DwayneEMTP

Dang it! I tried like mad to find you yesterday in the search...Tried EMSSolutions, EMSolutions...etc. I didn't think you could have a space in your name. :wink: I have to run to a meeting at my boys school, and then for a job interview, I'll try and catch you later tonight if that's ok? Thanks for responding. Dwayne

It seems to me that he was asking if it's ok for the Federal government to unseat local business when it has no requirement to participate in fair competition. The "if the patient gets care faster, then what's the problem?" is a great attitude if it's not your mortgage or groceries that they have just eliminated from the local economy. I don't know the laws, but am willing to believe that those above me do. I'm actually on board with you on this medic511. Had it been me the first thing I would have done is research ways on making these guys miserable and making it common knoweledge in the community. Is it fair. No way, it sucks. Can you do anything...Eeeh, probably not..but that doesn't mean you can't try! Good luck. Dwayne

You know what's funny. One of my medic instructors was a retired ER doc, and when she taught there were things that were 'poor form'. Poor form = causing death, being an idiot, making decisions because you're lazy, missing simple, but vital, parts of a procedure, etc. Anything that a proud provider would be ashamed of in the future was poor form. For example, early on I diagnosed Vtack instead of properly identifying Torsades. Treated the Vtack and killed my pt. Heard, "Oh Dwayne, Poor form." No yelling, or insulting, but I left that class committed to never making the same mistake again. She was one of those terribly smart, passionate teachers that never attacked anyone. You just always wanted to do well to prove to her that you were worthy to be in her class! (At least I did) She was awsome. Not arguing your point of course, that's just one of those things that struck me hard in medic school. Dwayne

Hell, I must have looked that up when we talked about this before. I thought I was referring to water when I reread it... :oops: Dwayne

Thanks for that... Dwayne

Hey all, Has anyone used the Turbo Medic study aids? It sounds good on the page, but you know how that goes. I'm finding that the more patients I put my hands on, the more comfortable I become with many lines of logic, but many of the tools I once had, but use only rarely, are starting to fade. Anyway, I'd love to have a relatively comprehensive study guide to use as a refresher now and again...but don't want to spend needless money on something that won't fit the bill. Thanks. Dwayne

Richard, I think we've ended up on different pages here... I thought that most felt suicide is tragic. We're not condoning suicide, simply poking a little fun at the ones that claim that they've attempted/are going to attempt it, yet really have not intention of ever doing so. Even JPINFV's little cartoons go a bit far for me, but don't lead me to believe in any way that he thinks that the actual death of someone else is funny or desireable. I guess I have a hard time giving respect to those I've listed above, when it feels like it puts them in the same class as those that have taken their own lives. It kind of pisses me off to mix the pretenders with those that were terminally in anguish. See what I mean? Laughing at them keeps me from being pissed at them to a point...Not saying it's right...simply that it's my way. Dwayne

See...that's just the type of terrible joke I'm talking about! Well, the others were pretty horrid...but this takes the cake so far I think... Dwayne

Good God. I actually typed that? :shock: The heroin must not have been completely out of my system yet... And you all let it go by without a beating?! Man, you're slipping! :wink: Dwayne

Sweet! And I'll be needing a sponge bath, and some help eating my jello....I like it by candlelight.

That easy! I'm fat, homely, not very bright, and you've made a committment to caring for the mentally/physically challenged! You're morally/ethically obligated to be nice to me... Dwayne

I've discovered that EMS can be very humbling if you take your performance seriously. I don't mean the things people point out to you, but the things you, (at least I do), beat yourself over the head with later. During my first three phases of clinicals I'd never had to have anyone start and IV for me because I'd missed. Peds, old, young, fat. I could pretty much put a cath on the end of a line, throw it in the general direction of the patient, and have the line established. Hell, I was already coming up with the proper verbiage to use while bragging about NEVER needing assistance throughout all four phases... Yeah, well. A 100 y/o patient from a nursing home, DOB. When we get there the care givers (not sure of certs) report n/v x 3 days, and no one can really remember seeing her drink anything. ALOC, in and out of consciousness, very poor turgor to her skin, BP...I can't remember..but high 70s/low 80s systolic, Afib with rvr @ about 160. She weighs about 12 pounds, veins about the size of rolls of nickels EVERYWHERE. Fire says, "We really need this IV, are you confident you can get it?" Of course I said, "Positive." I grab an 18g, throw on the tourn., make my stick in an AC as big as my thumb...and miss it. The vein is right there! My catheter is directly in it, I can see it with my xray vision! But no flash...I dig around a little....I just can't find it. So I ask for another 18. Fire asks if I'd like something smaller, I say no, and make another stick. Other AC, same ridiculously large vein...You guessed it. No flash. I can feel my face getting fat, and hot, about to explode, but continue digging until the fire medic asks to step in and gets it no problem. (He must have had a will of iron, as at no time during this call did he use the word ‘idiot’) Now, I can conceive of only one possible explanation. Once my catheter pierced the skin, it was immediately transported into another dimension. A dimension of not only of sight and sound, but one completely void of veins or blood of any kind. Yeah...I'll bet that's it. Anyway. My point is that I’m always very much aware of my limitations, and that my limitations are massive, but should I forget at times, EMS karma is sitting patiently on my shoulder waiting to remind me. My confidence has grown greatly since working with great preceptors, but it’s difficult for me to imagine a time when I’ll be completely comfortable… And I’m committed to keeping Karma at bay. Dwayne

