EMTBgirl

I am currently a nursing student. All my nursing profs seem to be clueless about EMTs and what we actually do. One of the nurses asked me were I work. When I told her that I work for an ambulance service, she responded "Oh, so you drive ambulance." Gosh...this stupidity at a Master's degree level...I think I will go back for paramedic after I am done with nursing. Paramedics have more common sense than nurses!

Are we allowed to give oral glucose to an unconscious patient???? According to my nutrition teacher, if someone is unconscious and you suspect low blood sugar, you should always give them oral glucose or sugar in some form through their mouth. I though that we were only allowed to give oral glucose to a conscious patient? Who is right?

This year is my first year getting the flu shot. I wasn't going to get it, but then I started to volunteer at a local hospital and they offered it to me for free.

I found this on facebook and figured you guys would enjoy it too. Three nurses are walking along the beach when they find an old lamp. One of the nurses rubs the lamp and out pops a genie! "For freeing me, I'll give each of you one wish," announces the genie. The first nurse says, "I want to be twice as smart as I am now, that way I'll be a better nurse." The genie puts his hand to his temple and concentrates, then smiles and says, "It is done." The second nurse declares, "Well, I want to be ten times as smart!" Again, the genie concentrates and then says, "It is done." The third nurse, not to be outdone, asks, "Can you make me one hundred times smarter than I am now?" The genie puts his hand to his temple, then pauses and asks the third nurse, "Are you sure you want to be a paramedic?"

I love the idea of defibrillate me, Elmo! I wonder how much people would be willing to pay for something like that!

Don't go to Grand Forks. Go to FM Ambulance in Fargo, North Dakota. They are awesome people to work with!!! I was in their explorers program for two years and just took the summer EMT-B course. I would highly recommend these guys, they're the best in the business!

What in the world was that? Either her friends are paying her to do this and it is all one big joke or she is really hurting and needs some counseling.

In my EMT-B class we were taught to never withhold oxygen from a patient that needs it and we were also taught that as a general rule every patient gets oxygen. You did the right thing. I would have done the same thing in that situation.

Hey guys, I was just wondering when you guys get the most calls.

No we don't have overalls. We have our coats and gloves that we can wear, but other than that we just wear our jeans or whatever we have on. In the case of a car accident, the fire department responds in full gear so they do the cutting and we just focus on the patient and let the fire department handle the rest. Since the rescue squad that I am with is mainly made up of first responders, we always have another ambulance service respond with us to calls where a patient will most likely need to be transported. Overall, its a small town and we really don't see many car accidents that are too bad.

We all carry our own bag that contains airway adjuncts, pocket mask, gauze, and a few other things. The nearby ambulance service usually restocks our rescue squad when they come to pick our patients up. Sometimes they don't but they are usually pretty good about it.

In my town, we have an explorers crew that call themselves Adventurers. They go through Boy Scouts of America. They are not as medically focused as the explorer program that I attended in Fargo, ND. They are more into wilderness stuff and that kind of thing. They have their basic CPR certification but not much more than that.

In our town of 500 people, they are volunteer.

The rescue squad that I am on in Minnesota wears whatever. It depends on when you joined the squad. Over time we have gotten sweatshirts and t-shirts. We just got polos. We don't wear EMT pants. We have coats that Id who we are and pretty much wear those when we are on calls. There really isn't a uniform that we are required to wear on calls. Most of us just show up in whatever we happen to be wearing when the call comes in. But remember that we don't really work shifts, we are on call 24/7 so that might make a difference.