Tom B. Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 Actually, you can make a fairly accurate determination of what's normal for bundle branch blocks and paced rhythms. It's not as difficult as you may think. The problem with just stopping the interpretation is that patients with BBB receive the most benefit from reperfusion therapy (FTT Collaborate Group). I'm sure you'll still treat the patient, but will you deliver the patient to the right hospital? Many prehospital 12 lead ECG programs/STEMI systems exclude patients with QRS duration > 120 ms. A huge flaw, in my opinion! Just out of curiosity, why should it matter whether you're inside the hospital or outside when it comes to learning advanced 12 lead ECG interpretation skills? Tom
Kaisu Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 To satisfy your curiosity - I am a fairly new medic with 1 year of experience. I run in a very high volume environment and in the year, I have about 1200 calls under my belt. I am scrambling as fast as I can to become a good street medic. The challenges of this position leave me exhausted. I personally run an AVERAGE of 20 calls in a 48 hour shift. Standup 48's (where we get little to no sleep at all) are not rare. I figure another year on the street, then whammo - more education.
akroeze Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 To satisfy your curiosity - I am a fairly new medic with 1 year of experience. I run in a very high volume environment and in the year, I have about 1200 calls under my belt. I am scrambling as fast as I can to become a good street medic. The challenges of this position leave me exhausted. I personally run an AVERAGE of 20 calls in a 48 hour shift. Standup 48's (where we get little to no sleep at all) are not rare. I figure another year on the street, then whammo - more education. It just blows me away that that is legal. My usual 12hr shift is non-stop run run run go go go and I am exhausted at the end of it. I can't imagine effectively and safely doing it 4 times in a row.
Kaisu Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 It just blows me away that that is legal. My usual 12hr shift is non-stop run run run go go go and I am exhausted at the end of it. I can't imagine effectively and safely doing it 4 times in a row. It is an issue. We have a situation where we will be exhausted and have to take a transfer of 6 hours. It is only a matter of time before someone wrecks...
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