What's missing on the ambulance and why?

[Just Plain Ruff]

The question is this

When is the last time anyone here in the field used activated charcoal?

I can only think of one time I used it and our ambulance broke down and the closest unit was over an hour away. The doctor gave orders to give activated charcoal due to the single medication ingestion and the fact that the medication did not cause airway problems or level of consciousness problems.

Plus it was on a teen so the doc said to give it. That was 1997. That's the last time I gave it in the field.

I can't remember a time when any of the crews I've worked with have given it.

[fiznat]

This resurrection of ancient threads thing has got to stop!!!

[Richard B the EMT]

This resurrection of ancient threads thing has got to stop!!!

Why? We longtimers on the City are always telling newbies that the search function is their best friend, so that we don't end up with a gazillion strings on the same topic, aren't we?

Yes, I know you've told me a million times not to exaggerate.

[daedalus]

QUOTE (1aCe3)Here's a more dramatic example of the stupidity. BLS crew from this company recieved an emergent call in residence. Pt is supposedly just unreponsive. They get on scene and find the pt in cardiac arrest. And of course, they do not have an AED. So they do with what they have, ask dispatch for ALS, and being a private, they don't exactly have ALS crews all over the place. So what the heck does he do, the bls crew calls 911.... :shock: derr.

Too bad the dispatcher didn't have that same common sense in the very beginning.

While unfortunate, the OP's company seemed to be dispatching to emergency calls and was not equipped to do so. It is stupid and dangerous but for now it is a fact. (at least in 06 it was....)

In my opinion, all BLS ambulances should have an AED so that a responding EMS crew can provide a higher level of care then a mall security guard......

I know most ambulance companies in the Los Angeles area are not equipped with AEDs, which is a tragedy.

The question is this

When is the last time anyone here in the field used activated charcoal?

I can only think of one time I used it and our ambulance broke down and the closest unit was over an hour away. The doctor gave orders to give activated charcoal due to the single medication ingestion and the fact that the medication did not cause airway problems or level of consciousness problems.

Plus it was on a teen so the doc said to give it. That was 1997. That's the last time I gave it in the field.

I can't remember a time when any of the crews I've worked with have given it.

I gave charcoal 3 times the past 6 months. All were orders from the med control doc.

Edited July 30, 2010 by daedalus

[Richard B the EMT]

When is the last time anyone here in the field used activated charcoal?

I can't remember a time when any of the crews I've worked with have given it.

Admittedly, in my 37 years on ambulance, I never gave ipecac or activated charcoal to anybody.

I gave charcoal 3 times the past 6 months. All were orders from the med control doc.

As Rod Stewart sang," Some folks have all the luck".

[Chief1C]

Gave it to a patient, a month into having this brand new Ford-Horton, upon direction from medical command and poison control. That stuff is like ink. In keeping with the contingency, seven years later when we sat in the back of the ambulance, cleaning it out for a brand new unit. I looked up at the textured ceiling, and the call came back to my mind. The patient vomited b/c of it's taste, and it splattered all over the interior, and once it dried, this dark gray stain was permanent. PA has since made it an optional item, and we removed it, ALS still carries it.

[Fox800]

I can't fathom the idea of an ambulance without an AED. But then again, NYC isn't known for being a model of EMS...more like fail central, along with Fail Jersey, Maryfailand, Failiowa (for calling NREMTP-99's "paramedics"), and who can forget Failifornia.

[Richard B the EMT]

But then again, NYC isn't known for being a model of EMS...more like fail central

There is no EMS agency that cannot be improved, no matter how bad or good they might be.

I am in FDNY EMS, and it's predecessor, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS before the "merger", totalling 25 years municipal service, so my views might be biased, but...what and how do you mean by that? Item by item, please, that those of us from the FDNY EMS, and other members of the NYC 9-1-1 system, may address them.

[Don1977]

Just curious. I know there are services - private companies that mainly do transfer services, but do take emergent calls as well. However, their ambulances are missing certain medications/equipment. This is for the BLS side. I've worked for a private company that lacks :

AED :shock: Kind of stupid if you ask me... An ambulance without an AED...

Albuterol

Activated Charcoal

ASA

Epi-pens

KEDS (They have shortboards)

These are seemingly not part of the part 800 as these vehicles pass DOT inspection. As if the BLS scope of practice isn't small enough to begin with...

Just to add... this company is huge.

We don't have AED's in our trucks, but I was told last week that by 1/1/11 we have to have them.

we dont have albuterol, epipens or ASA either, EMT's cant use them anyway in PA.......

[Chief1C]

You can carry and use Epi-Pens. There's a form on the EMS website to fill out for medical command to sign, and a two hour course. You carry two adult and two pedi, or one of each in twinject.

That's been in the BLS Protocols for several years. The pilot program was held here just before I took the course b/c of the distance to hospitals.