Timmy

Does it not hurt your back? What happens if your only one up?

Those types of stretchers you American use, how do you get it in the truck? Do you manually lift the legs or something?

Umpa Lumpa's are way cooler than Jesus

You guys have small patient treatment areas... Can you even stand up in the back of that?

I’ve never had a Jesus but I’ve had an Umpa Lumpa and they were all dressed up to...

They do teach it here on wilderness and remote first aid courses.

Hey sladey67, I live in rural Vic. I’m a sports trainer with pronominally a football club as well as doing a few other jobs here and there. I also work with a Motocross club privately. Our MX track is a good 45mins for the ambulance to arrive on an urgent call and depending on were we play football it can be up to 2 hours away. From what I’ve heard it’s pretty easy to carry Penthrane in NSW because of the worksafe insurance? But in Vic if you’re not working with RAV/MAS or you’re a medical officer then you can pretty much forget about it. I know a paramedic who also works with a football club, under the sports medicine insurance all he can do different from the rest of us is take a BP. 3 of us at MX have a Cert IV in Emergency Medical Response which covers Inhaled Analgesia and Medication Administration but in Vic there is no insurance to cover us. The motorcycling vic insurance states they only need Level 2 first aid officers to run a motocross event and only a national championship requires paramedical care. So basically last weekend we covered an MX event with 4 first aid officers with 400 riders and the ambulance 45mins away and even then the ambulance is only 1 up, you could only imagine the sorts of trouble we were having. This is why I’m a bit worked up.

I so totally agree! They won’t let people who are willing and more than capable to learn how to give basic analgesia but there more than happy to staff a MX event with 400 riders or a major speedway meetting with level 2 first aid officers and a fishing tackle box. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a license to administer basic analgesia if you’re not a health care professional? Australia has things so very wrong lol

No, No I don’t and it sucks. I hate not being able to give pain meds! My service has just gone into getting its members qualified and competent in using Penthrane. Even when we can use it, it’s only an analgesic and won’t make a difference for some patients. I hate seeing little kids in pain. I remember one time at MX we had a kid come off w/ a # knee. I was on the second crew to respond but as we ran across the track I could hear his bloodcurdling, agonizing screaming echoing around the track and there was nothing we could do about for the 50 mins it took the paramedics to arrive. I often lye to patients saying the 02 mask is pain relief in an effort to try and make it into some sort of placebo and it sometimes works but not often. We sometimes have patients pass out from the pain and I feel so guilty I can’t do anything more for them. I hate it some much when patients grabs your hand, squeeze your figures with what ever energy they have left, look you straight in the eyes with a look of complete desperation and say “make it stop, please make it stop” or when the parents are offering you bribes to stop there sons pain or scream at you with angry tears in there eyes. I do wish Australia would change some of its event medical policies so first aid services aren’t covering events that in realty require intensive care paramedics or even full on medical teams. I seriously can’t wait to become a paramedic!

I love working with gay people, there the bomb! The guys that I’ve worked with are awesome at their jobs and just awesome people, if I was dying I’d want them looking after me! There so caring, funny and full of life. They always say gay nurses are the best. I have no problem with gay or lesbian people at all. I’m mates with a gay couple, gays, bi’s but I’m yet to meet a lesbian that I’ve been mates with.

lol! Yeah you get that! I remember my first MVA, my first aid team were called as first response as the paramedics were 45mins out. It was on a major rural highway in the middle of no wear. It was a head on, with another car some how getting involved and rolling into a drain. We drove over the bridge and as we got to the top we had a bids eye view. There were about 20 semi trucks and cars pulled over and 40 people congregating around the 3 cars. The police were on scene but were way to busy trying to slow the prime moves down (they fly at incredible speed along these roads) before someone became a pancake. Finding parking for the ambulance was bit of a hassle. Anyways I jumped out and the truck drivers had already taken an unresponsive driver with chest injuries out and laid him on the hood of his car. They were also attempting to jimmy open the doors on the other cars or even attempting to smash the windows. Then up crawled a Truckee from the table drain with a girl in his arms, her neck flying in all directions, we had a women who said she knew first aid trying to straighten out a major leg fracture. The whole thing was just serial and insane! I was only 16 when this happens, I had that much adrenaline flying around I could barley breath. Just goes to show what moronic behavior and actions people can do trying to help, but having basic knowledge of first aid can make all the difference.

