mobey

Ok so there is no physical reason to call EMS... How bout a mental problem. Calling a few times per day sounds like a scream for help. It is fairly clear to me these lady's are lonely to the point of depression. You say "Old lady's", are they still in charge of thier own finances? abuse maybe?? How about terminal illnesses? do they have any surviving family you could talk to about this? How many of thier friends have dropped dead in the past 5 years?? You seem to be focused on what you see as your partners deficiency, you need to turn the finger around and ask yourself what you can do to treat these women. I dunno how US mental health works... but I would start with maybe victim services, since they deal with everything from abuse to severe depression, alcoholism, and many other things that could be going on here. Perhaps someone else needs to explain how her community is at risk everytime your put out of service to make tea, but that has to be followed up with that same person finding out what is really going on with this patient. I agree your spending too much time with these people, and I have used the term "We are an ambulance ma'am, we don't have too much time to spend on these things" when I have been asked to make tea, or the patient wants to change cloths before transport. You can be firm while still maintaining respect and trust from your patient.

Ummm... in a word... No. Look at Sask and Ontario.... in fact after you finish the crash course alberta calls EMT, there are no standards at all outside of a self assessment on the ACoP website. Heck they won't even call you a PCP like your certificate says you are, they hold us back to the old EMT. Because every minute you spend farking around at the bls level, you are learning new bad habits to bring to paramedic school, not to mention the numerous patients you cheat out of proper care. One time exams suck! There should be at least 5 year exams.

Do the services in the area request a criminal records check for empoyment? That kind of thing is actually quite common in the bigger services here. They usually only care about violent crimes, crimes commited against children or elderly, or theft.

If you remove the double spacing it is not that long at all..... in fact it may be a little short for some. Your supervisor sounds like he has never been to court, keep doing what your doing. You may be called into court on some case you did over a year ago, your PCR may be all you have to go on!

Horray... they performed CPR on a postictal baby!!

You don't owe anyone on this forum anything... if you want to bury your head in the sand and deal with this in privacy, you have all the right to do that.

No it can't, I, as well as I am sure almost everyone on this forum, leave no pulse unchecked.

We have a policy that states we have to confirm Asystole (or PEA) with a 6 second strip on every patient we deem dead, even if thier brain is in the back seat. Although I think it is a joke, maybe it needs to be a standard. Ahhh what the he11, how about just check for pulses and resps? This is sad! Worst part is, now these yahoo's are "polishing thier brass" in some fire hall making money way more efficiently than ever before.

TAKE IT!!! (for personal reasons) Leave a soft pillow

Sooo, are you saying you can't do both? Please don't get too dramatic about this, it is not all pushups and running allday, but there are some pretty well everyday. To be totally honest with you guys, after sitting in a classroom for 8-10hrs, it feels pretty good to get out and run a few miles. Yes - we were told about the physical portion in the interview portion of the application process, so this is not new to me. As far as military training goes, I think we differ a bit. We have no uniforms, your shirt can be not tucked in, we don't have to march, we don't chant together, our instructor NEVER demeans us, we don't get any guns ,

Yes, or produce the answer on paper

Take it... sharp shards of glass can come in handy A bottle of unknown medication

I have started my paramedic program at the University of Alberta, and thought I would promote a discussion about their delivery system. This particular school is hellbent on turning out top notch medics in all aspects, therefore, there is a huge physical fitness portion to the program. To incorporate the P.F. portion, we run, skate, swim, etc. One way they also use it is as a "pressure" situation. Example: following a long lecture on infectious disease we all went out for lunch as a class. Upon returning to the classroom our instructor asked "who here washed their hands before they ate", over half the class raised their hands while the others sat sheepishly. He then asked who washed for more than 10 seconds, then 20, soon all hands were down. He was quick to bring up the slide which stated that it should take 30 seconds to completely wash your hands from the wrist down. So our consequence was 2 pushups for each second we fell short of 30 seconds. You can be sure we all washed for 30 sec before each meal after that! Example 2: The instructor put out a question to the class: "List 4 ways the body loses heat in the O.R.". From that point on, he will randomly ask a student to recite them and explain them, if that student cannot, they are to choose 5 classmates to join him/her in doing some pushups. What I got from this method: I am damn sure I am always paying attention, and understanding all concepts, I feel like I am under constant pressure from not only my instructor but also my classmates to be on my game all day everyday! One slip up could cost us a 5k run, or 30 pushups in the blink of an eye.... hmmm sort of like how one slip up could mean a negative outcome for my patient. I am very interested in what you all think of this method of instruction.

Quick answer ; Yes, Yes, and no we didn't get a support crew. It worked just fine, and had a way smoother ride than the type III.

