JPINFV

It was removed prior to me starting work as an EMT-B, so I can't really answer that one either.

Well, my car has some... Wait a minute, the first reply took care of my post. /don't forget about the all important AM/FM radio.

To be honest, I've never run any 911 calls yet besides the rather mellow calls I got during my orientation. I'm 99% sure [i.e. they're required, but that doesn't always mean they do] that calls like this would have to have a base hospital contact [only 1 city is currently operation under comprehensive standing orders]. I'm sure that they could request it, but it would still be up to the base hospital physician.

I honestly don't know what, if any, prehospital instructions are given. Just going through the Regional Paramedic Advisory Committee minutes (I was bored), there was some talk in April of returning Aspirin to the field.

http://www.ochealthinfo.com/docs/medical/e...delines/c15.pdf Medics need a base hospital order for morphine and they currently aren't allowed to administer ASA.

Where I'm at they've just recently (within the past 2 years) introduced cardiovascular receiving centers. Paramedics can be rerouted to them ONLY by the base hospital physician ONLY after the 12 lead interprets the rhythm to be an acute MI (yes, the medics don't get to do the interpretation themselves).

Well, if you're on duty than wearing your uniform is a part of the job. That's like saying that I'm a wacker if I walk into Best Buy while in uniform because I'm posted there. Also going to a city council meeting in uniform isn't wackerish if you're representing the company.

Or the service doesn't employ any paramedics (the RN supervisor handles the RNs and RTs).

I do believe that Kristo's flag does indeed show that he isn't American. Kristo, one thing is that our federal government is very limited with what it can control. Things like federal laws involving patient privacy is slipped in as a regulation regarding federal health payments (Medicare). It would be very likely that a federal ban on private scanner usage would be unconstitutional [note, constitutional and moral are two different words] [side note 2 to illustrate the point. There was a federal law banning guns on school grounds. It was ruled unconstitutional because the federal government isn't granted the power to control such things.]

Is it that hard to believe that not everyone has a car that would put the lighting system at a rave to shame, or that the only time I wear my uniform to someplace when not on work is if I stop on the way to or from work?

Devils advocate time. What's the point of responding hot to a call in an ambulance if you took your sweet time to get to the ambulance? Same thing could happen if you are responding hot to a minor call that didn't come over as minor in an ambulance. Are there any calls worth risking your life over? This isn't Alaskian crab fishing where you stand a sizable chance of dying even if you took all available precautions. Sirens are terrible at getting people's attention around corners anyways, especially with the amont of sound proofing cars have now. Well, I always wanted to be the Aztec priest that did the human sacrifices. Too bad it seems that I'm a little too late.

^ ABC, Ambulate Before Carry, right?

Would you say that 2 doctors of the same specialty bouncing treatment plans off of each other also qualify as needing remediation or would you just chalk that up as a consult? I think the big problem is that people don't look to see where EMS is going and are only seeing where it is. I honestly believe that if EMS is going to stay relevent that paramedics are going to have to become essentially prehospital PA/NPs that will not transport every patient to the hospital (treat and release on scene, or maybe transport to an urgent care clinic, as well as more preventative medicine). That is simply not possible given the current system. Furthermore, the problem isn't the 'paramedic helped' basics that would never truely have to make patient care decisions, but the 'basic with basic partner' that has to decide when a patient is serious to require rapid intervention.

YOU ARE 2% WHACKER!!! NOT AN OUNCE OF WHACKER IN YOU. A LITTLE WHACKING IS FUN, TRY IT SOMETIME!!! BUY A BLUE LIGHT, OR PUT AN EMT STICKER ON YOUR CAR. YOU NEED MORE WHACKING IN YOUR LIFE. I own 1 EMT shirt and wore it once when I went to see the Price is Right with a bunch of coworkers. We would have worn our uniforms, but they consider stuff like that (private company) advertising.

Oh please. Black men in areas like that get dragged to death due to racism, stupidity, and ignorance on part of the criminals that confirm to me why there should be the death penalty, not because of conservatism or a lack of progressive ideas. Living and growing up in the fiscal heart of the Republican party [hey, we were even mentioned in the show "West Wing", the closest drive thru chapel that I know of is in Vegas.

