Eydawn

If I disagree with an opinion, but it's well phrased, it gets a +1. If it's spot on with an answer that someone's really refusing to pay attention to (but they really need to), it gets a +1. Funny stuff usually doesn't get a +1 unless there's some other merit in there. I reverse a lot of -1's that I don't think were warranted, especially with folks who are just getting their posting feet on the ground... so I waste a lot of +1's on reversing stupid, reactive downvotes. Think before you give rep, yo! Seriously. Give people some time- they'll demonstrate whether they need to get smacked or not, don't do it right out the gate unless they're a total troll... Negatives are reserved for recalcitrant repetitive ignorance, blatant trolling, and hateful posts. Takes a lot to get me to give one, really. Wendy CO EMT-B

Whoa! I had no idea there were so many shortages currently until I pulled up http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/ucm050792.htm and started looking through. What the heck? How does this happen? I truly don't understand, since there's such a huge profit in pharmaceutical markets, how some of the most used items in pharmacopeia suddenly go "short"- is it intentional, to drive up the price? If so, there's a HUGE ethics mess there... Wendy CO EMT-B

Our large hospital system in my neck of the woods is starting up its own whirlybird. I'm drooling at the thought of maybe being able to work for this system when I graduate with my ADN... great bennies, great approach to patient care, supportive environment, progressive (but not solely for the sake of "it's new!") Click "Search All Openings" and it's about 3/4 of the way down the first page... there's a couple listed... Just got so excited seeing it, I had to share in case someone was interested. Wendy CO EMT-B

Awesome! That's really cool. Heterotropic transplant is what they're hoping to do for my brother (hopefully I match!) for his renal failure. Is there a journal article available on this case, by chance? Wendy CO EMT-B

Welcome! If you haven't lurked much, you'll soon learn we're a rather nutty bunch from all over the place, but if you're interested in advocating for high quality patient care and good paramedic education, you've come to the right spot. :-) Good luck on the test!! Wendy CO EMT-B

You're right, it happens to both underage genders. However, we've had much more issue with underage female/overage male than vice-versa in my experience. Just my experience. Wendy CO EMT-B

Go get 'em! You're going to do great. Wendy CO EMT-B

Even though "nearly everywhere uses a pump now" last semester in nursing school we had to learn to do drip calculations based on drip set, doseage, volume, time, etc. and were tested out on manually calibrating a drip rate. That's hard to do on an IV pole that doesn't move, it took me about 45 seconds to calibrate the drip to where I wanted it and then if I moved the tubing even slightly, my instructor would end up with a different drip count. It was a pass/fail practical station, yet everyone agreed that so many factors change your "eyeball" rate... I agree that you should have the math to back up what you're doing or to fit something not on your cheat sheet, but I also very much think ANY medication that needs to be fine-tuned should be run through a pump. Pumps are not that hard to use, really... once you figure them out... Wendy CO EMT-B

Novel idea: read the whole thread, Ruffles... ;-) Just saying, since we've seemed to find some resolution here... and have moved on to other topics... Wendy CO EMT-B

So how do you set up community guidelines? At what point do you deem that someone's creativity (shit stirring) is detrimental to the overall goal, and how do you determine that? How do you boot someone who no longer fits the program? People may work very well initially, but things tend to go wonky after time in a lot of instances... how do you deal with that eventuality? And, especially since you're talking about communally shared finances in this dwelling structure... how do you make sure that things are resolved to everyone's satisfaction? How do you deal with people's idiosyncracies? Someone may be allergic to your perfume, or simply unable to smell their own lack of hygiene... but they may be ferociously creative, passionate, productive and useful... so how do you balance that? (I've got one of those in a setting I'm in... man be rank, but he can't smell himself...) What's the purpose of this society, other than to live nicely and be creative? If there's no overarching goal, who are you to say that knitting hats for the homeless all day is a less valuable endeavor than say, cooking for the rest of the folks or working on a collaborative research project... Wendy CO EMT-B

