as a rule, are not interested in EMS for EMS. They're interested in EMS simply because it'll get them a job with a fire department. You say you're interested in EMS but then you argue that yes you're interested but it's also because it'll get you a better paying job. So you'll understand our confusion when in two different posts you've completely contradicted yourself. You need to understand, too, that you came in to a professional forum with an attitude that might've worked with your fire buddies. EMS is different. It's a different mindset. It's a different attitude. It's an entirely different ballgame. You asked a lot of questions and provided, what could easily be perceived as, shady or indirect information. Your questions have been answered. Whether your like or dislike the answers provided is immaterial. Those are the answers that have been provided. You can frequent any place you like. Badmouthing one place over another won't make you friends. There's a reason there's so little censorship here. We call it like we see it. Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. However, you won't get unicorns pooping rainbows like you will elsewhere. If you're wrong we'll call you on it. If we're wrong others here will call us on it. But we'll do it professionally, without the attitude and name calling. As I mentioned previously you will not find a better place to learn than here. You will get honest, often raw, yet mostly professional, certainly more professional than some of your responses here, replies to your inquiries. So now the choice is yours. Unicorns pooping rainbows? That won't get you very far. Solid learning from people who've been doing this longer than those on any other site I've frequented? (I've been around a while... I've been on quite a few EMS sites.) That'll get you a lot farther than anything else. The choice is yours. Keep in mind, though. I'm sure you were taught that if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all. Things have a way of coming back to bite you. You are not as anonymous as you might think. All the best with your decision.

Just as a side note, if you wait 30 seconds or so the adblocker warning should disappear allowing you to log into the site. At least, that's what it does for me. I agree with cutting back on the fent/versed. I, too, am questioning some of the values listed. Can we confirm them, please?

There's a lot of truth to the saying "you get what you pay for". Although, I do understand the attraction of a state sponsored/funded class through your vollie squad. I've taken a couple of these type classes in the past, too. The question of the pass rate of the class(es) in question becomes a bigger issue if 50% of the people who attempt this course really do fail. Nothing is ever free. You might not be paying money. But you'll be paying something. Just where do you think the money that's paying for this class is coming from? No. You didn't say you were going to blow off the class. It was the "it won't be so bad if I fail... it's free..." comment that makes it sound like you're saying you don't care one way or another. If that's not really what you meant then why did you say it? Hard to say without knowing more about you. To take this in a slightly different direction, are you doing this simply because you think having an EMT cert will make it easier for you to be hired as a FF? Or are you doing this because you honestly, truly and genuinely want to be an EMS professional? If the former, please reconsider your career choice. The last thing EMS needs is another person getting involved simply because s/he thinks it'll offer an easier "in" with a fire department. If the latter, please stick around and keep an open mind. This site is full of dedicated EMS professionals from around the world who take their job and their career choice *very* seriously. As a general observation we don't tolerate fools lightly. That being said, you will *not* find a better site for knowledge base, support and education out there. If you are genuinely serious about being an EMS professional, please stick around with an open mind. Don't take things personally unless they're directed at you personally. If you put in an honest effort I think you'll find honest efforts to help you.

You probably want to verify this. A 50% pass rate is abysmal. If their pass rate is that poor you want to avoid them altogether no matter how long the class is they're offering. Please drop this attitude now. If this is really how you feel then please forget about taking an EMT class and stick with being a FF. What would your patient say to you if you told them "...don't worry if we don't get it right the first time... it's free..."? Would you want that person taking care of you or your family member? If you're not in this to do it right the first time then don't do it. This isn't high school. You say you want to make a career of this? Then dedicate yourself to doing it right and prove to your future employers that you take this seriously. Accelerated EMT courses are tough. On one hand it's not rocket surgery. On the other hand it's really a lot of information to be able to process in just two weeks never mind be reasonably expected to draw on that under stress. For someone who has some medical background behind them an accelerated course wouldn't be too bad. For the otherwise uninitiated, and based on your comments here that's you, a longer course would be more beneficial.

I don't disagree that it can be, and in many cases is, an appropriate intervention. Nor am I arguing against proper use. I did notice that many who commented on IO use were from Alberta. While you have no real reason or way to know this, I'm not unfamiliar with hour long transport times, either. I've worked both rural and suburban/urban EMS. My preference is for rural. My point was, as previously stated, just because you can doesn't mean you should. We in EMS seem, as an exceptionally broad observation, to be really quick to jump the gun. We don't easily tolerate being frustrated (e.g. having a hard time getting a line on someone). So if you're going to do it do it right. That is the point on which I think we both agree. We're just looking at it from different points of view.