Eydawn

Hey folks. Many of you know that I am a pen-chewer; when I study, or when I'm thinking, I sit there with a pen in my mouth. When I need to shuffle papers around with both hands, I hold the pen in my mouth. NOT a good habit to have when I'm on shift. Pen = icky. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do? I've tried bringing a specific pen with me and drilling the idea into my head that it's a nasty pen, but when I go to work on paperwork, I realize AFTER about 4 minutes that it's in my mouth again. Help me! I'm at my wits end. It's been such a long standing thing with me... Wendy CO EMT-B

Check your PM box. --Wendy

When I was a small child I waited 7 hours for sutures in my cheek. I still have a nice scar from it, fortunately faded. So much for that rule... Wendy CO EMT-B

At our primary hospital we now have a Pyxis in the breakroom that is EMS specific. No more mother-may-I, no more having to wait on supervisors to go fetch it from the pharmacy... the pharmacy stocks our Pyxis, and we get to use our thumbprints to get into the Pyxis and restock what is needed on the ambulances. Plus there's still tons of accountability as far as charting, wasting, etc. Wendy CO EMT-B

Yeah, I mean they need the "we're ready to be alky watchers" type EMS... the one on my campus does nothing but. Wonderful. So they have it, but it's just a bunch of whackers who think it's appropriate to pawn off drunks on the real paid guys just so they don't have to deal with it. What a bunch of sissies. Wendy CO EMT-B

Eeeew.... "Hey... my flash is CHUNKY...." Wendy CO EMT-B

Your campus needs an organization like my campus has. It's a student run EMS service where the EMT's have a medical director and their focus is education and providing basic care and assessments at parties and in dorm rooms. They focus on the alcohol stuff. Purely volunteer, they take turns being on "drunkwatch" so that the borderline folks who are really drunk and feel like hell but don't have alcohol poisoning can avoid hospital bills, etc. I'm not in this one. I have too much to do to be able to watch drunks for free. But I think it's better than taking a unit out of service and it provides an option for folks who would be too scared to call real EMS. You might suggest it to your campus heads... Wendy CO EMT-B

When you go to draw bloods (aka the vacutainer bundle) take a moment before you attach the vacutainer tool and get a BGL strip on that nice venous access you just obtained. Stick strip in glucometer, then do vacutainer bloods. That way, you can trash the needle immediately and get the BGL right away instead of waiting to use the needle as your blood source since they're not safe needles. What my service uses is needles that pop a safety set of wings (for lack of a better term) over the poky end of the needle as soon as the cath comes off it. It's different, I also trained with the push button needles, but it seems to be working so far for me. Wendy CO EMT-B

PM me if you really want the lowdown on as many as I can find for you. It will take me a few days to reply because it'll take that long to do my research. Also consider Weld County EMS. Wendy CO EMT-B

...running emergent with lights and siren. The fire alarm went off in the student center today... and guess who beat the fire department in? That's right... The Segway. I think our laughter drowned out the siren. Cop Car Upgrade: The Segway Can you say... "I AM NOT INTIMIDATING" any louder? Wendy CO EMT-B

We had something VERY similar at Community College of Aurora- but the Basic students got count em... 2 days in there. It sat empty, waiting for the Paramedic students to be ready for it, most of the time. Ours was set up like a "house", with a separate control panel, video/microphone monitoring and recording, and the back module of an ambulance out the "back door" of the "house" but the cot didn't lock in and there was squat for supplies in there. Here... I'll show you. Good concept, for sure, but it could have been used better (especially for those paramedics) IMHO. Disclaimer: I went through in 2006, and many of my instructors were fabulous teachers, and the paramedic program was MUCH better than the Basic program. But it wasn't perfect, as no system can be... Virtual CCA EMS Simulator Tour I will admit, my favorite scenario that we did in there was "drunken house party" and the "responding" team learned an objective lesson about scene safety and backup. Wendy CO EMT-B

To be honest, I thoroughly enjoy patient interaction and care whether the patient is acute or not. Maybe that's because I'm still newer at the whole 911 thing... but the same holds true for my wilderness/Boy Scout stuff... yes, the acute interventions and assessments are the calls my crew re-hashes and remembers, but the things that I really remember in detail and appreciate are the smaller things. I think that all of us in some fashion NEED an acute call at least every once in a while to prove to ourselves mentally that we can still hack it. It's also good to be able to face a challenge. But I don't need acute calls to be *HAPPY* in EMS or satisfied with my job. Hell, I'm happy just being there around other people who understand my yen for acquiring medical knowledge- supervisors who won't chastise me this time for asking what inotropic means or using medical terminology in every day conversation. You don't know how good you got it in EMS until you work for a really crappy job that doesn't satisfy your need for intellectual and environmental stimulation and medical interaction. Maybe that's just me... but I'm grateful for every day I get to spend at my new job and haven't looked back once. Wendy CO EMT-B

