Asysin2leads

:roll: Uh huh. Do I have to take it on faith that a first year philosophy student can "zing" a professor with many years of teaching and studying under his belt? I hate "This is true" stories like that. They insult my intelligence. -10 points and a slap on the knuckles with a ruler. What the point of this story is, is that both science and religion are both based on faith. Yes, to be a student of science or mathematics you do have to take a leap of faith, and that leap of faith is to believe that because things have happened in a certain pattern in the past they will continue to happen that way in the future. There's nothing to absolutely say that when I knock my glass of Seagram's 7 off the desk that it will fall and make my apartment smell like Britney Spears, we have to believe that the laws we know of gravity, what we have measured and observed, will continue to operate in that fashion. Oh, and to all you creationists out there in creationism land next man and dinosaurs living side by side like the Flintstones , yes, we have seen evolution with our own eyes. In a lab, under a microscope. The lab is that place where them pointy headed scientists ain't worshippin' Jesus. Unfortunately, I have always had a sincere lack of faith. I need proof. I need to be shown. I try to imagine what its like to believe, without any proof or evidence, that there is some or any benevolent force looking down upon me, and I just can't. In fact, when I read the newspaper everyday, I am usually convinced otherwise. For my money, if there were such things as guardian angels, I'd be out of a job.

Except the female version of off-roading is known as "parallel parking".

Yeeeeah, okay, so I guess those 300 lbs. plus patients who have induced their own hyperglycemia from poor nutrition refuse to lose the weight because their health conscious.

Actually, the thing that makes the most men sick is the smell of the clutch burning. Oh, sorry, I forgot, the women wouldn't know what that's like. :twisted:

You know, when I bring that point up amongst the powers that be, I get a lot of blank stares. This seems pretty obvious to me, but to apparently lots and lots and lots of other people, it just doesn't click. Go figure.

Rendering aid when needed makes us who we are. But the biggest question you have to ask yourself is "can I really help?" and to answer that is where training, knowledge, experience, and maturity come into play. Now there are a great many people with various t-shirts and bumperstickers that wrongly assume that they have magical powers or that they can "at least hold someone's hand." No, no, no, and NO. Risking getting a semi up the ass for aid, comfort, and possibly cookies is not helping. Along with this, ask yourself "Am I going to be a hinderence?" Remember, chaotic scenes only get worse as you increase the number of people on scene. If there are firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances on scene, the chances of you having some skill you could add are slim to none. Not only that, but whoever is in charge is going to have to take his mind and focus off of the scene and reply that you are not needed when you go and pester him. Now you just made his job harder. SOOOOO.... When it comes to stopping and rendering aid, remember the four golden words of EMS: Don't be a moron.

http://www.cafepress.com/screaminnutcase.39509353 Included free of charge with your purchase is a voucher good for one free ass kicking, redeemable at any place paramedics may reside.

I thought it was "The South is going to lose again?" :twisted:

Look, I'm sorry about your co-workers. It was a tragedy. But don't use the memories of others to forgive your behavior. I'm also very sympathetic to your plight as a single mother, as I was raised by one myself, and I hope soon you'll find a career which better suits your family situation. 120 hours in 2 weeks really helps no one. Anyway, I'm sorry you didn't find it funny. I didn't find you post very funny either. But I don't drag my personal issues into it, so why don't we leave it at that.

Maybe they were looking for the downed helicopter?

Okay, okay, okay, that's it, gloves are friggin' off here. You know, whether it offended your sensibilities or not, I was joking around, that line about "Those who can, do..." was actually something I made up a long time ago on a slow night when a dear friend of mine was dispatching and fully enjoying himself putting the screws to me. There was no animosity intended and we both got a good laugh over it. I still think its funny. Now I am dead serious. You have serious emotional and control issues. You like to play the dominant female role, but you get upset when someone challenges your crap. Guess what? You can say whatever you want whether people want to hear it or not, but expect the same when you go out trying to beat your chest and show everyone what for. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Otherwise, post what you want, and take the responses like an adult, not like a little girl hiding behind an NREMT-B cert and good marks on a dispatcher exam who wants all the guys to know she carries her weight. It won't work. And I still say any guy who talks about his mood swings is gayer than Justin Timberlake in Tom Cruise's wardrobe.

Maybe if I was your gay coworker, it would.