OH MY GOD. I know exactly what you're talking about with the waterless sanitizer residue thing. @_@ It's got bitrex in it to keep kids from drinking it... over the course of a shift, it seems to become an impermeable force field of bitter. Absent minded hangnail? OMG. Try to eat a potato chip? Not on your life... Wendy CO EMT-B

You wanted answers, you were given answers. You didn't get what you wanted to hear. Sorry, friend, but that's the way the cookie crumbles in this case. You came looking for a second opinion, even after reading other threads where people had posted similar scenarios, were discouraged, and hoped we'd all tell you "nah, it's OK! You'll be fine." Were that the case in any of our jurisdictions, we'd have happily fed you the sunshine, but it's kinda overcast in this case... DUI/DWI makes it VERY hard to get hired as an EMT. Mike wasn't being a shithead with his response, he was being totally honest- GOOD LUCK, with having such a recent DUI on your record. Statistics and the collective personal experience of this board vote: it's not in your favor. We all make mistakes. It's easy to do. What's not easy is accepting how far reaching the consequences may be. I know you're impatient to put it behind you, but the legal system and people's perceptions need a lot of time... it sucks, but you just need to stick through it. Let's focus on what you said you've discovered as an honors college freshman- that you want a career in medicine. Why do you want a career in medicine? What about it appeals to you? When you say medicine, do you just mean the medical field as a whole, or are you thinking grand scheme med school? Nursing school? PA? Nurse practitioner? If you want patient care experience, hop into a job that doesn't require patient transport and where you can explain your misdemeanor. CNA, for example... there's plenty of CNA's with DUI's floating around. I am a CNA, myself... Doesn't mean you have to work the fogey farm, you can get hired on a hospital floor as a CNA... or, you could go EKG tech, or ER tech, or suchlike... if you just want to get your feet wet and some exposure to real patient care, don't tunnel vision on the EMT thang. Seriously. It looks way cooler than it is, and you'll have a chance to learn quite a lot in a non-EMS arena. Good luck to you! Congrats on figuring it out, and very glad neither you nor anyone else were hurt or killed. That's a very hard thing to take back, that is. Wendy CO EMT-B

Why is CPAP contraindicated in folks with hx of asthma? Just curious. I would think that the overall goal with its' use in respiratory distress secondary to edema (from cardiogenic or infectious origins) would be to increase total available volume for gas exchange by forcing open the alveoli, correct? And, if you're lucky, forcing that fluid across that nice thin membrane back into the place where it belongs... naughty fluid... In that case, would the inflammation inherent in infectious processes make the lungs more susceptible to trauma from CPAP, (rupturing alveoli) or are we working at low enough pressures that this is not a consideration? Wendy CO EMT-B

I think it is possible for it to work, but only if the individuals in question are fully committed to making it happen. My husband and I are not good candidates for something like this, as we've discovered that he doesn't work well with other roommates, especially male friends, in his space. We already live fairly communally as far as the garage goes, as we're one of the only folks in our group of friends with a useable garage space and everyone's a home mechanic type... and it works great for the most part until someone loses a tool or gets pissed coz they've been working on the damn Probe for the last 3 days and can't stand ANYONE let alone each other for another minute... I like having my own space. I've discovered this since our last roommate (one of our male buddies' gf's) moved out. Communal living requires you to sacrifice certain privacies/privileges in order to gain others. Don't get me wrong- I *loved* living in the dorms in college... but I much prefer my own home, with my own husband, where we can shut out the world for time to time and regain our bearings. When you live in close community with others you are invariably affected by "group mentality"- not saying that's always bad, for example, we've got some awesome group think about EMS going on here at EMTCity and it'd very progressive. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of daily living, boy, you better be close and really committed to working out the bumpy bits with the others... otherwise, there's invariably ruffled feathers and pissed off people. And the stress that goes along with it. Wendy CO EMT-B

