Scenarios Needed For Paramedic Character

[writer806]

Hey all. I'm doing a creative writing piece for a college class and I have a main character who is a paramedic. I just need a few details that I can't find on the internet for my short story. Maybe these are irreverent or stupid questions, but what color are atropine and epi? Do they even have a color? I'm having my medic give them to a patient in heart failure, so I hope they're indicated and that the medical aspect of the piece makes at least some sense.

That's all I can think of for now, but thank you in advance.

-writer806

Subject Line Edited to Be More Specific - Admin

[AZCEP]

In the setting of heart failure, you might use the drugs mentioned for severe bradycardia, or slow heart rate. The atropine would come first, and is in a purple box, but the drug itself is diluted in sterile water and has no color. The next step would probably be a transcutaneous pacemaker. If these were ineffective, you might consider using dopamine first, then moving to epinephrine. Dopamine is commonly in a bag of IV fluid that field providers don't have to mix. Epinephrine is in a brown box, or a dark brown multi-dose vial. Again, the drug itself doesn't have much color.

[fiznat]

Yeah, pretty much all of our drugs are clear in color. ...Sometimes we have to reconstitute drugs from a powder and it comes out a little milky-ish, but thats pretty much the closest you get to a "colored" drug. Like the above poster said, the colors of the boxes the drugs come in are different, but not everyone goes by that really-- a lot of services (including my own) take the drugs out of the boxes and put them into a kit instead.

If you want to make your story accurate, I would suggest you check out the ACLS algorithms (ACLS stands for Adcanced Cardiac Life Support). The algorithms are easially found online, and will contain the step-by-step interventions a paramedic will make on lots of patients such as tachycardias, bradycardias, heart attacks, cardiac arrest, etc etc. Thats probably your best bet.

Good luck with the story-- post it here when youre done!

[Eydawn]

Thank you thank you thank you for trying to be accurate with the details! It makes it no less enjoyable for the mass public and ever so much more enjoyable for those of us who actually know what's supposed to happen. Watch ER with a medic sometime.... and see how they react to it... you'll know what I'm talking about. How are you developing the medical call? is it part of a larger story, or just a short story focused on this?

Wendy

NREMT-B

[writer806]

Thanks for the replies, they certainly help. The idea for this piece stemmed from an experience I had with EMS last month (if you've never had an anaphylactic reaction, take my word for it, it's not fun.) It's a shorter story (less than 2,000 words,) but the storyline revolves around a rookie EMT and her smart-a$$ partner. The only requirement that the prof wanted is for the main character to undergo an internal/emotional change from beginning to end. The call is on an elderly woman and the rookie EMT realizes that she isn't cut out for the job. I know, I know, kind of cheesy/cliche, but I at least wanted it to be accurate. If anyone has any better ideas for plot or character change, it's not due for a while, so I'm all ears. Once again, thank you!

-writer806

[emtnerd]

If the rookie EMT is female does that mean her smart ass partner is a male? Are you planning on working in some gender conflict into this story?

[Timmy]

Don’t forget once you’re finished; post it on here so we all can read it!

[writer806]

I don't know about gender conflict. I didn't think of that.

[Dustdevil]

Gender conflict? You mean like a hermaphrodite kinda thing? :shock:

[Coop]

I'd read Joe Conelly's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (Knopf, 1998)--which your work, if published, will undoubtedly be compared against-- to get an idea of what's already been done with this type of fictional character.

Best,

--Coop