But Wendy...sweetums....I meant it in the kindest possible sense! Besides...when I first started on this board a couple of weeks ago, I think what put you on my radar was your correcting my spelling and grammar! The VERY first time you responded to one of my carefully typed posts....yep. Grammar check... But I know you were just kidding about the whold "mercy" thing...C'mon....I'm old. Dwayne

GASP! A typo!?! I'm marking this on my calendar! See! This just goes to show why basics need more....Ha...just kidding. I'm not that brave...

I heard one of the worst jokes ever the other day but still found it funny. What is it that's so funny about watching some completely bomb at a joke? Anyway, I thought this might be kind of fun...so bring on your worst! A preacher puts an ad in the paper for a bell ringer. The first man that shows up has no arms. The preacher says, "You realize this is a job for a bell ringer, right?" The man says, "Man, you’re a preacher, and you're going to discriminate against me like everyone else, without giving me a chance?" So, the preacher has no choice. He takes the man up to the bell tower to give him a try. The man looks at the giant bell, backs up against the wall and, running as fast as he can, smacks the bell with his head, ringing it loudly. Unfortunately, he glances off of the bell, can't slow down, and flies over the railing, out of the tower, and dies on the sidewalk below. Later, as the police are trying to identify the man, they ask the preacher for the man's name. He replies, "You know, I didn't get his name, but his face sure rings a bell..." :wink: See? Hey, you don't get to complain about my dorky joke until you do better! Dwayne

Ooops, Note: When I said and ER doc, I wasn't referring to OUR ERDoc. Just to be clear. I certainly understand you wouldn't want to use unnecessary for of someone mentally challenged, and I'm not sniping at the medic for the broken arm. What made me wonder is one of the medics I rode with, who I found to be an amazing medic, told me that he is terribly uncomfortable around "retarded" people. He was in no way attempting to be offensive, simply honest, and found his feelings curious. He said, "If I knew a person was autistic I would attempt to keep them calm and call to see if someone was working that understood the disorder. But how would I know the difference between an autistic, that I have no idea how to deal with, and a paranoid schizophrenic that I've dealt successfully with often?" I haven't had experience yet with the latter so asked for a description of their behavior...and had no idea how to tell them apart. So I asked one of the smartest people I know. (I won't name her here, but she works with special needs people, and at boy scout camp, and NEVER has a misspelling in her posts...anyway, it's a secret. ) And SHE didn't know! So I've set out on this quest to find a way to identify people that fall within the autistic spectrum, succinct enough to fit on a 5x7 card, yet able to be understood easily so that EMS/Fire/Law enforcement/ED can identify autistics and learn to treat them appropriately. I'm clueless. I can certainly define the stereotype qualities associated with autism, but they so often overlap with the paranoid schizophrenic that I'm not sure how to explain to the uninitiated how to tell the difference...any ideas? Dwayne

Thanks Ruff, and you're right, you never really know how things might work out. I just think, that if anyone had known me in my late teens, very early twenties, you'd see why I need to give the kids a chance to adjust their behavior before raining down all over them. I was a bigger knothead then than I am now...if you can imagine... Dwayne

