DwayneEMTP

OK....I'll read it all this weekend...jeez... Ruff....that's funny! Dwayne

I think this is the quote of the day!! Dwayne

Hey all, I know I've seen something like this posted before, but can't find it. It seems like I'm seeing more and more of these articles...Is anyone hearing of people calling EMS for pets yet? Isn't it the next natural abuse of the system given all the publicity? Seems crazy to me....See below. "They're man's best friend, but when a dog or any other animal is injure, it's hard to tell just how they'll react. "If an animal is hurt, they're going to go into a self defense mechanism and they're going to protect themselves, so even though you're coming to help them, they don't know that," said Bob Struck, Executive Director of the Upper Peninsula EMS. Assessing an animal's wounds is much like assessing a human's; the communication isn't there, so those responding may need to take extra precautions. Applying a muzzle is one step they may need to use. Today's medical professionals practiced this technique on stuffed animals and then worked with real dogs. "It would be the same as a human being: check the airway, the breathing, make sure the heart is working, take care of immediate breathing," said medical professional Dan Breggs of Rapid River. They're using the knowledge and training they already have and expanding it, so they're ready for any situation, even if it's rare. "Anytime you can take the training that you already have and broaden out to help more, in this case animals, it is a very worthwhile thing to take in to. This is more background for EMS, so if they find themselves in a situation involving pets, they will be able to deal with it," said Dr. Larry King, a Hermansville veterinarian and EMT. Officials say you should first call a veterinarian in an animal emergency." (bold by me) First? Doesn't this seem to suggest EMS should be second? I don't know....I'm curious to hear what you think.... Dwayne

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/10...ters/119833.txt State EMT test best approach for most "I am both a physician and still certified paramedic. I spent the larger part of my EMS life in Illinois. I found the editorial sent to me, ``Addressing EMT certification deserves priority'' very interesting (OurViews, Oct. 2). I just returned from speaking at an international EMS conference where this very same concern arose. The ``national certifying'' process is actually the ``average'' and is best used when any EMT may venture out of state. I totally agree with the comments/concerns of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. There are questions that, if missed, would count against you (On my test all the questions worked that way.)and if you are practicing in Florida, they are helpful. But in rural Illinois, I had never encountered a coral snake. I am more favorable to a state test. But if a person may leave Illinois, as I did, then the national test offers a ``basis.'' I keep my certification because I teach EMTs and paramedics, and in order to talk the talk, you still have to walk the walk. But I am careful for the jellyfish and the coral snakes. Dr. Craig Jacobus Schuyler, Neb. " How can they possibly not see that this is not about coral snakes!! It is about their inability or unwillingness to learn 2-3 (guessing) more pages of text in a 9lbs book! I had to learn about Flow-Restricted, Oxygen-Powered Ventilation Devices even though we were told we would probably never see one. It certainly took more time to learn than all we were taught about spiders and snakes. But it was part of the required curriculum, we didn't cry, we just added it to our brains. It amazes me that not being able to pass is the only excuse they could come up with...I would have shot myself before admitting that. I am sorry that the sharp IL folks we have on here have to be lumped in with the fire boneheads (publicly, not by us I hope). Pretty amazing all in all... Dwayne

You crack me up... Dwayne

I can't take the time to read it all...but what I did read is pretty thought provoking! Pretty fun....Thanks Dwayne

Kyle, you're going to come to understand (hopefully) someday that people that have an intelligent critique of you and your opinions are your best friends. (If you don't think his opinions are intelligent then knock his weewee in the dirt next time he's wrong. I'll bet he'll thank you for it.) The fact that he enjoys it just makes it fun...and funny. Run away from people that tell you you're doing everything right...they are helping you fail. I want to be better tomorrow than I am today...I can't be my best by myself, unless being by myself is my goal. Dust may get under your skin, but I guarantee you that you are smarter today because of him...And the others like him. Keep your chin up, the fact that you keep coming back speaks volumes about you.... Dwayne EDIT: for spelling...sheesh.

