scubanurse

Sounds good.. I've always seen that as PERRL or PERL or PERRLA PERRL--pupils equal round reactive to light PERL--pupils equal reactive to light PERRLA--pupils equal round reactive to light with accommodation

What does PEAL stand for? I've never heard of that abbreviation :/

my favorite was an EMT that brought a patient to the ER while I was on a rotation down there who said the patient had an enlarged liver and was very sick because of this...patient had gastroenteritis, EMT had no clue what he was doing when he tried to palpate the borders of the liver. I'm all for proper abdominal exams if you've been trained to perform one. The other statement we love hearing is absent bowel sounds...inorder to classify a patient as having absent bowel sounds you have to listen in all four quadrants for at least 5-8 minutes or so in each quadrant. The biggest thing that people should take from an abdominal exam is that 1) if it hurts, don't push any more, 2) use it in conjunction with the rest of your exam. I always have epigastric pain on palpation... doesn't mean a thing on me. 3) Use your critical thinking skills.

You're there to learn EMS, not make friends. I have a 4.0 GPA throughout college and this certainly has not helped me make friends at all, but I am there to become a nurse, not make friends. Who cares what they think? Keep up the good work!

Keep it up!

Best of luck to you!!! I'm really glad you're enjoying EMS, it's a wonderful field to be in. Let us know how it goes!

I'd like to know more about the water... Could be any number of parasites/bacteria from unclean water.

I'm sorry to hear of all of your stressors! Congrats on the impending arrival, that is great news in all of this caos! Hope you continue to improve and things get better for you all down the road. Welcome back you were missed!

For reals?

That will help, best of luck to you!

Coloring books help, blank diagrams help, repetition. Which ones are you having a problem remembering? When I was learning the wrist and ankle bones I actually wrote them out on my body and then when testing on it, it helped me to touch where the bones were to remember. There are also plenty of dirty acronyms out there to help you remember

This whole post just shows arrogance and ignorance when it comes to the risks of exposure. If the patient had force behind their vomit, would your partner be protected with adequate eye protection? To openly admit it is a game shows a lot of immaturity and lack of leadership. You openly admitted it was for entertainment purposes on a public forum where you have your name, location and photo shown. Your time as a medic and the statement "I promise I know what I am doing" just goes to show maybe you don't. I would have thought after 6 1/2 years in the field, you would show leadership qualities to put an end to this game and perform BSI/Scene safety first above any entertainment factor. And if it gets in their eyes or mouth and the insurance representative from workers comp asks you if there was anything you could have done to prevent the exposure? A lot of falling back on protocols just makes me miss Dustdevil. Just because protocol doesn't state specifically not to log roll the patient towards a partner doesn't mean you shouldn't avoid doing it.

yeah it's the rat thing I hate... My mom bought my brother and I a slingshot once and a bunch of rocks and would give us prizes if we successfully hit a squirrel that was eating the bird food from her feeders....fun times

squirrels creep me out

What in the world does this have to do with patient refusals?!?

I like my eggs in a basket

No one is going? Did I miss something here??

http://www.hpso.com/ This is who I have used as a basic, paramedic, and now nursing student, and will continue to use after I graduate.

That is a part of an entirely different program called Every 15 minutes and/or Alive at 25. I have been part of those programs for the last 6 years. This is an hour presentation to a high school science class. Thanks for the help!!

In CO you need a separate background check for each job. They look for different things, but like Mike said, these are questions you should ask the program.

So what happened was this. I was doing a rotation a few months back in an OB office and this situation occurred. I was able to connect with the patient because of a similar past and got her to open up. A few months prior she had been having nightmares reliving a situation that occurred when she was a teenager that she had repressed until now. The pelvic set her off and it apparently all came rushing back to her. EMS did a great job of waiting and listening to her needs. Ultimately she was able to drive home with a referral for psych services and victim resources and EMS cleared. There were two male paramedics on the unit and both were fairly young but incredibly understanding and compassionate. The reason I bring this up is that so often we encounter psych patients and have very few resources to help them. The ER was the very last place this patient belonged during the crisis as with most psych patients. Fortunately around Denver we have a lot of psych resources and Denver Health has a psych ER designed for people in crisis situations.

Agreed. Most of the docs I know, especially ER docs know how to drink