I guess where I'm coming from is this...Because these folks claimed to have attempted suicide does not make it true. So Ruff, as someone with a million years in this business, I ask respectfully, how many attempted suicides have you run on that were really attempts? I'm still in my clinicals and I've run on, say, a couple dozen...not a single one of them really wanted to die. Usually it's some incredibly drunk guy that has scratched his wrists with something and is squeezing the scratches as we walk in, trying to make them bleed. His pain? Not funny. His behavior? Funny. The psychological literature is full of studies on suicide, and nearly unanimously will tell you that people that want to kill themselves, do. It's not rocket science, it's simple. The failures are, by and large, posers...pretenders. That's what I find funny about those stories. These were not attempted suicides at all. They were a couple of goofy kids looking for attention, for help. If they'd wanted to be dead, both would now be dead. One of my best friends in the world hung herself not long ago after calling me for help for a month. I was too busy to call her back. That is the 3rd suicide of someone I've loved in my life. I'm no stranger to this subject. (See! Right there, if I wouldn't have spoiled it for them someone would have posted..."Hmmm, do you suppose there's a reason the people that know you are killing themselves?" If you're my friend, like many here...that's funny! If not = ass beating.) So for me. Suicide = not funny. Silly pretend attempts w/o injury = Sometimes hilarious. Dwayne

Lisa, outstanding post! You belong here, are going to learn important things here, and even make some really cool friends here. I'm glad you stayed, and I know exactly what you mean with your school. I researched my options for medic school here, chose the one I felt was best, with the highest standards and most difficult requirments, yet found it was not "all that" once I'd started. So what do I do? I, like you, continue, take every scrap of information they can give me, all the while understanding it's not enough, and fill in the gaps on my own. So far it's worked for me. And I know it'll work for you. Stick with it! You've got gumption...pretty cool. Dwayne

Yeah, I hear ya. It seems to me that that is pretty much what everyone expected going in. There were some majorly pissed of people staying at the end of the day! Maybe the difference was that ours what taught by an M.D. She is funny, and sweet...an amazing teacher! But it's in your best interest to remember that she's a teacher first...Cause Homey don't play no "Take your cert so I can go home early" games... And that "give it to me easy" attitude doesn't seem to be only EMS...It seemd to be pervasive throughout by entire college experience. In any given class (Usually 15-30 people) you could count on 3-5 people that wanted to attack the material...really digest it. The rest were irritated if the class had a maximum number of days you could miss without being dropped...Pretty sad. Dwayne

Not the way I saw it. We spent a God awful amount of time on CPR, and the focus of the class was team related, but you had better know the ACLS material before class. I can't remember if we even touched on it before practicing and testing. We had to run through dynamic cardiology with the team, but if anyone was seen coaching you, it was considered a fail. And yeah, I caused on of my buddies to fail, so I know they weren't kidding. (Each person got two attempts) At the end of the day...a pretty long day...I think only two or three of us got to leave. I heard later that the others were kept another four hours for remediation and retesting. I can't say how it compares to the way it used to be (all the nurses failed at least the first time through) but I found that I didn't really need a review on CPR, I liked the concepts of teamwork and have seen them being applied in the field, But am pretty dang glad I knew my ACLS going in... Dwayne

Recently, locally, there was an autistic man that had his arm broken while being restrained. When he refused to follow orders the police took him down...Ironically, his arm was broken by a medic that jumped in to help... This is the way I heard the story from an ER doc, I have no other confirmation. It did lead us to an interesting quesion though.... How do you tell the difference between an autisic and a Paranoid schizophrenic? Not clinically, but on a level that would allow law/health worker to handle each appropriately. Dwayne

Thanks for that Doc...I didn't see what they considered "large amounts", any ideas what range they might be refering to? Dwayne

Thanks all... In his defence, on a later call I asked him to set up the monitor while I was working on a non exciting MVA (single car, crossed the road hitting some small trees). I could see he didn't like it, but he did it without comment. Later he asked why the monitor made sense, in a completely different tone. I told him that I didn't like the man's color, but also, someone had posted an article at the City stating that as many as 50% of single car accidents that cross the road have a cardiac element involved. (Whether before or after the accident I can't remember, or if that's even knowable normally) He said, "You know, I was treating you like a new student, then it ocurred to me that you pretty much do everything on your own. When we work together, I'm here for whatever you need. Just ask and I do it from now on." He's not a bad kid...he's just been misled. Once when he fell due to rough driving he yelled up and asked the medic to be careful! Later I heard him say "this is your truck, I'm sorry I yelled at you." And the medic said, "Hey, we're equals here. This your truck too. We're equals." When given the chance, it seems he rethought things, at least concerning our ralationship, and it's worked out ok. Even though he's a basic, I hesitate to go on "his" truck and try and cow him. I was cowed on my first phase clinicals, to my shame, and learned almost nothing... Thanks all for your thoughts. Dwayne

Oooops. You must have posted in the 2 1/2 days it took me to type up my post...I like your attitude though... :wink: Dwayne