Hello of an EMT from Paris, France !

[Secouriste]

Fab: Bonjour! You found a great video here! You can see our teams working during a big event coverage from 20:55 to 27:10

This video is so awesome I actually tried to subtitle it, but all I can do it make a translation script, I'm completely unable to do the whole synch process...

To answer your question, the doctor gets shocked by the pacemaker (internal defibrillator) the patient is wearing. He explains the pacemaker interpreted the chest compressions like a shockable rythme and delivered a shock. As you noticed, it's this shock that restores a stable circulation. It's the first time in his career that he experienced such thing

Richard: Hello and thank you! Yes, thank you for giving the right term. It's quite hard to translate the first aid vocabulary we use here, especially regarding the organisation and roles of everyone.

A "crew chief" seems like the right word, except I wasn't designated. To access these responsibilities you have to go through a test and then an additional training. There is one evening of tests, then 2 days of theoretical training then, if you succeed all this, there is a field training during which you have to complete objectives. Once you've completed all your objectives you become an actual "crew chief"

Edited March 10, 2013 by Secouriste

[Richard B the EMT]

"Crew Chiefs" duties and responsibilities can and do vary by town, county, prefecture, parrish, county, state, provence and country, due to "Local Protocols". I always tell new EMT City people to follow their local protocols.

By the way, may I suggest a translator program, like Google Translate, which I now use to translate this into French?

«Chefs d'équipe« devoirs et responsabilités peuvent et doivent varier selon la ville, le comté, préfecture, parrish, département, région, provence et du pays, en raison de «protocoles locaux". Je dis toujours aux gens des villes nouvelles EMT de suivre leurs protocoles locaux.

Soit dit en passant, je propose un programme de traduction, comme Google Translate, qui j'utilise maintenant de traduire cela en français?

[Secouriste]

I France we have national protocols. If you're curious you can have a look here:

http://secourisme34.fr/referentiels_en_telechargement.html

I'll explain the names:

PSC1: It's the basic first aid training everyone should know about. It takes about 10 hours with an instructor prior to which an e-learning course is requested.

PSE1: That's the first part of the professional EMT protocols. It describes most emergency non-invasive procedures.

PSE2: That's the second part of the professional EMT protocols. It describes mainly the signs an EMT should look for in order to achieve a good assessment and the immobilization procedures.

DPS: This text is the ground rule to organize any event first aid coverage.

PAE3: This is the reference document to teach PSC1 to people.

PAE1: This is the reference document to teach PSE1 and PSE2 to future EMTs

All these documents gather the knowledge required to pass the tests, except the "DPS" one which is only a legal frame without exam.

_____________________________

In addition we, the Protection Civile of Paris have these internal trainings:

PSE2+ (or Crew Chief): This training provides additional medical knowledge over precies conditions, organization and management skills and legal knowledge (basically, you learn that you're not protected whatsoever).

CEPS: This training is quite similar to the one provided to the Fire Dept. supervisors. It is management and crisis handling only. The CEPS training provides skills to handle any kind of situation where an ambulance is involved. The theoretical part lasts a full week, it's a very concrete and intense training.

SH: Basic training to deal with homeless people.

CESH: Safety rules training to be in charge of a street patrol for homeless people.

Use of BGL device: It is not part of the national frame texts but our close partnership with the EMS and the Fire Dept. led to expand our skills and perform this simple yet important measure.

In dark red, the emergency medical trainings. PSC1 being the most basic (1/5) and CEPS the most advanced (5/5).

Now, I'm not fond of the automatic translators. They're fine for basic sentences and translating but when things get complex or when the idioms are not common to both langages, it fails. The main issue is that the very organisation of first aid here and in english-speaking countries leads to words that have no equivalent elsewhere.

[WelshMedic]

Secouriste,

I watched the film and I noticed that the SAMU dealt with at least three different EMS organisations: you guys, the fire department and the Red Cross. Are all of these organisations involved in 112 calls in Paris and if so, who decides which organisation goes to which call?

I love Paris, by the way, have been there a few times in the past few years (I'm only about 4 hours away in Holland). It must be pretty busy there for EMS, I would have thought.

I know it's already been said, but I also think your english is absolutely amazing! My compliments!

Carl

[ERDoc]

Bonjour Secouriste! Welcome to the site (yeah, I'm a little late. What else is new?) What part of France are you from?

