DwayneEMTP

Yeah…What a loss... I heard he was 30ish? Also that he was due to be married next month. Sending love to his girl, and all of those that loved him from the Womacks in AZ, USA. This just breaks my heart. I miss you all! Dwayne

Oh no....She was truly a doll... Thoughts for peace and healing for those that loved her...

"You were awesome! Here's $20, now get out..."

Still here at times!! Miss you Brother!

I'm so sorry. I've been visiting with him for as long as I've been a medic, maybe even before. What a gift he was to us. Sending you thoughts for peace and healing from your EMS family in Colorado... God's speed Brother..

Maybe what we need next is just a narcan pump, like for diabetics? Narc levels rise, resps drop, BANG, 0.5 Narcan! It would likely give a better assessment than many first responders that already know what the problem is because 'dispatch told them.'

As the father of an 18 year old autistic son, I know the pain that the family feels, as I've seen it in so many. This family needs a bahavior specialist, and they need him/her right away. The anger they're seeing is not a symptom of Asperger's/autism, but of a child in a lot of pain. Many like to think of the rage as a symptom of the disorder, I think because it makes it easier for us not to feel guilty, but it's truly not. Force isn't going to work, threats will only make things worse, punishing the behavior will make it worse still, only identifying the source of his pain (It's almost certainly mental, emotional, and physical.), by someone qualified to do so, and helping to mitigate it will solve these problems... Please try to trust me on this. Sending happy thoughts to your girlfriend and her family, as well as you. You sound like a really, really awesome boyfriend.

Hi guys, thanks for the welcome. Not dead, not made into Papuan soup...just drifted away from the forums for a bit because of life. I've missed you! It looks like I'm back just in time to try and hammer all of your weird opinions back onto the straight and narrow...

It will actually be much more important to understand OSHA requirements on this job than first aid, for example, when and why you might apply a splint and what the consequences for the company might be should you choose to when it's not necessary. No medical director means no medical care above first aid. I would be curious if an AED would fall into this category, as they're placed in public areas now for layman use? What EMT skills above first aid would you feel might be used before an ambulance could arrive?

So let's say that you can forgive or somehow excuse the mishandling of the trach, how do you, in any world, explain away them not noticing a dying patient happening right before their eyes? To the point where they attempt the handover of an actually dead patient? Makes me want to spit...

If you're getting paid to go out with these guys, my guess is that alone is enough to lose your lisence as you don't have a medical director. If you're volunteering to go out, then I can't see any issues at all. I'm not even sure that your scope of practice matters if you're acting in good faith as a Good Samaritan. I can't imagine the senario where a Marine training mission would leave their Corpsmen home and take a civilain EMT. I also can't imagine the mission where they would choose to go into unsafe avalanche areas for training, especially while being responsible for a civilian EMT. I'm from Colorado, but that doesn't help, because as others have stated, your story stinks Brother. Tell the truth, or flesh out the details and more will be willing to help. But stick with the, "A civilian EMT going out on a dangerous training mission in support of the Marines? You all have never heard of that? Happens all the time..if you're as good as me..." And I don't care if you're friggin' Chuck Norris...just the suggestion that the Marines turned to their Corpsmen and said, "You guys sit this one out...we've got super EMT here to take care of us.." pisses me off...That just didn't happen.

Man, great question.... I guess that it could be argued, "He refused to consent 10 minutes ago, with the information available then. He's now unresponsive, if he had the ability to make a new decisions with this new information he might choose differently." It's not my argument, but one that I can imagine. Is there a nation wide legal answer to this question?

At first I felt guilty, as I too noticed the chick first. But second I noticed the color of his leg and circulation issues..then suddenly, "Holy crap! He's got a log stuck in his bum!" I like to feel that I'm pretty well balanced...

Good on you Brother!!

Secouriste, I'm not sure what the science says, so I'm only speaking for myself. But if vacuum mattresses were commonly used by most my guess would be that this would be a completely different conversation. Know what I mean? We can't, or at least I can't, really compare a vacuum mattress to a straight backboard, the mattress being by far the superior choice. (My unscientific opinion only.) I am curious though if immobilization via vacuum mattress has been studied when compared to no board and the cot mattress only?

Good to see you back Nick... Here, the common word is 'trolly'...I can't think trolly without thinking Mr. Roger's Neighborhood... But stateside I used cot..

I do know quite a few really smart medics that have told me that the flight exam is really, really tough. But not everyone needs it to be hired. In fact most of the medics that I know were hired without it on the condition that they pass it within a certain number of months... I'm in no way dissing flight medicine. The flight medics that I'm friends with are all much stronger, smarter and more experienced medics than I'm every likely to be. I'm only disagreeing with the "There's only one way to get in" argument, that I know to be untrue in many places.

I see many here talking about how much experience is needed to become a flight provider, but I don't believe that the advice given is accurate. I know of several medics that work for flight services that had little experience, no degrees, and aren't very strong medics to boot. They were a warm body, and available, when a position needed filling. I can't imagine any of these types of providers working for a service like Flight for Life, as the providers that I know there are all really, really strong. But FfL doesn't own the entire market. There are plenty of really weak flight providers just as there are weak street providers...