You did a good job! Your scene safety is the most important thing, seems you did a pretty good job. With an unresponsive patient in this situation tilt their head back to open the airway. You did good with that C spine support. If the paramedics were going to take a while you could carefully taken her out of the car with the help of bystanders making sure you supported her head and started CPR. Other than that control the bleeding and get as much info as possible that may help peace things together a little clearer. Don’t beat yourself up about it, you did your best!

Well you’re the doctor… lol Scene Safety? How did it happen? (Do I want to know)

lol these threads are always good for a laugh… Just my opinion. My service has a few unmarked cars, they don’t have LEDs or anything just a magnetic roof mount mini light bar thing that plugs into the cigarette lighter. It conveniently slips under the passenger seat when not in use. I suppose it saves you having to drill holes and stick things on your own car. You can also see it from all angles.

This is why I have my profile on private and only accept or add people I know.

I know what you’re getting at. But the guys who come from overseas have experience in EMS hence it makes it harder for a person who comes straight out of a degree to get a job and get that experience needed to work for a state service. In my case, I live in Victoria. If I left school and went straight to uni and got my 3 year degree there’s really a slim chance of me getting a job in a state service because those people who already have a job in EMS get seniority because they have experience. This is why I’m not being encouraged to go straight into a paramedic course. But I totally understand were your coming from.

It’s extremely difficult to find a job after you’ve completed a degree. They prefer to give the jobs to people who have prior experience thus it’s hard to get experience if you can’t get a job. People who have worked hard to get there degree are forced to either work in a different field, patient transport, industrial or private standby. This is why I’ve been told by an overwhelming majority of paramedics to do a nursing degree then do a bridging course into paramedics just so you’ve got something to fall back on.

LOL its bit of a head spin ay… Some ambulance services in Australia have on the road and theoretical training (diploma and cert courses) this takes 3 years to obtain. Most services prefer paramedics to complete a 3 year degree at university. In regards to Queensland I’m not really clear as to what there training standards are. Where I live in Victoria it’s a must to have completed a 3 year bachelor degree to work on an emergency ambulance. In Victoria ambulance a Cert IV Basic Emergency Care wouldn’t really get you anywhere and I doubt they’d employee someone from another country. I would assume that most states train there members to a paramedical diploma level of some sort. But every state is different. Recognition of prior learning and experience varies from state to state. I would assume most ambulance would have a bachelor degree paramedic partnered with a Diploma paramedic. It’s true that paramedic isn’t protected which sucks. There are so many courses you can do to become an Industrial Paramedic it’s not funny. This is what an Australian EMT (industrial medic) is: http://www.firstresponseaustralia.com.au/c...al_Response.htm I’ll ramble off the state ambulance services: New South Wales www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/ Victoria www.rav.vic.gov.au www.ambulance-vic.com.au Queensland www.ambulance.qld.gov.au Australian Capital Territory www.ambulance.act.gov.au Western Australia www.ambulance.net.au Northern Territory www.stjohnnt.com.au Tasmanian www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/ambulance Just to give you a look at what a bacholr degree looks like: http://med.monash.edu/beh/ http://wcf.vu.edu.au/Handbook/index.cfm?Se...p;CourseID=4872

The more hours you do in my services the better, if you do a certain amount of hours they give you jump kits, new uniform, alcohol, something random or strange items ect... We have about 4 social outings a year, teambuilding exercises, leadership days; we also have ribbons they pin onto their uniform for a certain amount of hours. If you do heaps of hours they have a big award ceremony and give you certificates ect… We always have an awards night at the end of year break up were they give you trophies and certificates for most hours, best save, stupid things you did on duty, turning up to the wrong event, most stupid thing said on duty, most improved ect its one big joke but a massive laugh, it’s also a family orientated evening. Getting in the local newspaper or the local TV news all dressed up in uniform doing a mock drill is a pretty big moral booster, people tape it then we play it back and laugh at all the things people are doing in the background. Theres more, but that’s all I can think of.

Well I’d take a look at this page http://www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/recruitment/qualified.asp It has all the different levels and what qualifications you need ect… Other wise OzMedic works for QAS and StretcherMonkey is a paramedic in the UK coming to Queensland to work. Sorry I couldn’t help you more

I don’t know, not from Queensland. The guys from QAS would be better to ask…

http://www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/recruitment/qualified_uk.asp

Well when you’re doing the 5 day Australian Ladies Lawn bowls championships or the International Rotary Conference you need something to keep you sane… My div doesn’t have a Merc nor does the truck have an FM radio :shock:

I wonder what the cookie monster thinks of the issue?? :shock:

YAY! :(/