I think that would have been better addressed in a PM to the man himself, rather than linking a post of his from another forum. He chose not to share that with us here on the City, and I think he might have valid reasons for doing so. Wendy CO EMT-B

Whoever it is should man up and not hide behind the anonymity of a trash thread... To call people things like that, one should own one's comments... if not, then you have no substance. Wendy CO EMT-B

Bump! This young lady and her family could use some prayer... The initial tumor has shrunken drastically, but there's a new one cropped up on the latest MRI. Wendy CO EMT-B

See, you didn't make clear what the article was or where it was from... the way you set it up, I thought you were providing a rebuttal argument for those insisting that doctors are euthanizing infants. What I am saying is that euthanasia of those unable to make the decision for themselves is wrong, whether it be a child, an incapacitated adult, or otherwise. That is my stance. There is a strong difference between providing comfort care to an infant that will die eventually and actively administering medications with the intent of hastening that end. If you might provide me with something written from where you are providing a balanced or less biased view of end of life care there, I would greatly appreciate it... and that other page you posted, if you could provide a translated version? Dutch is one I can't even read yet, lol. Wendy CO EMT-B

Hate to say it, Welsh, but the article you posted didn't help your case any if you're trying to say that Dutch doctors don't participate in active euthanasia of infants. That article wasn't very positive towards the Dutch healthcare system- period. You might want to re-read it. I will wholeheartedly agree that there is a large difference between euthanizing thousands of people and euthanizing a few disabled infants and children... but I maintain that it is wrong. Dead wrong. Wendy CO EMT-B

I don't care for her much either, Asys. Why the vehemence from your end? Here's the only prayer I've ever used... "God be with us, keep us safe, Help us to do our duty, And to help those who need us most. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen." It gets modified to "you" instead of "us" when I see someone go by and I'm not on duty. Wendy CO EMT-B

Here's the problem... many people feel compassion for those who are hurting or incapacitated, and that emotion can be expressed verbally without fully understanding how the person would wish to be addressed. From what I can tell, it's always better to err on the side of respect, but you can end up saying the wrong thing either way. It's impossible to predict whether or not someone wishes to be called by their first name, their title, or a casual appellation of affection like "dear" or "hon." You can get burned no matter WHICH angle you take. I personally use sir/ma'am until told not to. But with the elderly in nursing homes who can't always express their desires, one could imagine someone who hurts just as much from always being treated "respectfully" with sir, ma'am, Mrs. So and so instead of getting some sort of affection. It's a tough line to walk. But one should be mindful of the line, no matter the outcome... Wendy CO EMT-B

Not having had my EKG class yet... is that a coarse V-fib rhythm? That's shockable, no? Wendy CO EMT-B

I'll bet he's a tall skinny white boy and that wreck into a fellow player caused a nice pneumo. What was the time elapsed between the collision and the collapse? That, or he got hit *just right* to throw his cardiac rhythm off- I've seen that happen before. It's scary as hell, but usually can be fixed. Look to see if he's got any sign of a blow to his chest. Or it could be the random brain aneurism type deal... that actually happened in the high school class before mine. Kid died during class change- just collapsed in the hall. If this kid's BP was up slightly, a weakened vessel could have easily given way. If I were a paramedic, I'd intubate him, get a cardiac monitor on him and see what we can find out, and definitely put him on the backboard. Wendy CO EMT-B

In Northern Colorado you have Weld County EMS, Thompson Valley EMS and Poudre Valley Hospital as your 911 choices. In Denver you have Denver Health, West Metro, Rural Metro, Pridemark, Northglenn and South Metro. PM me if you wish links to any of the above. Out of this list, I'd recommend PVH, TVEMS, Weld County and Pridemark... and living in either Denver, Loveland, Greeley or Fort Collins gives you good mountains access and so forth. It's part of why I like living in Northern CO so well... have never skied, but the other parts of mountain stuff are good! But I know many people who ski and snowboard frequently. Wendy CO EMT-B

Here's FEMA's NIMS course info page with links to the online versions of the classes. FEMA: NIMS Training That should cover whatever it is this individual is looking for. Wendy CO EMT-B

Find out what they really need and then I'll see what I can find lol. NIMS1 doesn't make any sense... but NIMS ICS courses are a pretty common requirement. Wendy CO EMT-B

Are you looking for ICS 100, 200, 700? If I know more specifically what you're looking for I may be able to help- did a bunch of these a few months ago. Wendy CO EMT-B