I'm pretty libertarian. I tend to be very fiscally conservative, but I honestly don't care about social issues that do not affect me (gay marriage hurts me, how, again?). Because of that, I generally tend to vote republican.

Except in my first post in this thread I specifically stated that Basics should not be on an emergency ambulance alone [with the definition of an emergency transport basically being anything going to an emergency room], but were imporant for things like discharges. I also stated that things like discharges don't need red lights or sirens, just a van with shiny amber lights.

Wow, those fire fighters would be the butt of all jokes. It would be like turning a brown eye to the fire department. The public works department would have to be really anal about how well the fire fighters patch the roads. [spoil:3c1d06fbf7]sphincter[/spoil:3c1d06fbf7]

Durrr, me tired. The "why should I have a partner that can't do the same as I" argument only really works when personal is in limited supply [i.e. ambulances staffed by 2 people]. If a MD/DO has a problem with an intubation, there will probably be another doc or RT able to give it a go, providing that the patient is stable enough to not force more drastic measures (For example, in one of the intubation threads one of the docs stated that while he has limited intubations due to working at a hospital with a residency program, the intubations he performs are selected for being the difficulty). Hospitals have the staffing levels to justify an ER tech, whereas ambulances generally don't. If you are talking about the skills v education debate. I will submit that the only education that truly matters are the ones who are allowed/able to work autonomously on the patient [i.e. RNs, MD/DOs, PA/NPs, etc. See Harbor/King/Drew botched triage story for a perfect example]. An ER tech or lab tech are able to contribute to stabilizing a critical ER patient not because of their education level, but because of their skills. Being able to give the person making the decisions (physicians in time sensitive cases) information and treatment options [i.e. assisting with the monitor, providing IV access, obtaining blood samples for the lab], or freeing up other personal for more delicate procedures [essentially the same examples to help an RN with managing multiple patients that have orders that need to be fulfilled].

First, I believe that EMT-Basics are important for the system indirectly. One of the major reasons that patients are held in the ER is because of the lack of bed space in the hospital. For that very reason, EMT-Baiscs are important for the system essentally as a taxi driver. That said, at most the lights on a van staffed only by basics should be amber. They should not be involved with transfering a patient to an ER except in rare cases (BLS transfers from hospital to hospital, for example. These should be set up by physicians knowledgeable about what basics know). Any ambulance should be staffed, at a minimum, by an EMT-intermediate. Intermediates in this case should not be viewed as "limited advanced life support" or a substitute for paramedics, but as a BLS provider. It is essentially the same thought process of not every patient needs a MD/DO, but can just as safely be seen by a PA/NP. This is not to say that EMT-B personal should not be allowed on an emergency ambulance, but they should not be the highest level of care. From my experiences volunteering at a busy non-trauma center (tons of medical patients, though. The hospital has some of the highest number of paramedic runs and lowest divert times in the county), the initial stabilization of patients involves lots of things that can only be described as "skills." Skills such as hooking a patient up to a monitor, establishing IV access, preparing medications, documentating, etc allows treatment to run more smoothly, yet not everyone needs to know everything. Yes, it is true that a paramedic can do all the skills needed where a basic is limited, but couldn't the same argument be laid against any level below a physician (assuming an unlimited supply of physicians)?

Paramedics can use Midazolam 0.1mg/kg IVP for a max of 10mg or 10 mg IM with a base hospital order.

Well, technically that is a true statement, but having the right of way doesn't equal permission to drive like an asshat.

Depends on what shows are on TV at the time.

Unfortunately, too much of the population drive like assholes in their POV under normal conditions. This population, due to size alone, has a fair chance to see a few members behind the wheel of an ambulance. /me uses turn signals, even when driving with l/s

^ That's because splinting the spine is no different than splinting any other bone in the body. What you are really trying to do with any splint in most cases is keep the muscles from moving the bone. Skeletal muscals are attached at both ends to a bone. If a bone is broken, you don't want just the half that the muscle is attached to moving and the other side of the break staying where it is. This is why you splint above and below a fracture, not just the site of the fracture.