You'll get it Christopher...I know that you will. You got caught with your pants down, but you'll overcome and be maybe even stronger for being forced to look at the material in a way that you weren't prepared for... Chin up Brother...

You know what Brother, I have no experience, so no context for study at that level. But I know that if I had to put money on someone to be able to excell in that arena, my money would certainly be on you. So yeah, stop being a baby... :-)

I don't remember from previous years, but I was pretty happy to see the scope of the test this time around. I don't remember having cellular biology questions before and they kind of took me by surprise, but in a good way. I guess what confuses me a little bit is why, in this day and age, we have to have questions presented in one or two sentences that leave so much to the imagination. If you want to know if I'm confortable with a concept, why not give me the information necessary to build at least a minimal differential and choose an answer that I could defend if asked? It's not like they're being charged by the word to print them to the screen. My only argument with the questions as presented, and maybe it's a weakness of mine and not that of the test, is that often I could make the arguement that "The gross scenario exists as (X). If (Y, undeclared information) exists then 'this' would be the obvious answer, but if (Z, undeclared information) exists then 'that' would be an obvious answer, with both Y/Z being likely/predictable parts of the presented scenario. I know it seems silly maybe to criticize a test that I've passed each time that I've taken it, but I don't really see the logic behind giving the minimum possible information and forcing misunderstanding if testing understanding is the goal. Does that make sense?

I wouldn't have immobilized, though with a head lac, I would have been prepared for blowback from the ER. Not from the docs most likely, but from some nurses. It can be complicated sometimes trying to do what's right for the patient, satisfying your protocols, and trying to keep a good relationship with the ER so that you can get the orders you'd like, when you'd like them.

I hear you Doc, and that's a really valid point. This is the 4th time I've taken it, and I've passed each time, and yet each time I hear myself giving myself the advice that I give others, "Don't provide ALS treatments unless forced into it." But it is really hard sometimes. There are commonly questions akin to, but not exactly like... The newborn that you've been caring for has a drop in heart rate from 120 to 90, what is the best treatment? a) Provide blowby oxygen Suction the airway c) Provide supplemental O2 with a NRB d) Assist vents with a BVM on room air. I find myself thinking, "Drop in heart rate is likely do to a drop in O2 sat. Has there been another obvious change in resp status? Become shallower, more rapid, noisy? Has the airway become obstructed, possibly with mucus? If so, then B is a pretty obvious answer. Or, are they assuming that as "I've been caring for him" that he's been adequately suctioned, so I should trial some blowby O2 first? I ultimately resolve it with, "Forget what they want, what would I do?" In this case, I can mistakenly attempt to resolve a breathing issues with suction, and then provide O2, without any terribly significant retardation of patient condition, but I can't really ignore an obstruction by simply pouring O2 on top of it, even if it does improve pt's vitals. (Not without feeling like a bigger idiot than usual.) So, long winded as usual, you make a great point that learning the NR test question type is valuable, but also, general multiple choice test taking techniques as well.

So, I tested on Tuesday for the NREMTP. I've chosen to recert with the test each time for several reasons... First, no one else that I know recerts that way and they think that I'm crazy for doing so. So it makes me feel kind of cool. Second, it's easy. Tons less paperwork etc. No, I don't do it to escape continuing ed. I love continuing education, plus my company requires it. Third, I can do it when I'm in the country in one sitting, making scheduling tons easier. Anyway, this time when sitting through it I did so with my mind not only on the test, but on the many requests from people asking for a decent test prep site. What would make a good site? Have I seen one? (Though I've not looked much really.) What I discovered is...I can't really imagine a decent test prep site that doesn't completely review the paramedic cariculum. I tried to find groupings of questions that could be focused on, and though I noticed groupings, as they tell you that you'll encounter from the specific groups of knowledge tested, the questions were all over the map. This is my conclusion. You either paid attention during school, applied yourself and tried to do your best, or you didn't. I don't believe that there is a magic bullet that could have saved me within a few weeks of taking the test. So, those are my thoughts on that...For what they're worth... And yeah, I passed. I hated it, thought many of the questions sucked, was freaked out that I might do poorly...but I've stayed invested in EMS pretty much every day since I took it last time two years ago...so all worked out ok. That, I think, is the secret to the Nat Reg...

I'm not sure if this will help at the level that you're talking, but I was convinced by someone once that the best way to learn and retain more complex information is by reducing it. In medic school I would read a paragraph, highlight then only the sentences in the paragraph that completed the thought it meant to convey, and then reduce those to the fewest possible words for flashcards. I ended up doing that through the rest of my college classes (the more complex the material, the better it seems to work for me) and now do it for everything. What seems to happen is that to force a word out of my mental process I have to really understand it first. And I try really hard to eliminate every possible word. Anyway, for what it's worth, it might be worth a try for a few paragraphs. But for it to work you have to be committed to eliminating every, single, possible word... I'd be interested in your thoughts..as I can always use a new way to study...