Good ways to kill patients

[ERDoc]

Island, are you sure this guy was ER trained or even an American grad? With the stuff we have today, I can't imagine why anyone would be doing cutdowns anymore.

[J306]

I've seen a few docs use portable ultrasound to get central lines, and even saw an anesthesiologist use it to get a large bore IV, but it was my understanding that cutdowns were popular in the 90's and then were proven to greatly increase risk of infection so weren't even taught anymore..

[island emt]

Came to us from U N.C. chapel hill. ????

Don't know the rest of his background

He definatly is a southerner , talk grits & gravy just fine.

[1EMT-P]

Giving a medication the wrong route.... IV Vistaril?

[HellsBells]

Seen that too.

Used as a restraint....fail

Good thing I was there to find a bvm.

Ok Mobey, you're gonna have to give more detail on that one...

[Levi]

mine was 2 years ago. He was a young new Doc though. Maybe he had never done one on a live pt ????

Then again ::: it seems as most of the Docs today are kids.

Maybe I am getting old

New doc should definitely not have been learning about cutdowns....that is very random! Much much better options would be US guided peripheral, central line, or putting in an IO in like 10 seconds.

I've seen a few docs use portable ultrasound to get central lines, and even saw an anesthesiologist use it to get a large bore IV, but it was my understanding that cutdowns were popular in the 90's and then were proven to greatly increase risk of infection so weren't even taught anymore..

Yeah, ultrasound has become the standard of care for safety reasons, when putting in central lines. You will still see tons of people do them by palpation/anatomy/landmarks though, and nothing necessarily wrong with that.

[Medicman14]

"NEVER give someone on chronic opiates 2mg of IV narcan, NEVER." GREAT ADVICE! In my 24 years as a Paramedic, I've made a few mistakes ... This is one of the errors that I share most frequently with my new medics in training. I once ran a Pt with cancer, he was on a boat load of opiates, for obvious reasons. We were called to a Pt not breathing, and as a brand new medic I was there to save the day - uh, I mean Pt. The Pt actually was breathing, just not very often. So I loaded up my 2mg of narcan and pushed away. Not only did he start breathing at a normal rate, but I listened to him scream for the entire 40 minute transport. A terrible mistake that I've never repeated, and pray nobody else has to endure (Pt nor medic). Great thread, for everyone to learn from... Sent from my thing...

[yakc130]

Not glancing into the back of the truck when responding on another call from the ER to make sure your partner put the cot back in.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Been there and done that without the cot, we just put the patient on the bench seat.

[scubanurse]

Forgetting the cot isn't really a lethal mistake...