missfirefighteremt

Obviously smart phones are smart as they say.

So your out on a call and you have no information what-so-ever about the patient. How in the world is File of Life gonna be helpful? Thought so.. And not all hospitals have it. The nearest hospital we have here, doesn't even know what File of Life is, let alone use it. And for another fact is, why is it assumed that I want to be paid for this? And the medical ID cards haven't been introduced to my area. It's a simple thing called a donation that people can give to help with the costs. Other then that, it's coming out of my own pocket. I'm sorry for asking such a 'stupid' question, but I thought you guys could help out on some of the questions I haven't thought of yet or if there were more important ones. And DFIB, my teacher in college wasn't at all a very good teacher. I learned more things being on the fire department then I ever did in class. Then again, maybe she had such a hatred towards me because me and one other girl was deaf and we were told we will never succeed in this field. So far I have proved her wrong. I was thinking of doing something similar to something like that (car windows, door decorations). I was also thinking of something along the lines as a key chain for someone to put on their purse if they have information inside.

The guy I'm talking about isn't a boss to me or anything of that fact, the only.difference between me and him is hes been on for a long time. He is a lutentiant (spelled wrong Sorry!) In the fire service. Our EMS cheif has told him many times that his ranking in the fire service has nothing to do with ems and he has no right claiming hes better then others nor does he have right to clash fire with ems when it doesn't need to be. My EMS cheif has told the boss (fire cheif) who overlooks everything in the FD and I have also of problems I've been having with this guy and other problems also but he will refuse to do anything because "Superior" is one less person who will be on the department and he can't afford to loose "Superior". I'm pretty sure we could run just as good without him. But I will take your advice and no longer make myself so vulnerable. I will do what I know is right and will no longer take the abuse. And I will start keeping records. My EMS cheif says it'll make our boss less easy to overlook it and not do anything about it.

I'm new (since July `11) to my local fire department. I'm a woman and I feel as I don't get respected as much being a woman as a man would be in our fire department. I'm newest first responder and second newest to firefighting. I've been on the department since July of `11. I can do just as much as a man can do but pee standing up. I show up for those late calls and it's only me and one other responder, and no body else will get up and go on a call. I have been up for 48 hours one week and just laid down and the pager went off, no matter how bad I wanted to just sleep, I went because I knew I was gonna be depended on to show up. No one else was gonna do it, so I put it upon myself to go. I guess I'll cut to the chase. There's a man, I'll call him "Superior" since he is superior to me in EMS on the department. I don't know if he just plain hates women (as I've been told by a few in the department) or what. He likes to call the 'big shots'. He's yelled at me because my paperwork wasn't 'correctly' filled out when we went to a call where I was supposed to get the EMS bag, suction, defib and the paperwork (he walked in without grabbing something to take in with him). I had my hands full so I rushed the stuff in and came back out for the paperwork to fill out. He got mad at me for not bringing it with me and when I came back in, he yelled at me for not filling it out when he was reading off the vitals. He waited til he got in the rig to do this. I should mention the call we went on, brought back memories of the first call I ever went on. I tried apologizing but he wouldn't have a word of it. Another time would be when we had a vehicle fire, our department policy is the responder rig rolls out with the fire trucks. I was the only one that was going as a responder and I rolled up the rig and went to park out of the way of traffic and such. He came up to me, told me to get my "butt" (putting that nicely) back in the truck and go back because I wasn't needed. I tried apologizing, but he wouldn't hear of it. I can't be super-hero, but when I try my best, I'm always being put down. I went through quite a bit when I was through EMT school and when I first started here. My first call was a friend of mine, I had to go declare my friend dead, in the aftermath of his suicide. It took me a couple weeks to get back in order and ready to go back out again but my teacher wouldn't allow me to. I also had quite a few other calls that shook me but not as bad as my friend's did. I'm asking for advice of how to handle 'Superior'. What do I say or do to make him understand that all I want is a little respect?

Sorry I didn't ask clearly enough. When I say starting a small business, maybe you should take it in to consideration when I ask 'what do you ask'. Yes, I am an EMT. I know the basic's. But I wouldn't ask this question if I just wanted 'the basics'. The small business I'm looking into setting up for my community and surrounding area is a Medical ID card. Our elderly have problems remembering all their medications (I should say some can't.) But most of all, what if someone was in a bad accident? After having a car accident in my jurisdiction, we weren't able to identify a patient. The pt was unconscious throughout the entire ordeal and through med-flight. It wasn't til we got to the hospital that the pt was recognized. We could've had pt's information written up and ready to go once we arrived at the hospital. The pt's family members could've been contacted and met us there also. So when I ask 'what do you ask', I'm not only asking about basics (we all should know that) but I guess what I'm really meaning to ask is, what would you like to see on a medical ID card that can identify more about a patient? Would religion (some religions don't allow blood to be taken or given, I.E- Jehovah's Witnesses), blood type, emergency contact name & number, organ donor, etc be helpful? If you would like; please list what would be helpful to you when looking at a Medical ID card. Thank you!

I'm currently doing a small study to help a very potential business start. During your interactions with patients, what questions do you ask? What kind of information do your run reports ask for you to write down? Thanks, any help would greatly be appreciated. -MissFirefighterEMT