EMT CIty Book Club

[emtannie]

I read almost anything I can get my hands on regarding EMS, and this one caught my eye last time I was in Chapters, so I had to buy it...

Book: Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse

Author: Janice Hudson

Publisher: Firefly Books

Cost: $15.95

ISBN: 1-55209-573-8 (paperback)

From the Publisher

Trauma junkies are people who feed on danger and stress. They do their best work under pressure. Janice Hudson was an adrenaline-charged emergency room nurse in a San Francisco-area hospital when a friend told her about CALSTAR, a fledgling helicopter ambulance service with an opening for a flight nurse. Weeks later she was swooping over the Bay Area to scenes of shootings, accidents and disasters. The trauma junkie had found her element. Hudson spent ten years as a flight nurse, answering calls that were by turns horrifying, heroic and absurd. She decries her personal flights from hell that involved children and drunk drivers. In this moving story, she recalls her triumphs, like the time she performed a surgical cricothyrotomy on a patient as he hung upside down in his overturned car -- in the dark. And she shakes her head at some of the bizarre calls, like the one that took her to the scene of a suspicious mountain lion attack (there are no mountain lions in the Bay Area). But no matter what the call, CALSTAR and its dedicated crew braved danger and hardship to reach the scene of catastrophe in a race against time to bring help to those whose only hope of survival lay in the speed of the helicopter and the skill of the medical crew.

A born storyteller, Janice Hudson writes with compassion, insight and wry humor. Trauma Junkie is an in-the-trenches account of emergency nursing at its most demanding.

Now, my review:

An easy read, more light entertainment reading than actually educational. At just over 200 pages, it can easily be finished in one day.

I was mildly offended at the introduction when the writer says "In 1996 I felt it was time to grow up and get a real job" referring to her leaving the air ambulance service; however, after reading further, I realized that her comment was meant more as humor than I had originally interpreted it.

The stories she tells about calls and patients vary from humorous to very very sad, and her details on how it affected her personally is very well done without being overdone.

It would be a good read for someone looking at getting into EMS, or a newbie EMT-B. It isn't one I would go back and re-read, unlike some of the others I have read.

I would rate this book 5/10.

Side note to Rid - good choice to start this thread off! That 12 lead EKG book is the one I used to teach myself 12 leads before I get to it in class... and I loved it!

[zzyzx]

I also bought"Trauma Junkie..." after I read some positive reviews here on this site. I have to say that I was really disappointed. In fact, I threw it in the recycling bin after reading only a few chapters. It reads like an episode of "ER." It's more a book for people who don't work in EMS.

[towheadedmule]

My second suggestion:

Trauma Management: An Emergency Medicine Approach

Author: Ferrera, et al

Hardcover: 760 pages

Publisher: Mosby

ISBN:0-323-00210-2

Copyright: 2001

This book has been the base of knowledge for the last 2 paramedic classes that I've taught. It greatly expands on what is available in a standard issue paramedic text, and doesn't go so deep that the students get lost. It is written in a format for ER doctors, instead of the trauma surgeon, so much of the suggested treatments are available to prehospital providers. It also discusses some of the issues in dealing with EMS.

My only complaint has been it is getting close to time to buy another edition, that has not been updated yet. If you like trauma, and want to better understand what your treatment will mean to your patients, this is the best book available. Take the PHTLS or BTLS textbooks and toss them. This one will easily replace both without burying you in minutiae.

8/10 stars.

Azcep, sorry for the necropost. I found this book online, cheapest was $160.00 While I am not completely adverse to paying this, given your change in status have you found anything as good or updated?

Any other suggestions? Dust, might you have some?

As for the Thread. On Killing and On Combat by LTC Grossman. Particularly On Combat. Will give you a good basis for communicating with veterans, both soldiers and public servants. Further the sections on stress innoculations will give you pause for thought, and wonder if training for paramedic should not have more stressful situations during lab time.

R

[mobey]

The fairly new Canadian Paramedic Text's.

Although the layout is slightly different, causing the reader to jump between the 2 volumes from time to time, the wealth of information is worth the extra effort.

I must say though, some more updated pics and diagrams would have been appreciated, but I'm not complaining. I am just glad to have an actual Canadian text, instead of trying to add to the Mosby's second edition with powerpoints and handouts!

Hey the thread was reopened, let's run with it.