AnthonyM83

Another plus for BDU's is ease of putting them on and off in the middle of the night. Also, they're usually a bit rougher for kneeling down and such. The pockets help for stuff like company Nextel/radio, shears, keys, mini-light. I just don't like wearing stuff on the belt. But I guess I manage pretty well with dress uniform pants (what we currently wear).

Guess my reasons given weren't good enough. Or I'll just go ahead and assume they were irrefutable. I know, I'm that good.

...and miss the fun!? Yeah, RIGHT!!! I'd rather deal with the consequences the next day...at least for a few more years Here they just let 'em sober up on our gurney beds then hope that they AMA (waited 4.5 hours two nights ago w/ an 18yro girl who walked into her AA meeting plastered)

We wear dark navy blue uniform shirt and pants (basic FF type). It looks very professional and I prefer it. BUT, I honestly think EMS pants would be more functional. We're not FF's or cops. We're routinely bending in weird ways more than FD and PD is, spend more time on the ground, and a FEW bigger pockets would be useful. But we're all about image at this company, so we do the whole professional uniform thing. Gotta say, I think we look pretty sharp compared to all other ambulance companies I've seen.

Honestly, I think working in a transfer car first helps make new providers a bit more functional in the 911 field. Part of becoming comfortable is related to time on the job (moreso than in other fields) (learning to map, scene control, interacting with hospital staff, patients, and public, self-organization, an assessment routine, ambulance operations, paperwork)... I'm not sure how to provide all that to a new trainee unless you either give them a super long on-the-job training period....(there's no schools around here that teach all that, as well...and well)

No comment! (jk.....her post had more than that, though) Anyway, could you post a link to that story, so we cold see the video?

Once again, I'll post my reasons; Some of these were touched on, but not really. If it's ALOC, ALS is going to be dispatched. If you have crews waiting around to see WHY he's ALOC before calling ALS, you have a different problem unrelated to being able to have a glucometer. When you have other non-medics on-scene like FD, they can get right to glucose and VS and monitor, while medics go for IV. If it's only EMT and Medic and you have high suspicions for hypoglycemia (family saying he was acting as if sugar low or whatever), EMT might go straight for BGL (takes a minute). I'm not trying to prove an EMT NEEDS it, because we obviously don't since so many areas don't have them. I'm just showing how in practice it actually can be useful having that in one's scope.

Cured the hippo in about 15 to 20...can't get a rhyme or reason though. Also, sometimes it lets you give drugs, then others not...eh

We're pretty much all moving around all the time. Often time it creates a domino effect...the busy areas have two or three 24-hour shift ambulances in line (plus the rovering units until about midnight)...after that you're left with limited rovers and two calls can mean everyone has to move up (unless all cars are in station and they can absorb the hit, so to speak).

Our company usually caps us at 72 without special permission. FD can pretty much do unlimited (some apparently do all their 10 days in a row, then have 20 days off...if they can coordinate their trades and such, which there is a cap on). But yup, people 48 hours without any any sleep in the busy areas...though usually you get a few hours each day spread out throughout the 2 sifts.

It was one of the things we were trained in during EMT class. Yes, the training was minimal, but so was the training in most everything else we do. It's all just algorithms for EMT, anyway. So, why not this? Someone asked how it would affect treatment. *If you have a mildly altered person, you can check sugar and have a direction to approach the rest of your assessment and treatment with (for those who can follow basic commands and swallow glucose, but are still confused). *It's also just more that's taken care of when ALS arrives (not a big deal, but when patient is totally out, can rule at least one thing out) *If you work with a medic partner, he can concentrate on his assessment and you can do the manual stuff along with BPs and gathering meds or whatever else, instead of spending time poking fingers.

Thanks. I think it's really important to know how the interested parties and leaders in our field are. This would be a good medium to do that through.

