Richard B the EMT

...Then... (Do those count? They are from the audience, not the actors on the screen or in front of the screen)

Before you start complaining about the FDNY EMS Academy, think about any training academy. The instructors tell the students what is needed to be known, and actions they are supposed to do. However, once anyone leaves that academy, they are in the field. Should they follow all the teachings from the academy? Yes. Will they? I do not know the Lieutenant who was on scene, and do not think I know the crew personnel involved, so anything I say here is anecdotal, not factual. They made a mistake, got caught royally, and are sent back to the academy to have the training reinforced, of what they are supposed to do. Slap on the wrist, notification to the NYS DoH of the complaints against the personnel, and corrective actions taken by the agency. DoH, on the other hand, can request further sanctions, up to, and including, fines, and revocation of their certifications. The patient's survivors can sue for wrongful death, both at the criminal and civil court levels, against the FDNY EMS Command, and the 3 individuals, as individuals. I have to say that, while this is no longer being followed as an active news story, to use the words of Baseball great, Yogi Berra,

Figure the FDNY EMS Lieutenants to be field managers for several teams of both EMTs and Paramedics, both for getting the crews out at the beginning of the shift, handling problems cropping up during the tour, or first due Emergency Managers for a Multiple Casualty Incident. Someone has to fill out the paperwork when someone on the crews gets hurt, or professionally misbehaves, or doesn't fill in all those damnable boxes on the "ePCRs". They also have to process the paperwork so the crews get paid! Does a military sargent in the infantry need to know how a tank and tank crew functions when he orders a tank crew to fire at a target? Or the same sargent, when he orders up a "Warthog" to take out an enemy position firing on his guys? Hey, he's in the Army, not the USAF. (Everyone either knows, or should respect the fact, while the generals and admirals give the orders, it is always the non-coms who actually run the show, and "git 'er done!"

Call report has a couple of check-boxes. 1) Patient or responsible party signature, 2) Patient or responsible party unable to sign (Document why) 3) Patient or responsible party Refused to sign 2 boxes to sign in, one the patient or responsible party, the other for the ambulance crew if box 2 or 3 checked.

Following up on Dust Devil's first comment, here in New York State, in 1974, we had to have the prerequisite of American Red Cross "Basic" and "Advanced" First Aid, and either ARC or American Heart Association CPR, before we were allowed to take the 45 hour long EMT class. Every 3 years, the refresher class was 25 hours. Nowadays, the initial EMT class is at least 125 hours long, and includes Albuterol and Defibrillation protocols, which were not in place back in 1974. If still in a 3 year certification EMT program, the refresher is now 45 hours. We are in the process, statewide, of implementing a 5 Year, Continuing Medical Education "refresher", instead of the 3 year "cert" previously used.

Dwayne, how can you say that? It never stopped YOU!

He couldn't move to Florida, there was no room left due to the influx of retired New York City school teachers! My mom is breaking the law. She retired as a teacher, and did NOT move to Florida!

So if one of them goes "postal", they can then treat those they shoot? (lol)

Sounds like the dispatcher was simply being silly.

Another possible point of contention, as to why EMSers lose out bigger than RN or MD/DO folks. Spenac said: Notice the word I emphasized? EMTs and Paramedics are not licenced, but are certified by their state DoH, while the RNs, the Physicians Assistants, MDs and DOs* ARE licenced! *Doctor of Osteopathy

So I take the Lieutenant's exam 4 times, finally pass the test, and place on the promotion list. There never was any mention of requiring lieutenants to be ALS, but just to be in the service, obviously, you have to be, minimum, BLS. I am not qualified to start an IV line, as that is ALS, but I am 34 years overall as a BLS provider, 22 of them with the agency I took the promotion exam at. Are you implying that just because I am not allowed to do ALS protocols, I am not qualified to be a leader, even with input from those who I would be supervising? Sounds to me that you ARE implying that.

1) As the son of a teacher, grandson of an assistant principal, brother of a teacher, brother of a college professor, uncle of another teacher, and boyfriend of a teaching "para-professional", you should know teachers do not get paid for 12 months work for only 9 to 10 actually worked months. They only get paid for the 9 to 10 months, but spread over 12 months. 2) To any and all making nasty comments on the retiring volunteer "having his heart in the right place," do I need to remind any of you that most of us, wether volunteer or paid, got started in this line of work to help others? I seem to recall someone's "signature" on their postings in the City saying we are "Saving the world, one life at a time, and sometimes two at a time." (Whoever's line that is, I apologize for forgetting who you are!)

