EMTgirl84

Oral glucose was given by my partner. 2+ EKG's were done....I had my husband look at them for his opinion (he is a medic) and he said that he could see the patient going from bad to worse.

I've been in the field for three years now in a rural setting and city setting and same with my partner as well. I have never seen anyone have as many problems with patient care as my partner. We took a pt. who was hypoglycemic the other day, again 45 minute transport time, sugar of 37, attempted a line...never got one so no D50 was given nor glucagen and when he gave report at the hospital, the pts. sugar was 18. I'm just frustrated because I can't fix the problem myself! I know what needs to be done, but I'm not a medic yet so my hands are tied!

He did give one spray of nitro, but never established a line, which really made the docs happy as you can imagine. Other than the nitro, he gave some 02, 2 liters nasal. I am an EMT-B and I pretty much do everything on a call as long as it's not out of my scope of practice. I can do 12-leads, but I don't know how to read them yet. Like I said, I definately want to learn, I start a medic class next month. Basically if I don't do things, then they won't get done. I offered to do a 12-lead on a pt. with chest pain that had a heart history last week and my partner said no, I'll get it en route...45 minutes later, he never did it, just wrote his report.

I completely agree and I guess this is why I am so frustrated. This is not this first incident and I really don't think that it will be the last. I continue to get called in the office everytime a call goes wrong because I am technically the only witness. I don't want to be in the middle of it. My supervisors need to take care of it with my partner. I could write a book on all of the things that he has done wrong. I have worked with some fabulous paramedics and I am just sad that some people who call 911 for help may actually end off worse than when they call.

Yes, we do have V4R and no he never got a line started.

I am an EMT and I have a partner that does a lot of questionable things. I just wanted to ask for some advice and input. We get called to a patient having chest pressure. We get on scene, pt. is ambulatory. Pt. walks to the cot and we load pt. up and start treatment on scene. Pt. was shoveling the driveway when the pressure starts. Pt. describes it as being in the middle of the chest and a little bit of back pain and it is more of a pressure type feeling than pain. Pts. medical history is high cholesterol and a smoker. Pt. is in late 50's and does have a family history of MI. Pt. is also vomiting. My partner can't hit an IV after 3 attempts. I set up the 12-lead and what I see is not "normal" to me. I am just getting ready to start a medic class so I haven't learned how to read a 12-lead yet, but when I printed off the strip it say acute mi at the top. We are 45 minutes out from the nearest hospital and we do have access to a chopper 1 mile down the road. Pts. vitals are 98/P pulse is running 50-55, O2 sat is 94, pt. has some shortness of breath, as well as vomiting, color looks like crap...grayish, and pt. is clammy. My partner gives her a spray of nitro with no IV line established and then we take off. We go non-emergent. We had sent the EKG to the hospital en route....next thing I know, dispatch is telling me to tell my partner to contact the hospital immediately. The hospital precedes to explain to my partner that this pt. is critical, having a right side MI and needs to go straight to the cath lab. It's almost like my partner didn't even know what was going on or how to read the strip. I then get upgraded to emergent. We get to the hospital and the doctor's are pissed! Pt. goes staright to the cath lab and my partner gets to have a little talk with the supervisor. My partner says that he is "sick" and that is part of the reason he made poor decisions. What are your thoughts?

I live in this "podunk" town in Kansas and work with the crew that responded to this call. I haven't seen the show, but that crew without a doubt is one of the best that you could have. I would request them to my home if I knew that they were on duty to take care of my family and I. You have to understand that this is "reality" TV and they love DRAMA! This podunk town is the 5th highest in per capita crime rate in the nation with a population of 122,377. We average around 10-20 calls per ambulance per 24 hour period. Anyways, that was a "county" fire department that responded that is primarily volunteers. I have personally never seen them do anything that I disagree with, but they don't get that many "red" patients...which is no excuse, but they don' have the means to transport anyways...so they were waiting on the ambulance. They can operate at a EMT-B level and just do basic vitals. Law enforcement is always there when we go on a overdose or any kind of psych. or ETOH. They make sure the scene is safe and let us do our thing. They also follow us to the hospital and stay with the patient after we leave. It sounds to me like the ambulance took the pt. without a doubt or question and treated them appropriately..sooo what is the problem? If you think this town in Kansas is so podunk and incompetent...why don't you apply and see how well you can hang?

You have to work for AMR because you want to work in EMS and you like the job. AMR is greedy when it comes to their money. It is all that they care about...so if that means screwing everyone else over....then they will do it! High turn-over rate....very high...I have been around two years and seen one too many come and go. They make a lot of promises...that never come true. You can't believe anything that they say....until you actually see it for yourself.

I was just wondering what your agency does for women when they are pregnant and work in the field. Light-duty?? Are there any exceptions made? I have worked at my current job for 2 years and I am now pregnant...and I have been told that there are no exceptions or "light duty" for pregnancy. I was told basically that I have to work up to the day that I deliver or take medical leave...which short-term and long-term disability would pay...but it is only 60% of my pay and after it is taxed I was told that it would equal about 40% of my pay. Just wondering if anyone else had any experience pr input! I would really appreciate it!

We actually have a braiatric unit at my work. We have the the ramps and all. It is really nice. I believe that we are the only ones in the metro area where I live that has one so we get called to do a lot of transports/assists for the other departments here.

I had to lift 180 lbs. for my pre-employment skills test.