HellsBells

You want to explain what this means? Or is it just a specious statement?

This is a very timely article for me to be reading. One of our instructors was just commenting on the fact that we have to be very careful giving "sukks" when there is a possibility for hyperkalemia. What I find interesting about this article, is the first case study in regards to a doc giving the drug the drug that killed the patient. Giving RSI meds is a very invasive procedure, if a doctor (with much more training and education then a paramedic) can make such a critical error, its absolutely mandatory that we, as prehospital care providers obtain the skill and knowledge to administer paralytics properly. This is not about a cool skill, or feeling good about ourselves for "getting the tube," its about ensuring we do our best to get the patient out of the hospital alive.

Where was the dentist when this was all going down? Surely he must have realized the man was dead?

Not only that, this Pt. was vomiting and has now become lethargic; you want to pour a liquid down her throat?? Aspiration anyone?

I know this guy said that he just said no to drugs, but it sure seems like cocaine all the way, what business does a guy in his 20's have with an AMI anyhow? Don't hurt me too much, I'm still a paramedic student, but would anybody try Midazolam 2.5mg IV? Is anyone even gonna finish this scenario?

During my practicum as an EMT, one of the first things my preceptor taught me was not to call elderly people "dear." So, to this day anyone over fifty is Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. unless they tell me different.

First of all, I am of the opinion that this story may be a little fake. I don't know of anyone who just has HCl acid lying around the house, unless her husband was a scientist or a high school chemistry teacher. Secondly, I agree that assisted suicide are in a totally different realm than this case. If a person has a terminal disease, with no relief from pain and they have made their peace and ready to die, why should we not give them that mercy? You would do it for your dog if he was suffering with no chance of survival, why can't we show the same compassion for humans?

Well to be fair to AMR, they are a fairly large company and with a much larger base of employees, its more likely that some will get into trouble.

Do you really care what people think about this? Have you also asked peoples favorite brand of toothbrush?

There is a program here in Alberta, at the college of medicine hat that offers a Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Paramedic) it is a four year zero to hero program. The good thing about it is that you go through and acheive your certification as an EMR, EMT, then Paramedic. Meidcine Hat Paramedic Program

Clearly this guy is a profound idiot. I wonder if he has ever had a knife stuck in his face? If so, I wonder what kind of Chuck Norris/ Ninja moves he used to disarm his attacker. Clearly, rapists never actually follow through on their threats of violence to the victims, thats why there has never been a case of a rape/ murder in the history of civilization. If someone is debased enough to inflict the violence of rape on someone, how much more does it really take to stab or kill? The worst part about this dumbass's myspace posting is that he makes the women a victim again by suggesting that its somehow her fault and she should have fought back harder, after all, its only a knife, what harm can it possibly do? Way to be an advocate for your patient.

Why wouldn't you discuss it with them? If a patient asks I have no problem telling them what the cost will be. The municipality I work for is very flexable when it comes to paying for service. If the patient contacts our billing office, they even offer monthly payment options to make it easier. I don't think that informing people of the cost is akin to trying to talk them out of an ambulance trip. If they balk at the cost, I simply inform them that there are a lot of payment options, and the prime concern is their health.

Wow, I'd like to see the case study.

I agree totally with ridryder. There is no reason whatsoever to associate the agency one works for with personal solicitations online. I for one can't imagine why anyone would want to post nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves online (unless they are porn stars, and getting paid for it) where anybody could stumble on them. I would be mortified if I came to work and was informed that my peers discovered my "uniform shirt only" pic that I posted on Imawhacker.com. Moreover, it gives the whole agency a bad name. I know that if I stumbled on a provocative picture of someone wearing a certain uniform I would have a very low opinion of that service and wonder about the competency of their staff.

Go CANADA

I am curious about why you tried the D50 on this guy, did you get a sugar on him first?

Hey Mobey, I've gone now to the information sessions for both Augustana and Portage, to be quite honest there doesn't seem to be much difference between the delivery methods of both schools. I think that will choose Augustana, just because its closer. However, I think the whole canoe trip is a stupid idea, I'd much rather be using the time to learn in the classroom.

Spenac, those quotes discribe the times we have lived in for the past two thousand years.

...but does it actually avoid the conversation? There has been a lot of discussion here in Alberta about the subject and the implication that taking the drug will somehow incourage promiscuous behavior in young girls. A prominent Catholic priest in my city has spoken out publicly against the vaccine, citing girls will be more likely to engauge in premarital sex after taking it. How this drug encourages sexual activity any more than a tetanus shot encourages kids stepping on rusty nails is beyond me.

or how to spell them either, apparently. I kid you Mobey, seriously though psych calls can be challenging

You still use MAST pants?

Sorry, I can't be of any help here. But it sounds like your school has put you in a real catch 22. They can't get you a practicum, but since you don't have one you get dropped from the program.

I think the crux of the argument here is that we assume there are more ems accidents in the USA then in Australia per capita. But is there? Has anyone come up with any hard data, or are we just going off a perception based on media exposure? I looked to find stats involving ems accidents in both countries, but didn't come up with much. However, if we simply look at the population densitys of the two countries; 21 million in Australia, and 300 million in USA, of course there are going to be more reported accidents in the USA. There are more people, more traffic, and a lot more urban areas in the US. High density, low income areas, coupled with lack of universal health care may play a part; as sevenball suggests. But, I think thats more of a specious argument. I'm willing to bet that having ten times the population plays the most critical role in this discussion

If the company knows where these central locations are, why the hell havent they built stations there? This curbside deployment is BS shoved down our throats by companys that are too cheap to spend the money they should for proper EMS resourses. Yeah, these guys get pretty cranky if they don't get a full eight hours per shift.

Ha, its funny that you should mention that. I just finished watching the first season of NYPD Blue on DVD, and was quite frankly amazed by the high quality of David Caruso's performance on that series. It really raises the question, How did he become such an obnoxious, overbearing, asshat of an actor on CSI Miami?