mobey

Epiglottitis?

Sorry if I have repeated but I just joined and didn't feel like reading all 20 pages. Laceration

yohimbine

myocarditis

arrythmia

Be careful with statements like this. There is a balance....NEVER throw the books out, you will just get sloppy. It's more like, "OK your done with class, now go apply the books to the street!" A neighboring ambulance sandwiched a hockey player with spinal trauma face down between 2 longboards, to transport to the hospital so they woulden't have to roll him!! :shock: That's a good example of throwing the books away!!! Don't send your students out to the field thinking there is a street way and a book way. There is only one way....Thats the RIGHT WAY!!

Is she unable to talk? Is she able to nod yes or no? Ask the husband what preceded this presentation?

I had a great basic instructor, I will share his traits with you and you can filter them as you like. On our first day of school after the introductions he started by saying, "This course will only teach you how to safely transport the public to the hospital without causing them any further injury." This convinced me that I was only taking an introductory course to EMS, which of course kept me in school to take the ICP (EMT-I) course as soon as I could. Other charicteristics: He was very preticular about everything. Such as wrapping the leads on the SPO2 monitor as to not stress the connections. When we left a scene in a scenario there could not be any garbage left on scene at all. Always wear 2 pairs of gloves to a trauma and if you touch blood then touch the cot or bags without removing the outer pair you failed the safety portion of the scenario. He was very critical of the little things such as counting before you lift, Eye contact with your patient, communication with your partner, tone and volume of your voice, and lots more. We never got away with doing anything half-assed, alot of people did not like him for that reason, but by the end of the course we all appreciated it. Oh ya... He never gave us a pat on the back unless we truly deserved it. If we did something wrong, it was wrong no sugar coating. But if we did something right we knew it and he made sure of it.

WOW I have a hard time following you here, Did you answer the question?? I can answer yours... You bring up Saskatoon, I know a Paramedic there I would not let give care to my cat!.. and I hate my cat! I also know a Paramedic 2 hours south of there working in a system that does 80-100 calls a year, he never attends unless it is an ALS call. I would choose him over many many urban paramedics to treat my 5 year old daughter anyday. Call volume has nothing to do with whether your "Good" or not!

How do you explain call-volume affecting your title? Are you suggesting those with a higher call volume be labeled with a superior title?

Thanx for the replies. I am hoping to start soon. I want to upgrade my A&P first but having some ALS experience and education already I think this should work out.

I have been tossing around the idea of writing a newspaper article. I would like to focus on the progression of EMS. Kind of a community awareness not only of our local ambulance but the entire EMS profession. Have any of you wrote one before? I am looking for any input. It seems like we sit and bitch about the way we are viewed by the public yet unless the general public subscribes to an EMS magazine they have no idea what is going on in the EMS world. The key points I want to hit are: Education (past & present) Equipment (Past & present) Scope of practice (Local) As well as what is in the future for our community and EMS. Please feel free to add any other key points you think should be included.

Ya I always get a baseline manually then if Pt is stable I will use the Lifepak.

Ya what they said and... Have your Pt. straighten thier arm. Even palpate your own brachial right now with your arm slightle bent. Now straighten your arm right out and palpate it again....much easier hey!! I always tell my patients the straighter they have thier arm the better I can hear. I find this proves true with the NIBP on our Lifepak, we get less false readings with a straight arm.

Difference in protocol for sure. We did not START CPR, the daughter had started before our arrival. Our protocol on DNR is we start CPR till a DNR paper is in our hands then we are authorized to stop. The DNR was given to us when we arrived so we had 3 choices. 1. Tell the daughter to stop, and deal with the consequences. 2. Continue beating on this guy till we hit the hospital 10 mins down the road. 3. Continue CPR till we got to the rig to satisfy the daughter, then follow the wishes of the patient and cease all efforts. We chose #3 What would you have chosen if you had the same protocols as us?

I think this is a problem that people fail to consider when they choose this proffesion. I believe some people choose this career because they are self proclaimed "Adrenaline junkies". The problem starts when they realize the adrenaline surges soon wear off and if you have no interest in patient care you get bored. The media portrays EMS as a fast paced, heart pounding career that is recognized as heroic. That just is not the case! I don't really need an MVA every few days to validate me as an EMT, i am in the business of patient care, I do not need heart pounding action to remind me why I do what i do. Personally I enjoy solving the riddle of why grandma feels "off" today, just as much as running a code, or transporting a multiple system trauma patient. It is important for people new to this business to realize adrenaline rushes end, and you are not a hero. That medal is left to the firefighter who pulls 1 person from a fire once in his 35 year career. People put themselves in this place. it is not the "Old peoples" fault for calling us when they aren't in dire need of us. It is the EMT(P)s fault for not expecting to do non-emerg runs for the majority of his/her career. If you are an "Adrenaline Junkie" (which is the same as a "Trauma Junkie" as far as I am concerned), you are better off being a parachute testing technician than an Emergency Medical technician. That's my thoughts!!

Hey Toes. Welcome to the site!! Because everyone here is not from your state you will get a better variety of replies if you do not use acronyms such as Evoc. What is Evoc? BTW before you post hit the spellcheck button in the bottom right hand corner of the window. Mispelling on this site can be suicide lol.

Well it probably wasn't the best choice I have ever made... But we basically put on the monitor and continued CPR till we got to the rig, then stopped. No tube, no defib, no IV, just CPR and BVM till we got out of eyesight. The daughter was VERY insistant on us working him. I dunno if it was the right call to make or not, but I believe if the patient would have wanted us to make it as easy on his daughter as possible even if that meant we bang on his courpse for a few mins.

Alright but I'm not giving up House

A call of mine a few weeks ago... Dispatch: Medic 2 respond echo for 76 y/o male in cardiac arrest Me: Roger dispatch, Medic 2 responding Dispatch: Medic 2 you are responding to #### **th ave. Caller states Pt. has Hx of ALS and cancer and has a DNR. She has started CPR. Me: Does the caller realize DNR means no CPR Dispatch: Roger that Medic 2, Caller states she is the daughter of the Pt, she helped him complete the DNR yesterday, but she feels he didn't mean today!!

For the record I am educated ALS working BLS. (Moved provinces...different education standards) Gotta ask what BLS skills do you forget? Oxygen? History? BP? How to dress a wound? Seems to me there are no ALS skills that can be performed without a BLS assessment and BLS intervention first! Makes you wonder if a paramedic that forgets BLS should be performing ALS interventions and diagnostics at all! Edit to add this.... I am not going for a personal attack... I just don't want any future medics (or current for that matter) on this forum to think it is accepted to "Forget" the basics just because you have more to think about as a Paramedic. I believe if a EMT has to "Save a Paramedic" with his BLS skills, that paramedic has failed at his job!

Oh my god that is hilarious!! So true..So true! I hate it when EMT's say $hit like that, makes me embarrassed to hold the same title.

Wondering if anyone in EMTCity land has taken the distance delivery EMT-P program through Portage in Lac La Biche. If so, what did you think of it?

I always palpate the artery prior to inflating the cuff, then I know I am in the right spot with my stethoscope. I was taught when you palpate a BP always add 10 to the systolic.

Great post!! I too have always had a great interest in the past as well as the future of EMS. It would be great to hear some stories from you [s:034b67b1c2]oldtimers[/s:034b67b1c2] Pioneers of the buisness about "The way things were" It would be interesting to hear how the scope of practice has progressed in relationship to education, as well as some "war stories"