[Secouriste]

Hey Welshmedic! I hope you enjoyed that very well made documentary

To answer your question I have to point out that the various services you see do not have their own number you can dial for help. What we do is we make our ambulances available for the EMS to send them on calls.

There are 2 ways, either they're in a fire station or they're "free" like in the US. If the ambulance is in a fire station it's easy: when the station is requested by the SAMU to send an ambulance, we go instead of a fire dept ambulance.

If the ambulance is parked somewhere else waiting for a call, we have people at the dispatching center who will talk with dispatchers and transfer the calls directly to our ambulances instead of the fire dept. or others.

In one fire station there is only one volunteer unit at the time so it's pretty easy.

What you see in the video is a bit different, we're covering an event so the public EMS don't have to come into play. They have HQ there and they're overwatching the situation but they don't handle it directly, we do.

I hope it's clear enough

ERDoc: Thank you! I'm from Paris itself

[Roby777]

Welcome and thanks for all the info about ems in France

[WelshMedic]

Hey Welshmedic! I hope you enjoyed that very well made documentary

To answer your question I have to point out that the various services you see do not have their own number you can dial for help. What we do is we make our ambulances available for the EMS to send them on calls.

There are 2 ways, either they're in a fire station or they're "free" like in the US. If the ambulance is in a fire station it's easy: when the station is requested by the SAMU to send an ambulance, we go instead of a fire dept ambulance.

If the ambulance is parked somewhere else waiting for a call, we have people at the dispatching center who will talk with dispatchers and transfer the calls directly to our ambulances instead of the fire dept. or others.

In one fire station there is only one volunteer unit at the time so it's pretty easy.

What you see in the video is a bit different, we're covering an event so the public EMS don't have to come into play. They have HQ there and they're overwatching the situation but they don't handle it directly, we do.

I hope it's clear enough

ERDoc: Thank you! I'm from Paris itself

So, if you like, the calls come into the central 112 salle de regulation (I think that's what I heard on the video, right?) and then they send the nearest unit as it doesn't matter which organisation it is. Is that right?

Carl

[fab]

Fab: Bonjour! You found a great video here! You can see our teams working during a big event coverage from 20:55 to 27:10

This video is so awesome I actually tried to subtitle it, but all I can do it make a translation script, I'm completely unable to do the whole synch process...

To answer your question, the doctor gets shocked by the pacemaker (internal defibrillator) the patient is wearing. He explains the pacemaker interpreted the chest compressions like a shockable rythme and delivered a shock. As you noticed, it's this shock that restores a stable circulation. It's the first time in his career that he experienced such thing

Thank you for clarifying. So what's your 'civilian' job?

Actually is it possible that a nurse 'replaces' the physician in French EMS? Seem to remember that the fire department does that sometimes...

[Secouriste]

Welshmedic: Yes it's about right. The weird thing in France is you basically have two numbers you can call. 15 for EMS and 18 for Fire Dept. In France the firemen are also EMTs. The same crew can be in an ambulance the first week and on a fire engine the next week.

The Fire Brigades are a true and strong lobby so even if EMS is legally ruling the whole emergency response system, the Fire Brigade has its own number, dispatching center etc...

Those two structure do communicate a lot though and it doesn't change much what number you call in the end.

So what you have 24/7 are: the fire dept ambulances + private responders + physicians (either from the fire dept or EMS)

Some days, we give either EMS of Fire Dept some ambulances they can use. Depending on which structure, we go on "15" calls or "18" calls which are almost the same.

For someone exterior it may seem there are a lot of different things, but all those ambulances are the same. Same missions, same trainings, all EMT-B. Wether it's us, Malta, red cross, private responder, fire brigade ambulance...

The physicians are either from the EMS of Fire Brigade, no other option.

Fab: I'm a student. I will try this year to get in the Military Medical School and try to specialize in the emergencies. I'd love to work in France with the Paris Fire Dept, or the Mountain Rescue units of the Gendarmerie (french police with a military status). I will also be able to do exterior missions depending where our armies are engaged.

If I don't succeed here I'll get in a med school here but it's very very difficult to go through it.

There are some place where a nurse is sent out alone (with a crew of EMT-B's already on scene) with protocols, exactly like a paramedic. This system allows savings in cases where a physician isn't needed. That remains quite rare in France and does not happen in Paris.