The difference between Explorers and Venturing is that they sit differently in the hierarchy of the BSA. Venturing is actually part of the BSA, and is treated much like a troop is, whereas Explorers are associated with the BSA but not governed by a lot of the same regulations (and not provided the same kind of protections via insurance, etc.) Explorers and Venturing are both co-ed, with minimum age being 14. In Explorers, I can't remember when you become an "adult" within the structure- it may be 18. I know that in Venturing, youth is age 14-21 (which means you can be an adult leader in your troop at age 19 and a youth in your crew... how weird is that?) If you go the Venture Crew route, you have the opportunity to take your youth out to the high adventure bases like SeaBase, Philmont and Boundary waters, but you MUST have the right kind of adult supervision at all times or you can land in deep doo-doo. Separate sleeping quarters for male/female adult/youth, 1 adult leader of each gender present if you have mixed youth at your meetings or camp-outs or trainings or such like... In my Venturing Crew (which I am an advisory adult at-large at the moment), we train our kids to be First Responders, and actually just got accredited as an agency to train to National Registry standards for first responder. (This is HUGE for us). We don't have a medical director, but we do have a physician associate who lends his guidance without his license. I'm actually working on getting us a medical director... from my SAR team, which is where most of my volunteer EMS energies are focused at the moment (between work shifts, semi-pro choir singing and nursing school...) There are benefits to both routes, I would contact your local district headquarters (usually easily located via Google) and tell them what you're interested in doing. There may be a troop already looking to do a 'specialty' crew so a lot of your structure may already be there! You'd be surprised how often that happens. On your end, I would consult with your powers-that-be about levels of liability you're willing to take. As I've said before, I thought it was the bees knees when I was a 16 year old doing third rides on an ambulance. Looking back on some of those experiences I was in no way ready to be out on the streets like that, and it was very dangerous on a lot of levels. That may vary with your area though, too... so see where you guys draw the boundaries. There's lots of public service type events to take the teeners out to... martial arts tourneys, athletic events (marathons, bike races), festivals, etc... that's a really good way to let them cut their teeth on patient care while having a slightly more controlled environment to watch them in... that's been my favorite in my Crew, to be honest. I can take a n00b, let them assess a cyclist with road rash in our tent, and provide pointed guidance here and there... seems to be a great teaching arena. Hope this helps! Wendy CO EMT-B

I've been a Boy Scout since I was 16. (Venturing! Funny how they let you mix AFTER you hit puberty... just sayin'...) So, this is a roundabout kind of story. I was homeschooled until high school, they had us fill out this BSA based interest survey, got a mailing from a local Venturing crew and recognized the fellow in the picture- he was one of the basses from my choir! So I joined up and became a First Responder. Started doing EMS ride alongs with one of the adult basics in my crew (who is still an advisor to this day...) and then took my EMT when I turned 18, between my first and second years of college. I have mostly used my EMT-B in the wilderness setting, either with the Boy Scouts or the local Search and Rescue crew that I am now with. I was a BSA summer camp medic for 2 summers, which is where I met my spouse! I have only worked prehospital 911/transport for pay once. Let's just say I tangled with some bass-ackwards anti-education folks and ended up fleeing to elder care instead, which has worked out nicely with my school schedule as I pursue my associate's degree RN (which will then be bridged to a Bachelor's ASAP.) Wendy CO EMT-B

I didn't read that. What I saw was him post a couple times, get chawed on, have someone decide to tutor him, and then drop off the radar for a while. We'll see if he comes back or not. Maybe he's too busy... STUDYING? Just a thought... And you're surprised that he left and hasn't come back so far? Take a look back... This was your good post. And rereading this thread, I didn't see any major flags from this poster that he was a poseur or anything. Nor did I really read that he's in it for guts, glory, patch, firefighter... he genuinely wanted to figure out how to pass the test... Let's put it this way- if he's willing to relearn the entire basis of material via Mike's teaching, doesn't that tell you something? I'm telling you, not everyone responds to "sack up!" the same way. It took some cajoling, hard hitting, and gentle coaxing in COMBO to get you to where you started posting well... Just sayin'... Wendy CO EMT-B New post, in case the damn thing combines on me... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This testing style is exactly what the NCLEX uses as well. Not to mention the added fun of multiple multiples, multiple correct (but one is BETTER in your vague ass situation for some reason) answers, and questions that aren't scored, but used to vett their usefulness for FUTURE tests. It's a test based solely on multivariable statistical analysis. We've been taking practice cumulative CBT exams called HESI at the end of certain nursing courses... compares you to other RN students (diploma, ADN and BSN) taking it within the last 6 months or so... good predictive analysis for NCLEX pass rates and gives you specific tutorial material for your areas of weakness. I actually like CBT for some reason... must be the part of my brain that was programmed by reading too much science fiction, I get along splendidly in a virtual world for some reason... Wendy CO EMT-B