C.H.A.O.S. Chief Has Arrived On Scene

Start with, on Third Watch, there are no EMTs, except one played in one episode by Rosie O'Donnel. Next, The double slap on the ambulance rear doors, usually by a LEO or a fire fighter, releases the ambulance brakes, and activates the siren, and has been the case for many years in TV and Movies. Finally, and with no intent at levity, the 3 are not going to be "in refresher". They are going to be "remedieled" (spelling?). Consider it somewhat the equivalent of "after school detention", until they can prove they know what they are supposed to know, and how to perform practical skills. They will be in class for one 8 hour tour, minimum, at the EMS Academy, probably with the captain and the commandant of the academy watching them.

Gotta admit I never saw that one coming down the road!

Someone give me clarifications on this. The way this is worded, it almost seems the deceased told the crew he didn't want to go to the morgue. I trust the declining of transport was actually the On Line Medical Control physician. Admittedly, I am responding now, mostly on emotion, as I don't know the state laws where the incident happened. The patient was put in the ambulance, where, prior to starting out to a hospital, the patient expired, with a DNR. Did the OLMC Doctor know the crew had already loaded the patient into the ambulance? Does that locality's OLMC have the authority to cancel a transport already underway?As far as I am concerned, if there was a DNR, why was the patient loaded? If the patient had not been removed from the house, local protocols for not transporting a DNR DOA patient should have been followed, whatever those local protocols involve and entail. If the patient was moved from the house, it is a transport in progress, even if it is already known to be, in effect, a direct admit to the morgue. I feel that a lawsuit for "Mental Cruelty" is in the works, and will be a big cash settlement.

A hearty "BOOO" for the joke, and a hearty "Welcome" to the city!

(Take One) Bullwinkle (pulls a rhinoceros out of the hat, and quickly puts it back in) Bullwinkle (Take two) Bullwinkle Rocky Bullwinkle, after pulling Rocky out of the hat

A "show of hands" please: How many of us have had a "3rd" rider, who was from a military medical school, to get "field experience" in your "Saturday night knife and gun club" district? My hand is up, and is up at least 5 times for as many military "trainees".

Brentoli, you're just weird, but the type weird that we all like! FireEMT177959, although not my first donation, I had a CPR call less than a half hour after my donation (don't recall how long it took me to "pump out" to the collection bag), in Riis Park section of the Gateway National Recreational Area. The closest we could get the ambulance to the scene was over 500 feet away from the patient, and carry the equipment in by hand. over soft sand. As this was also a beach, and the call was a submersion/"wet" drowning, we also were getting splashed by waves, even though we were on the shore. After getting the patient onto a long board, the long board onto an army type carry streacher, everyone of the 4 of my VAC crew, the National Park Service Park Attendants (one of which was also one of my VAC members) either grabbed a corner of the streacher, or a piece of equipment, and, counting to ten in each "hop", ran towards the ambulance. At ten, the streacher was placed down, and another 2 minutes of CPR were applied. It must have taken about 7 "hops" to get back to the ambulance. The ambulance run, once we got back on the vehicle, was a 5 mile run, and the ER crew also worked up the patient for about another half hour before "calling" it. All told, from when the "Federales" got the guy out of the water and started CPR, to the "Stop CPR" at the ER, must have been about an hour. As for me? Between sweating and ocean, the hell with the "keep the site dry for 6 hours" rule!

ANY vehicle that is used as a police car is suspect in some neighborhoods, even if they are actively being used as the family car. Back 1975 to 1980, VW used an ad indicating that a VW Rabbit cop car chased down an Italian sports car. During the same period, the NYPD actually tried VW Rabbits as patrol vehicles. The NYPD continued with Ford Crown Vic's and is now using Chevy Malibu cars.

What? Have you found either an EMS or FD, or combo, that DOESN'T involve politics in some manner, shape or form? Either in dealing with the public, or internal, everyone has some kind of politics.

I am used to a lookalike one from Ferno. Don't all such stretchers have 2 release levers, both on one side, located amid-ship and at the foot? Neither is dependent on the other being pulled at the same time, unless this is a quirk of some models of stretchers.

If the patient has already left the scene, as already said by '2Lead, advise dispatch the patient has left the scene prior to our arrival, unknown direction or destination, and go available for other calls. Leave following or hunting for the patient to Harry the Hunter, Tommy the Tracker, or, best bet, Leo the LEO. When they find the patient, another call to EMS dispatch will be made, and you, or another team, will then get the patient.

The problem is demographics, if only in part. It would be great if there was more Paramedic/ALS coverage in the more rural areas, where transport times are longer due to distance. However, while I keep boasting of my home, New York City, having transport times not usually exceeding 15 minutes, due to the number of "9-1-1 Authorized" receiving hospitals, please remember the extensive traffic jams, and the population of 8 million residents. Ambulances are deployed by population densities, in anticipation of the likelihood of a call coming in. Also, the call volume keeps rising, both the ALS, the BLS, and, unfortunately, the BS. That last is being addressed, but I will discuss it in other strings.