Thanks :!:

ERDoc commonly makes reference to emedicine.com I was just wondering how you find your articles within the site. I've noticed there are sometimes multiple articles, like when researching aortic dissection: http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic28.htm http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic2784.htm The second one, while older seems to have more information, such as etiology (which you would think the 1st one under Emergency section would have). Then MedlinePlus lists even more stuff as far as useful signs/symptoms, but less on the scientific background. Also, what actual physical books to you use to reference stuff at work? I was looking through that Tintinalli book and another quick ED survey book while waiting in the ER the other day (until the ED doc abruptly pulled it out of my hands mid-sentence and walked away)...but even that survey book seemed to have stuff not mentioned in the online articles (I was just getting to a part about differences in upper and lower extremities in aortic aneurysms/dissections, for example)...and I'm sure emedicine has stuff not in the book, of course. So, guess really I'm just looking for some good physical references (and figuring out what that book was saying about upper/lower extremities in aortic dissection/aneurysm...cause I'm not finding it in these online resources)

I think starting from scratch would be very difficult. It's not easy to get people committed, have them stay together, and raise funds on a large scale. I've seen many good quality organizations start (for different fields) and go no where, die off, or keep steady, but not grow enough to have political clout. The bigger ones were always the ones with the professionals and people with doctorates...that way when someone pushes for legislation it's not just "this person from this field says ___", rather it's "Dr. ___, specialist in ___ says ___"

"Hey, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?"

Maybe he had no neck pain and were doing it as formality? I don't know...bad medicine either way. It's how maybe half our c-spinings are done in LA :-/

With soap and water, after any call where where I saw anything dirty, patient looked less than clean, sick-type call, touched hospital equipment without gloves. Either way, I'm constantly using the evaporating alcoholic disinfectant gel at the hospitals after everything I touch. New pair for approaching patient, when I get into ambulance, and when I get out of ambulance at hospital (I take them off when pushing gurney to ambulance to keep gurney cleaner...try to remember sides are never clearn people people rest their feet on gurney sides while in ambulance). Not really, unless I'm pushing a dirty gurney out or still cleaning up. Never to nurse's station unless I'm grabbing equipment that's deemed 'dirty' already. Yes, good point. But that's usually the driver who makes notes, while the attendant is interviewing patient. Never carry it on me. On-scene bag equipment doesn't get cleaned often. Ambulance equipment cleaned at beginning of day or after a 'dirty' patient. Unfortunately, sometimes for my mini-light (I try to clip it on outside if it looks like I might use it on that call, though) or shears in my boot or extra sap pocket). Eww, no, don't think anyone here does. No, only at the beginning of the day, b/c I don't previous crew's habits. Not available for us. Only when it gets seriously cold. I consider it contaminated, though. I never wash it...but use it so infrequently still has originally crispness to it. I hate jackets, feel constricted and bulky. No. For example, many patients you have to press up against you to carry them. Or if an otherwise healthy looking patient with what seems like a cold is coughing under their NRB Mask, I won't wear a mask myself. But if they have Hep/TB, etc, I'll put a mask on myself in addition to the NRB on the patient. No....though I'm wearing gloves and I don't touch my face with gloves. I cough into my shirt. I guess still the risk of spitting while you talk...

Has anyone taken an Advanced Medical Life Support class or read the text (found it on Amazon...sponsored by NAEMT)? What exactly does it teach? Helpful? How helpful? Worth the money? Applicable to the field?

What are some types of calls where we should be treating and releasing more than we're doing now? (I can think of some obvious ones, but I think we usually release for those already) Would this be different from evaluate and release?

Well, I think PowerPoint slides are useful in the class, so the instructor doesn't jump all over the place and miss even a few very important points and allowing the students to write down the main bullet points (since they can't write everything the instructor says). The key is being able to use the PowerPoints well....which I think should be part of the PHTLS Trainer the Trainer class.

Here! Here! Yes, it's more physically demanding being in the field, but stuff like being knee deep in shyte treating a patient is just manual labor stuff. Yes, it's not easy and not everyone can do it, but it's not the skill/talent portion of your job...that portion can be done with enthusiasm by the day laborers hanging outside Home Depot and proficiency at it doesn't get close to comparing with proficiency in the more mental/academic/problem-solving (both book-smart kind and street-smarts kind) portions of the job.

More good stuff about Austin-Travis County EMS:

PS Nice boob grab technique on the second video....we try to use a flat hand or back or side of hand, regardless of sex of the EMS personnel... that girl's just palming it like a BMW's gear shift when wiping the site.

Great find (though doesn't it look like like all the leads are at the same level in the video...think it's just the angle of the camera, though)