jsadin

I purchased the Defibtech Lifeline AED for my full time work (high tech) and taught CPR/AED classes with it (you can convert it to a trainer with a memory card and a training battery). No one had issues learning how to use it and it was easily upgraded to the new AHA guidelines. It uses a 9V battery to monitor the main battery and flashes a green LED if all is well. This is easily checked when I walk by the AED cabinet in the morning. No complaints yet.

I can picture two stoned young lads in that car and the driver saying to the passenger "Dood, I saw this in a cartoon once....I think I can make it".

I run into people I don't like all the time on the ambulance, yet every one of my patients is treated exactly the same. I have coworkers in my full-time job that I don't like very much, but I still treat them respectfully and work with them in the same capacity as anyone else. Do you really find it so difficult to believe that someone can put personal feelings aside and just do their job?

Freaknuggetz, you start thinking it's ok to go over a doc's head and you'll be looking for work in short order. That is HIS patient and he decides where you go and how you get there, not you. Not matter how justified you may feel, you do not have MD after your name. If his actions result in a poor outcome for the patient, it's his arse on the line, not yours.

Since the OP was asking for the ONE item we value above all others, I'll go with my flashlight. Great for finding stuff in the dark, checking pupils, and maneuvering my way to my cot without having to flick on the overhead lights.

It's simply an attempt to circumvent the spam blockers.

Wow, great vid. I've seen the seatbelt one before.

The simple fact that she had no idea that agonal respirations should increase her pucker factor by 10 is scarey. I can only hope this incident has made her realise that she needs more education and patient interaction to really be able to "care" for her patients.

I guess if the choice is death or a steak knife in the throat then you choose option B.

Called by PD for a potential section 12 (psych) sitting in a car in a driveway. We arrive to find 4 officers on scene and a mid 20's female sitting in the drivers seat of a small car. One officer tells me he was driving by and noticed this young lady sitting in the driveway with the car in park, the accelerator to the boards and giving him the "death glare" as he drove by. He had removed the keys from the ignition by this time. I attempt to speak with her and she just screams at me at the top of her lungs, yelling about her brother and how she's going to bite my nose off, etc. I decide she's not coming willingly and ask the officers to remove her from the vehicle. These were four good sized cops and this was not a big girl, but she gave them a run for their money! We finally get her out and cravat her arms above her head and her feet to the bottom of the stretcher. She's now sobbing softly and I figure she's about out of energy after fighting with PD. We get her in the back of the ambulance and I have my partner jump in front to drive and one PO stays in back with me. No sooner do the back doors close than this little lady loses her frickin' marbles and rips the cravats off the head of the stretcher! Impressive. All four cops are now in the back of the ambulance again and I'm breaking out the four point restraints (in retrospect, I should have set them up before we moved her out of the car, but I digress). She screamed at me the entire 20min ride to the psych ward and fought us tooth and nail when we transferred her over to the hospitals restraints. Last I heard she was transferred to a long term psych facility.

I can't begin to imagine what the scene would have been like had she gotten a hold of a knife or other weapon. Yikes....

edit for grammar

Sugar on my Tongue - Talking Heads

I've been waiting years and years

Finally I see that you appear

My friends are here, and they ask of me

'Is this the time that we're gonna see

her put the sugar on my tongue?'

Add it up - The Violent Femmes

day after day

I get angry

and I will say

that the day

is in my sight

when I'll take a bow

and say goodnight.........

What an embarassing situation. Shame on medic 2 for putting his wife in that position!

Giving someone the option to drop their medic once they advance kinda outlines where the priorities are, eh?

Congrats bro'!

Completely off topic here, but AZCEP I gotta ask....is that Ted Kaczynski in your avatar?

I find the whole idea of the keycode silly. If I'm a bad guy and I want in, I'll just wait for the next person who enters through the door and follow them in. In most hospitals that door opens at least a couple times every few minutes. Also, how many of you notice that the numbers for the code are worn down when compared with the other numbers? Not too flippin' hard to figure out the code then.

Let me start by stating I'm an intermediate in the state of Mass. That being said, what I can offer my paramedic partner in the way of "skills" is a little bit more than what a basic can, but not much. Sure, I can start IV's and get tubes, but that's it. Even tho' I have many years in the field and make every attempt to advance my education (yes, medic school is coming), I cannot legally offer my partner much beyond IV's and tubes.

It's very frustrating that I went through intermediate school only to end up behind the wheel on most calls. I should have just went paramedic. Live and learn...

Nice! That looked like way more fun than my partner and I practicing IV's on each other during class.

There must be a reason evey major city is looking for cross-trained personnel.

Yeah, a better looking bottom line. As I stated before, I respect FF's for what they do and most of them take firefighting very seriously and do it well. When my local chief asked me to become a FF I looked him straight in the eye and said "I don't believe I can do both EMS and firefighting while giving each the dedication they deserve". I spend mucho time every day just learning more and keeping current with EMS related info...I can't imagine having to do the same with fire science on top of that. Once I have my medic (I'm at the intermediate level now), that will be even more true.

On a side note, since 90% of the calls are EMS related, shouldn't dual-role folks be called medic/ff's, not the other way around?

"Thirty-seven?!?!?!?!"

From Clerks. If you haven't seen it, rent it.

Not saying the training is more or less important or difficult. Its just that the city can use me in many different ways where a single-role medic can only be used one way. Once again, not that it is right or wrong, but that is the way the city does it. From an employer stand point it makes some sense.

...and there is the argument used to put EMTs on fire engines and FFs on ambulances. I respect FFs to no end, but it irks me when management tries to fit the round peg in the square hole to make their bottom line look better. FFs want to fight fires, EMTs want to treat patients. I cannot think of two more completely opposite professions to try and integrate.

My apologies for the thread derailment. I really tried....I swear....

We run P/B and it works out ok, but obviously the best option is P/P. P/B is only run to save money. I'll refrain from any comments about fire-ems.

SVT

12lead