Unless I'm having brain fade (which is common) I think you got it turned around in the second half of these two sentences. (Then what JPINFV said) Dwayne

Yikes...thanks! I probably should have been able to riddle that out...

I've googled it each time I see it and get a gazillion results from soccer team names to types of irish poetry...but no medicine that I can find. I assume it has something to do with the heart and little to do with poetry...but that's as far as I've gotten... Thanks for the help! Dwayne

(No link as it's from another site, credit to ncmedic309) What do you all think? Do you see problems with the treatment or implementation pre-hospital? Wake County NC paramedics use new 'cool aid' method by Starting today, cardiac arrest patients in Wake County will have an edge that improves their chances of leaving the hospital walking and talking. Paramedics with Wake County Emergency Medical Services and the county's two 24-hour cardiac care hospitals, Rex Hospital and WakeMed, will begin using a novel therapy that protects patients' brains from damage by quickly dropping their body temperature. Cooling the patient reduces the brain's need for oxygen, helping to minimize the damage that typically occurs after the heart stops and blood flow to the brain is interrupted. Studies of the treatment, called therapeutic hypothermia, suggest it prevents brain death in one out of every six patients. That means a patient who would have been in a persistent vegetative state, and possibly removed from life support, instead might survive intact. "We hope to see more people surviving in a meaningful way," said Dr. Brent Myers, a Raleigh emergency physician and medical director of Wake County EMS. EMS responds to a cardiac arrest in Wake County roughly every 18 hours -- more than 600 last year alone, Myers said. But the number of people who receive the cooling therapy will be relatively small. Some patients are beyond reviving when paramedics arrive. Others regain consciousness after a quick shock with a defibrillator and don't need the treatment. Instead, the treatment is aimed at patients whose heartbeats are restored but remain unconscious. Myers estimates that EMS will use it on 80 to 100 people in the next year, based on the number of cardiac patients who would have met eligibility criteria for the therapy last year. Paramedics will start cooling down the patients in the field with ice packs and infusions of ice cold saline solution, then transport them to Rex or WakeMed. Hospital staff will continue the cooling by hooking up patients to devices that gradually drop the patient's body temperature as low as 89 degrees Fahrenheit. For optimal results, patients must be kept cool for between 12 and 24 hours, then gradually warmed up again, according to published research. If Wake County's results are at least as good as those published in American and Australian studies, therapeutic hypothermia may result in an additional five to 15 patients a year making a successful recovery, Myers said. Success is defined as patients being sent home able to care for themselves and able to hold at least a part-time job. Potential is great That might not sound like much, but it would be a significant increase in the number of patients who make a good neurological recovery. Last year, Myers said, just 23 cardiac arrest patients who would have been candidates for the therapy went home with good brain function. "Usually these patients don't survive," said Dr. Bob Denton, an emergency physician at Rex Hospital. "The benefit is potentially overwhelming." Wake County is one of the first communities nationally to begin offering therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest. Myers, the EMS medical director, said he is aware of only two other communities -- Seattle, Wash., and Pittsburgh, Pa. -- that offer the treatment or plan to begin it shortly. Myers said that Wake EMS started looking into doing therapeutic hypothermia for cardiac arrest last year as a way to give patients every chance of surviving with a good quality of life. Patients in Wake County are successfully resuscitated -- that is, their hearts are restarted -- about 30 percent of the time, according to data kept by EMS. But despite those results, which far exceed the national average of 5 percent to 7 percent, most patients were still suffering brain death, Myers said. Dr. Paul Hinchey, a Raleigh emergency physician who was completing a fellowship with EMS at the time, suggested trying therapeutic hypothermia. When EMS asked the county's hospitals to discuss collaborating on the project, it took off. Rex, it turned out, was already considering starting the therapy for cardiac arrest patients transported to its emergency room. And after reviewing published studies, WakeMed was game to try it. "It didn't make sense for EMS to start this if hospitals weren't going to continue it," Myers said. Dwayne