Everybody relax. Kid got his feathers ruffled in chat. Advice to you and ALL n00bs here: Leave chat in the chatroom and forum in the forum. Lots of BS in the chatroom that has no bearing on what's going on in the rest of the site. Also: don't start threads whinging about how someone was mean to you so we all suck and you're gonna leave... and then be sitting in chat. Kid's been informed directly by me in chat as to the above... I think this thread will die a nice painless death (hint hint, mods?) Wendy CO EMT-B

They gotta get pretty inane to get banned. Seems like the preference is to just chastise and hope for the best, rather than giving the royal order of the boot right away. Mildly irritating/nuisance gets to stay. Psycho/epic shit-stirrer/ just plain nuts gets to stay for a LOOONG time until they finally cross that threshold. Wendy CO EMT-B

Go get 'em, tiger. I have a gal pal who just got an aquatic adapter for her AKA... hers was sequelae from aortic rupture repair after a car accident, lost perfusion in her leg. She kicks butt better than most people I know! I bet you can do it! Speedy recovery to you, and good rehab! And welcome to the City! Wendy CO EMT-B

Hey Mongo... just to clarify some... We're not joking- this kid's made a lot of similar posts along the lines of "what do you do for _______" and then not contributed to the discussion. It's not that we don't like him, he's a decent kid and all, but his posts are BS. A real student sees what you tell them, and asks more questions to fill out knowledge gaps. This guy posts one question, in the first post in a topic, then disappears, only to resurface with ANOTHER thread that is identical, just with a different ______ in it. I do agree that we should answer questions of those who ask, as it is a great way to share knowledge... but we also don't take kindly to feeding trolls. A series of several topics as I described above indicates to a lot of us that this is a waste of our time... at least, as far as the OP is concerned. Now, for some of the side discussions, it's been great... Just saying. That's where Mike is coming from- after about the 5th post, it gets OLD answering this kid's very general questions with no further "meat" from him. Wendy CO EMT-B

Sorry to hear this is something you're dealing with! Major bummer, my friend. Hang in there! And good on you for involving the kidlet and making sure she is as comfortable as can be with what's going on. You all are in my thoughts! Wendy CO EMT-B

We expect every n00b on the forum to come back swinging... when that's simply not the case. Not everyone wants to dig in and get in a knock down fight on the forums... I see some validity from both sides of where this argument above is going. He wants help from us, so he should respond to our suggestions... However, someone from this forum is giving him individualized help and attention... so is there any point of continuing to respond? (A quick thanks might have been good, but whatev). Some of the most "upvoted" folks on here really did go ripping for new ones out the gate. It's kind of what we do, unfortunately. You gotta offer the CARROT along with the stick sometimes... think about it this way, when you're educating patients, what gets a better response? "You dumb motherf*ker, how could you not understand that not taking your BP meds and eating salt like it's going out of style is causing your headache from the hypertension? You're stupid. Really." Or... "Hey, did anyone ever explain to you how salt can raise your blood pressure? I mean, really explain it? Or did they just tell you not to eat it?" Think about it. Wendy CO EMT-B

PHIL!!!! You're BACK!!! WOOHOO! --Wendy

Oh man, where's the rest of the thread? Come back and finish!!! Wendy CO EMT-B