emt2emca

As a PCP I am doing 12 lead acquisition and interpretation. As far as monitors are concerned I am a fan of Lifepac. starting next month we will be rolling out MRX's also with 12 lead. I believe that it is all about quick and early recongition of a STEMI and take the appropriate steps. I work in two services one has ALS and one does not. With that being said if you are given a tool you should be able to read it and not be only able to tell what you could already read on lead II. I think that it is our responsibility as the level of professionals we say and espire to be that we learn how to read the 12 lead for all types of MI's, not just a right. Our ED's have come to trust our intereptation and print outs to the extent that alot of ED doc's will give tx without repeating the test first. If we become proficient and confident in what we find everyone else in the chain will follow suit. After all isn't it about getting the door to needle time down. Sorry if I'm just rambling and not making sense... been a long shift.

I guess I should have said that they are 12 hour shifts. Also I think we should show each other the respect of calling each other paramedics. How do we expect to gain respect from the gov't or public if we don't give it to ourselves... just a thought

Well the long and short of it is that there are so many different ways to work the schedule that is a really difficult question to answer. I don't think there are many places in Ontario that still work 24's (not to say there isn't any). There are two common schedules that most seem to use... 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on then 3 off with every other weekend being off. The other is to hard to explain other than it is a 28 day schedule with 7 off in row... but you have to work for it with a 6 day split in the middle. Don't know if that helped or just confused you more... I might actually be confused now