A Pox On This Place

Welcome, from a backwoods rural Wisconsin service. You will be the highly trained professional ALS rig I intercept with. And, thank you for that.

OK. I know I'm VERY far behind the loop here. I've been a cop or bailiff 25 years, I took EMT Basic this Spring because it's what I'd like to do in retirement. Joined a local fire ambu service. I'm bumming out at how slow I am, how far behind I am at getting gear ready let alone patient assessment. My saving grace is a very demanding local semi-retired Nurse Practioner who is a very exacting 30 year ER nurse. Ever felt butt assed over your head? The best thing I do is drive the rig out Code 3 through very deery woods.

Welcome. Just joined a Fire Ambu volly service at 57. They claim I'm going to extrication training with the hose monkeys this summer. I beg to differ. It sounds like you're getting great training experiences. Good on you.

Lurking is accredited here, you can get up to 4 CEU's/year for just reading Kiwi's posts. Welcome!

Welcome!

Just did my first orientation on call shift with my new service, we had a bad tree/car MVA, our only trauma call. I Liked my preceptor I worked with, she thought my interventions and later PCR were ok and my report to the attending at the hospital. Bagged 20 minutes. God frowns on morbidly obese people who smack up cars.

Welcome, and thank you for your service. You'll be most welcome here, I'm annoying and opinionated as hell and yet, I find this is a very cool community. They tolerate me and only put the leeches on when I'm bad. (Yes, guys. I'll work on the annoying and difficult aspects.)

Just joined a new local BLS transport service in NW Wisconsin. I've worked in a courts/jail correctional environment and the the thought of riding a rig at 57 kicks my ass. I joined this site to sit and stalk and learn. Thank you all for that. BTW, I'm a difficult person.

Prayers, kind thoughts and wishes to your friend.

Doc, thank you breaking my balls and moving me beyond my comfy been-there response to problematic seizures. While PNES is a disagnosis beyond my pay grade as a lowly Basic in a bupkus volly service in Wisconsin, it's a very real diff diagnosis thing. Thank you.

And you want to practice medicine? Wow. I'd apologized to you publicly for snapping at you, and now I'm a Fascist? Really? I'd say you're something less than a man. But certainly a med student, right? That's likely enough for you.

Former reporter, listening to this discussion. I have opinions but I choose not to share them. I'm being good (NO! Don't put the leeches on again! I've been a Good Boy!) The defense of civill rights of simpletons who'd like to record patients being treated in public doesn't engage my brain ... Really?... Will a disrobed patient video be more fun at your next Occupy meeting? If you mess with my patient in field, you'll be moved back. Fool. What happened to trust, respect, reticence, modesty, confidentiality and humility? Of the great medical people I've met in my life, the best freakin' providers, from M.D. to nanny seem to share thosee qualities.

Glad to hear that. I like happy endings.

I honestly don't know, Doc. Are there any lawyers out there? I'm a public sector employee and can pretty much be recorded whenever, wherever. I think the legal concept of patient confidentiality is so strong it likely trumps some traditional First Amendment activities but I have no idea where the line is.

JP, I apologize. This is a topic that makes me so damn pissy it brings up some very unpleasant experiences. I've worked a lot at our local Occupy rallies and twice had to ask coppers to move aggressive picture takers back. One was an elderly woman who'd taken a tumble on some steps at one rally. She had some superficial lacs and some minor abrasions but didn't appear to have anything serious going on. A FF was still holding C-spines because we were'nt finished doing a head to toe and an Occupy member with a boxtop press credential around her neck was leaning in and trying to interview her. I got the attention of an MPD officer who moved her along in a ham-handed way I rather enjoyed. What's a reporter these days? When I was one you worked for a network, a broadcast station, a paper or a wire service. Your credentials identified you as press, which got you some non-public access (at times) and admission to press conferences. (The best part was free swag, booze and meals.) Now, anyone with a blog, a laptop and a camera can choose to style themselves as press. Technology has made this a murky distinction. What bugs me about the anything-in-public-is-fair-game school of thought is there's no real ethic involved. I think recording someone's prehospital care in a public place is a wrong and tawdry activity, and I struggle to see its newsworthiness. I get very bent out of shape that not only do citizen reporters seem to lack ethics is their belief the First Amendment is an absolute, fixed thing. It's so not. If an ER visitor starts walking around snapping pictures they're gonna get their butt arrested. Doesn't someone in a prehospital setting out in the community have the same right to privacy and personal dignity as an ER patient? OK, that's my rant. I'll sit back and listen to cooler heads.