The decimal in a latitude or longitude coordinates, is the representation of hours, minutes, and seconds commonly used in cartography, and I believe, without looking, that it is the decimal representation of the numerator in terms of seconds or minutes divided by 60. Thus, 70 degrees, 45 minutes east becomes 70.75, as 45 is three quarters of 60. We get latitude and longitude coordinates on our KDT when someone calls from a cell phone. Not that we can use them, but we get them anyway. And if someone gave me decimals when I asked where to respond to, first I would tell them to stop screwing around and ask for a cross street or a landmark. Then I would use a map. Its fun! That comment about females came not from my believing that all dispatchers are female, but because usually men don't say things like ".. Next mood swing : 6 minutes and counting." That guy has some Barbara Streisand records underneath the bed, if you get my drift. BTW Hershey's is crap. I use Ghiradelli when cooking. But thank you for reinforcing my stereotype of dispatchers sitting around with gay men eating chocolate.

I came up with one: Those who can, do. Those who can't, dispatch. Its funny when women come up with slogans that make them sound like PMSing teen drama queens, and then wonder why they're single. I say pair them up with those guys who wear the "Beer drinkers make better lover." stuff

Look, I apologize if I'm a little grumpy. I just got switched to the 0600-1400 shift after working afternoons for the past 5 years. I'm all out of whack. Anyway, I guess if you mean doing CPR or the Heimleich, or splinting or doing a backboard, there is some expectation that you are familar with it, but the point is, every basic skill in medic class is at least touched upon, and then usually augmented. In any event, far too many people make far to much of basic skills then necessary.

Gang colors. Now there's an idea I haven't heard about since around about 1992. NYC, compared to other large cities, has less of a problem with gangs. There are a lot of theories why, but I credit routine foot patrols by the NYPD as a big part of it. You can't have guys on the street doing gang stuff if you have a police officer walking by every five minutes. The key to dealing with gangs is simply to remember scene safety. If you don't feel safe, don't enter the scene. You know, with out trying to start a fight, captain, I have to say you rhetoric about sense of community and responding with frightening violence sounds pretty much the type of behavior that gangs thrive on. They're all obsessed with community and/or race, their families, and "protecting" them. They all believe that the only reason other people don't do what they do is because they are too "weak" to stand up for what they believe is right. So if you really want to understand gangs, all you have to is look in the mirror.

Yeah, that's the one they always reiterate, isn't it? DAHHHHH THE MEDICS DON'T KNOW THE TRAUMA THEY JUST TRY AND START AN IV...DAHHHHHHH PLATINUM TEN GOLDEN HOUR BLS DAHHHH. This is called being a dumbass. It has nothing to do with forgetting BLS skills, its called being a moron. But besides that, it takes me approximately 15 seconds to start an IV. Maybe you have a cramped Type II. Maybe I'm in a position to get to the AC that is going to change. If that's the case, give me 15 seconds to start the IV. I know the master skill sheets say otherwise, but sometimes things change. Okay, so the EMT's have their little freak out if OMG its been 5 minutes and you haven't done a blood pressure! OMG! OMG! OMG! So, you'd prefer that after someone is set up for the IV, they stop, take a blood pressure and monitor the respirations for 30 seconds, recheck the pupils, and do complete neurochecks, then start again? No. Were going to wait 6 minutes, then do it. Again, this has nothing to with missing a BLS skill, it has everything to do with being a moron. These are poorly trained paramedics. Well trained paramedics monitor the electro/mechanical function of the heart and perfusion, not the EKG monitor. Besides, I'm sure for every time this has happened there have been ten Basics who started CPR because "I couldn't feel a pulse, really!" Is that because they had EMT's on scene and they apparently wrongly trusted them to do their jobs? There has been no literature that documents someone's head exploding if aspirin and nitro are given prior to the O2 being started. Strange but true. You're right, they're not designed you to guide you through BLS. They're designed to incorporate BLS and ALS to the point that you don't think about things in terms of BLS or ALS but assessment and treatment. I find most complaints about "paramedics forgetting BLS" is simply because, either that the EMT can't grasp the concept of doing something out of order from what it says on a skill sheet, or because the paramedic believes, sometimes wrongly, that the EMT will do their job and perform the BLS skills without being prompted, rather than sitting back and critiquing the paramedic. In any event, its BS. If I ever bring in a patient that some BLS skill isn't done, I should eat a damn bullet and/or go work at McDonald's.

Despite the constant need for glory and attention, unless there is a specific and unusual need for EMS to be involved with the rescue they should be standing clear in a safe area, particularly if they do not have the proper gear, which should be standard turnout gear and a helmet. If a fireman puts his shoulder out on scene, well, its a bunch of drama and someone takes his place. If a paramedic does the same, its not so much drama, but someone doesn't get intubated.

Wrong, wrong, WRONG. Okay, let me see, what BLS skill do you "miss"? Do you forget to turn the oxygen on? Forget to take a blood pressure? "Forget" to board and collar someone? I mean are you like in the back with a trauma, doing the IV and like "Oh, damn! I forgot to put on a c-collar! D'oh! If only I had an EMT around to save me." If I missed a BLS 'skill', not only should I be taken off the ambulance, but I should be taken in to have a CAT scan to see if I have a bleed or something. See, the real problem is that people who wasted their time in EMT-I class look desperately for some kind of vindication for wasting their times and therefore insist steadfastly that playing with yourself in EMT-I class makes you a superior medic. It doesn't. If you are intelligent and dedicated to your job, medic class will be no problem. Ignore the tattoo and missing tooth set in class who says otherwise. Go heavy or go home.