You know, the farther I get into this it seems that EMS instructors may be as big a part of the problem as the people coming into it...(maybe this has been obvious before, but I'm just now getting it) I sit next to a kid in A&P lab that is an EMT-I. He just got his cert and is taking A&P (anatomy mostly, in the first semester) because it's required before he gets his Paramedic cert at a local hospital. He's getting it there instead of the college because he doesn't need A&P II there. He's a nice kid, seems smart, non-wankerish but they convinced him in his Intermediate class that A&P isn't really necessary it's just "the state helping the college make money." He shares my disdain for the people just trying to get through class to get a fire job. (on our last practicum I got 110/116-class ave. 71-our two firemen got 18 & 27/116) I'm trying to convince him otherwise, but then who am I? Certainly not a paramedic, just some old guy trying to get a degree. I believe if they had instilled in him the need for education he would have stepped up to the plate...he seems to want to be first rate, and is getting a first rate education based on the standards he's been given. In my Basic class there wasn't really any indication that I didn't know all I needed to know to be a basic...in fact it was often stated that our "academy" taught much more than was expected. I believe that may be true, but all would have been served had the point been made that this was the beginning of an education, not the complete education. I'm a freak for my education, but mostly because you all have convinced me that if I want to be taken seriously by the people I respect that that is what's needed...but how do the people that don't have you all get that info? Are they running into people elsewhere that make it clear to them that they need to be smart to do this job? That they need to go beyond the educational scope of the people they work with that are already doing this job? And how do we convince them, when they run into people all the time, doing this job, that don't bother to do so? Out of my class or 22 or so, you can see most only want to get through with a grade high enough to maintain their student money. But there are 6-8 that you can see that really want to be the best at the career they have chosen. But what happens when they find out that the people defining "best" for them have terribly low standards? It just got me to thinking. Most of the new folks are kids, I think many would do better if they knew better.... Dwayne

You find the dangdest stuff Michael...pretty funny! Though you have to wonder if it had anything to do with hiccups. Dwayne

I think he was dinking with it trying to make it bleed. Pretty sure it's not a camera trick, though I'm not very sophisticated where that is concerned. Yeah, went from bleeding freely to arcing. I will try and find the link and post it here. Dwayne EDIT: Here is the link. http://www.uniquepeek.com/viewpage.php?page_id=188

I was watching a video with a bunch of bonehead backyard wrestlers and had a question about an injury. One of the guys got a pretty good lac on his left arm about 2 1/2-3 inches below the inside of his elbow. It was bleeding freely, then suddenly a stream appeared. It arced from the injury about 6-8 inches in the air, perhaps slightly more (where of course he drank it). The stream was approximately 1/8 of an inch in diameter and steady for 3 or 4 seconds, maybe more but the vid ended. As Basics we were taught the difference between capillary, venous, arterial bleeding. It seems it must have been venous as it didn't pulse, but it seemed to be under so much pressure for such a long time it made me wonder... Venous right? Or is there some dynamic here I'm missing? Probably a silly question, but....there you have it. Yeah, I'm in A&P and now the proud owner of the names of all the bone and their landmarks, (yeppers Dust, even the carpals and tarsals!) but haven't gotten into the circulatory system yet... Thanks all, Have a great day! Dwayne

My appologies to our friends from Illinois....Though you have to admit the testing snaffu makes them look terrible...you both seem to be top notch! Have a great day! Dwayne

Or being treated by a fireman in Illinois.... Dwayne

"If you've ever been 'finned', you might be a redneck" Dwayne

Hey all, I'm a month or so into A&P and doing ok (well, about 97-98% of possible so far) and was wondering about the posts I see regarding cadavers. Are/have you guys dissected human cadavers in class? We start on cats this next week. I'm told they are anatomically very much like humans...(different posture of course). I've talked to some nurses and medics that took A&P without labs....? It wasn't an option in my program, I didn't even know you could. (wouldn't have anyhow) Anyhow, I wasn't sure if "cadaver" referred to anything dead you studied or if it only applied to humans, and if only humans, how many of you studied humans instead of animals. And if so is a cat still a valid subject to study to learn about humans? This is all pretty daunting to me...I went into class thinking "I can't believe we have to learn all the bones of the human body in one semester!"....Of course that was our job in the first week! Yeah...I know...I can be a bonehead...I want to study something that has like....three vertebrae and a kidney... Thanks all...Have a great day! Dwayne