I like the mobile dentist at the top. :shock:

One of my instructors would give us a single symptom, from that we had to list as many DD as possible, then we had to start ruling them out based on assessment and history. This would go on for hours, I guess it was more for critical thinking, but it helped with assessment as well. All this was done on the white board, and it really kept the classroom alive, I suggest it for all schools. I am interested to know how you would teach it Dust?

That's what I was thinking Wendy.... of course I have NO fire background whatsoever!!! But my first thought was "I guess women aren't fire chiefs traditionally....hey....wait.... TRADITIONALLY, is someone being a hipocrate?? Like I say, I have no fire training, or background at all, so maybe there is a real good reason, I just don't know what it is. (I guess male fire chiefs could take care of the "Little" fires with greater accuracy using thier "Personal equipment", but then again, women have a better gal/min ratio :-k )

Well I have posted it before... and I shall post it again! The Rural service in Sask I left about 1 year ago. Call volume - 80-90/year Paid Employees - EMT 6, ALS 2, Manager 1 Volly Employees - 0 Units - 1 full time 24/7, 1 as needed (scramble unit when staff was available, never had a problem) Number of vollys who quit when I was hired as the first paid full time employee - 4 Number of people who thought I was less dedicated than Joe volly - 0 Number of mouths fed because the volly's stepped back and allowed me to have a career - 4 (in my house alone) Hmmm... food for thought. Once again I say. We ran a full time ALS service from less than 100 calls/year, don't tell me it can't work in your area. Realize you vollunteering is the only thing keeping it from becoming paid.

The fairly new Canadian Paramedic Text's. Although the layout is slightly different, causing the reader to jump between the 2 volumes from time to time, the wealth of information is worth the extra effort. I must say though, some more updated pics and diagrams would have been appreciated, but I'm not complaining. I am just glad to have an actual Canadian text, instead of trying to add to the Mosby's second edition with powerpoints and handouts! Hey the thread was reopened, let's run with it.

I am far from anyone to comment on your course.... but I am not one to keep my mouth shut. If you exams are designed for robots and step-by-step then they should do great! 90's should be the low end, hey we all know the NR exam is all about the ABC's and the "sheet" If you teach the cookbook, then test the cookbook, they should be pretty damn good at that recipe, (if given the right ingredients), now just take thier paprika away! (Ya I know bad analogy)

hmmm... AB forum? I like the idea!! Although I agree with echo, I disagree with the way it was put forth. I agree sticking me in downtown calgary trying to find some apartment just because I dropped off a pt at foothills is not in the best interest of that caller! But I am not against it because I don't want to leave my turf, it is because I will turn downtown Calgary into the biggest traffic jam in history!! You bet your butt these guys have some serious PR to do, but it will not be impossible if they can see the "simple" ways of the small town EMT (P), and I think these guys can! You betcha they have my vote, I have already planted the seed in my own service about a possible union shift, sure I immediatly met resistance (you know us small towners... status quo has worked thus far) but the door was not slammed shut! I assume this will be the responce in the majority of services in the rural population. Hey [s:62390ab003]Mike Par[/s:62390ab003]... OOPS, micpar, let me know the days you head south, I`ll have the coffee on (and a chair for tnuiqs)

Here is another non-american's perspective. Alcohol up the nose is the most unprofessional treatment still used in EMS in my opinion. I had a elderly lady last week who was clearly faking it, maintaining upper body posture, failed the "flutter" test, winced from IV stick, etc,etc. Did I jam some chemical up her nose??? HECK NO! I treated her like any unCx patient (including attempting OPA, and considered then dismissed NPA). I discovered her level of conciousness, treated her appropriatly, and let the hospital take care of the rest! What is wrong with that? Ya if this is the same person every time, it must be dealt with accordingly, but really, if they sit through sternal rubs and IV sticks, let them fake all they want. I don't NEED a patient to open thier eyes and tell me thier faking, I assess better than that! God this jamming crap up the nose reminds me of a bunch of short insecure bald guys comparing who has the most painful way to assess LOC!! *Ya man just jam your thumb behind thier ear*, *No Way man, drop thier hand on thier face*, *Hey man I just jam alcohol up thier nose... works every time hahaha * Yup just screams health care professional..... :roll:

Haven't sprayed milk out my nose in a while........ thanks tniuqs!

Hmmm.... deciding whether your serious or not?? Damn puters, no emotion! In case your serious, http://www.bryanbledsoe.com/

Perhaps I will be set straight, but once I finish my Paramedic, I would like to work under bledsoe's direction. I think it would be a good opportunity to continue to learn, delivering patients to the guy who "wrote the book" that I learned my job from.