Officially, the term is "10-85 Forthwith", which I always thought had a certain Shakespearian tone to it. Sometimes "10-13" is borrowed from police codes sometimes, but if you say "10-13" over the radio, something in close proximity to you had better be on fire, exploding, or have some bullets in it.

Oh, its plenty widely known, that is why its so frustrating to hear. One of the real stresses of this job is the sheer ignorance of many if not most of the providers in the field. EMS has degenerated into such a mythos that people actually really believe there is something mystical and or magical about BLS training to the point that they imagine it takes you two years or so to perfect, and its only because we allow people to believe there is some challenge to this level of certification that this tale persists. If I seperated out suction skills and I made it a seperate certification, there would be people on here saying "You can't be a paramedic until you have two years behind the suction machine. Suction machines save paramedics. Paramedics forget their suction skills." So to all you EMT-B's and Trauma techs and certified IV technicians, I say, if you're ready to stop screwing around and do your medic class, I'd keep my mouth shut and my ears open or you will be very unpopular.

Because the difference between a 16 year old and a 20 year old is just as striking as the difference between a 12 year old and a 16 year old. And no, it doesn't depend on the person, that's why we have an entire chapter in the EMT book on human development.

vn Kiwi, as a foreigner, I don't know how exactly how you know the absolute latest up to date suggested unit strings for the Borough of Manhattan, but I'm afraid I'm going to have now turn you into the Department of Homeland Security. Sorry, mate. You really almost nailed it except that no one except tourists and the KDT call it "Avenue of the Americas." It's Sixth Avenue. End of story. You're right, there is no difference. BLS care is BLS care. First of all, depending on gridlock, you would receive the care and more importantly the transport in a much more timely fashion. 06Adam, at least I hope, will be in their ambulance, awaiting a call, not coming from a classroom, getting changed, then coming. That is a major difference. My biggest point is from a risk of illness or injury versus benefit to patient and community standpoint, the risks involved with sending teenagers code three to a medical emergency in the general public far outweighs any potential benefit BLS care will provide. Sorry, I disagree with the "better than nothing" train of thought. Its worth than nothing because people have a false sense of security. One of the problems with EMS is that we are really not needed on 90% of the calls, if not more. People call EMS when they are scared, someone coughed on a chicken bone, they're ok, someone had chest pains, they're probably okay, baby had a febrile seizure, they're ok, all you really need is a trip to the hospital for a few tests to make sure nothing more serious is going on. You don't need oxygen and you don't need an IV, so, it is a very rare segment of the population who will see how really inadequate this type of response is. It will only be one or two families who really, truly, lose a loved one, who will go through life with the lonely knowledge of what these heros really are providing. The vollies don't send children around town in response vehicles. Show me a 16 year old EMT who can identify and successfully tamponade a severed arterial vessel in a low volume system and I'll buy you a car. Oh, and BTW, this Darien, Connecticut. Lots of dough. They can afford a paramedic or two. MAST pants have fallen out of favor. See my comment about bleeding control. O2, meh, sure, it helps. Look, if we want EMS to move forward, we have to look at things from both an individual patient perspective and a systemwide, public service perspective. In the former, sure, maybe, someday, somewhere, somehow, one life will be saved by a 16 year old volunteer EMT. It could happen. But if I had to put money down, I'd put it in the lives lost in auto accident on way to scene because of 16 year old volunteer based system.

Where the heck did that original quote come from? Anyway, I can assure you that it is pretty wrong. Our local did agree to work with the Department on finding a way to make the MENSA Medic program work, but as usual the Department just wanted to get equal work and revenue for less pay, and the single medic transport unit idea went bye-bye, as the Department could not demonstrate a real need or benefit for it to SEMSCO.

See, echo, I see it a different way. What if it is a heart attack? Hang on, I gotta get out of stupid lay public land, ahem, what if it is a true myocardial infarction? What exactly are these wunderkids going to do? Take a blood pressure? Apply oxygen? They're basics, they can't even do an EKG on the person. Except for the ride to the hospital, and maybe saving the triage nurse two to three seconds by having name, DOB, med list, and allergies, rushing out of class to go to this call neither benefits the patient, the provider, nor the community, in fact, it does a disservice by convincing the community they are getting proper care for emergencies. And if its an arrest, by the time they're done changing the window for AED use will have gone the way of Britney Spear's hair.