Emilea PA C, I feel your pain! I was part way through my Basic class when it hit me...Nothing makes sense! My instructor told me to wait...it would all line up in time...and it did. There were some things I felt were covered well, and in those situations it really isn't about me, but what I learned and how much I practiced it. If I need to hold c-spine, do CPR etc...I know it will be there when I need it...and my instructor also reminded me that EMS is a team sport...you aren't likely to have much responsibility until you're ready. (I'm in school, not working so I could be way wrong...but others will fix it if I am) But understand you WILL NOT learn all you need to know in Basic class. You are responsible for filling in the gaps...if you don't see them (the gaps), ask here and many people much smarter than I will point you in the right direction. Now that I have a few semester of biology and am a ways into anatomy and physiology I feel dumber than ever!!! But take heart....some people I really respect here promise me that if I study hard, and honestly, and practice till I want to puke that everything will line up one day...and "it will be a beautiful thing". Keep your chin up...practice till you puke...It will work out for you too! (By the way...I am not an excellent student...So I bet you'll do great) Dwayne

There you have it Timmy. Your excuse to be as dumb as you want to be. If being held to a higher standard makes you so crazy, why do you beat your head against the wall here when there are a dozen other boards that love people that choose to be dumb? Your posts we starting to come across smart and mature, I'm sorry you decided to take this path.... When you have 10,000 calls of experience to offer, people will ignore your grammar and spelling as well... Pony up Timmy...Choose to be smart....or be happy at one of the 'wacker' sites...But please stop asking us to help you fail. Dwayne

Punisher, perhaps you were reading a different thread.... Do a search for some of Students' posts and you'll see where you went wrong.. Dwayne

I'm with you Timmy, becksdad has a way of explaining issues up front and around all the corners...pretty cool! I haven't given enough thought to blood pressure it seems... I guess I will now...! Dwayne

Hey Mark, You are absolutely right about the way these threads go...though it didn't used to be this way. I think most of the people that have been here more than a couple of months would disagree with your assumption that this is a place to come and 'shoot the breeze.' Most of us come here to learn, and being non-judgemental does not serve that purpose. Timmy sounds like a dedicated young man, he's been doing this a long time, but he has habits that are absolutely going to hold him back. The way he speaks and writes. If he truly wants to succeed as a professional, these are issues he needs to deal with. Unfortunately he is following the advice of those that tell him not to worry about appearing ignorant and is starting to think his posts are cute. And that's a shame...He's too good for that. Timmy I look forward to your posts! I think you have more experience than many people here but it gets lost in your lazy posting. Keep posting! Keep working hard! But stop listening to the people that are telling you that the way you represent yourself is unimportant...It's much more than important, it's vital. Dwayne

It seems like if you go back four or five months people used to be a little scared of posting nonsense or grammar and punctuation at a fourth grade level. Somewhere we've become much more politically correct... For every "please post as an intelligent person" post there are now three or five or maybe ten "leave him alone, he's (young, having a bad day, sleepy, from another country) posts.... Yeah, I know this isn't very scientific, it's just my impression. In the same time period it seems we've lost a lot of the "smart" people that were staples here...Doczilla, chbare, ErDoc etc...etc. Of course we still have a bunch of smart people, but I wonder if we lost the others while dumbing down. And it seems many of the smart people we have now (Dust, Rid, asys, scara, Becksdad, Michael and many others) spend their time defending their expectation that people represent themselves in at least a slightly intelligent manner instead of educating. Which is what they do best. (Besides being funny as hell I might add) And yes, I do see the irony of me posting in a thread against people being boneheads. Let's go back to being a little bit scared to post without thinking. It will raise the intelligence bar back up a bit I think. Dwayne