HellsBells

WTF? Please tell me you're being sarcastic.

Yep, no facts whatsoever here, Just keep repeating, Fire based EMS is the best, Fire based EMS saves lives, Firemen are heroes, Fire Depts without EMS cook really well and get a full nights sleep, ummm i mean EMS needs Fire... I have to hand it to them though, Fire Depts have some fantastic PR. We should take a lesson from them, then maybe EMS could get a piece of the FD's massive budget.

Nope, no EMS bumper sticker. I do however, have a Star of Life tattooed on my face. That way people know as soon as they see me, that I save Lives.

Wow, I thought flexing from station to station at 3am was a pain in the ass. I can't imagine having to stage on a street corner all shift. I think my bitterness would grow exponentially. Actually, I remember reading an article about a service in Ontario where management tried to employ curbside deployment. The union shot it down, arguing it was an unacceptable environment to work in. I'll see if I can find the story.

Calgary, Alberta. I think we are up around 100,000 a year, average per unit is about 3-4 calls per days shift, and 5-7 at night.

So Richard with your "CSL" deployment I take it that any downtime you have between calls or ER visits that you go back to patrolling a street corner and dont return to your hall? Furthermore, I guess I should ask do you even get much down time in you're shifts? With an annual call volume of 1 million I imagine you stay quite busy.

First off I really don't want this to turn into another endless BLS debate. I really was just making a point to be the devils advocate and I found it interesting, the ease in which people agreed on teachers giving epi vs the ongoing, raging debate over BLS and drug admin. Of course there are more issues that arise with the older population and heart defects, but we can say what if, what if, what if all day long if you want Dust. What if there is a substitute teacher who doesn't know a certain childs full medical history, thinks he needs epi and it exacerbates a previous congenital heart defect, perhaps a previously undiagnosed Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

First off I really don't want this to turn into another endless BLS debate. I really was just making a point to be the devils advocate and I found it interesting, the ease in which people agreed on teachers giving epi vs the ongoing, raging debate over BLS and drug admin. Of course there are more issues that arise with the older population and heart defects, but we can say what if, what if, what if all day long if you want Dust. What if there is a substitute teacher who doesn't know a certain childs full medical history, thinks he needs epi and it exacerbates a previous congenital heart defect, perhaps a previously undiagnosed Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

dahlio I think you're mistaken about the number of schools that have RN's on site, when I was coming up (elementary to high school) we never had Nurses on site at any time. So, I agree that its fine for teachers to admin this drug as long as all the caveats mentioned in previous posts are followed. However, for the very reasons everyone here supported Epi in the classroom, there should also be preload epi pens on every BLS ambulance in the nation. We can agree on that, right? Can't we...?

I honestly don't know if I believe a word that is printed in this article. There is not one shread of evidence or stat to back up the fire dept claims, just some vague claim about medics sleeping that sounds more like gossip than anything. I do however find the fire dept complaining about ems sleeping quite ironic.

WTF? Why the hell should a medical director have to answer to a fire chief?

I work in a Large Urban area, 1 million plus residents in the city with about 45 ambulance running at peak hours. We operate under a flexible deployment strategy, where we have certain stations that must be manned at all times. (ie. a call goes out from a demand post, the nearest non-demand unit will be called in to cover the area). For me, working from a non-demand post it seems like we're forever driving back and forth between stations in between calls. It get particularly annoying during nights, when I just want to catch a few hours sleep. So... My question to all you guys in the big citys, does this sound similar to where you work? Are there any deployment strategies out there that work better? Does anyone work in systems that practices curbside deployment? I'd really like to hear what works, or doesn't work for all y'all.

Really good article. It reflects many of the things that I've been discussing lately with fellow paramedics. I think we need to start looking more at the idea of treat and release for patients (when possible), instead of the old "you call, we haul" mentality. Working in a large urban centre I can tell you that the wait times at hospitals are killing us and we need to change the way we think about treating patients.

Yeah I saw this commercial, I actually thought it was pretty funny. I'm not offened by it in the least.

There have been many posts on the subject. Go here- alberta college of paramedics

ABC news has insulted us all. I for one DEMAND satisfaction. I hereby challenge ABC news and all its affiliates to a duel. Perhaps pistols at dawn?

Nah he probably doesnt even remember it, after he gets done with the troublesome court date he'll grab a couple beers to put him right, then get behind the wheel of his new ride.

Well I know this might not be a very popular option arund here, but have you thought of trying to organize a union?

Wow, forced OT. What do you employees and the union think of having to take overtime? Is it resented, or do people enjoy the extra money?

Its funny that scparamedic98 refers to feeling the "pop" of the vein, because I very rarely experience that sensation when starting a line. I really have to go on sight, seeing the blood actually flow into the flash chamber.

a Lot of our paramedics wear yellow ribbons to support our troops, but havent seen any with medals for actual service.

So, courgeheart, What did you end up doing for this patient?

You can't be serious.

This is a little off topic, but... What kind of transport times do you have? Do you have cath labs or thrombilytic treatment at any of your receiving hospitals? We have a cardiac protocol where any ST elevation or LBBB gets transmited to hospital right away, so if they require it they bypass the ER and go right into the cath lab. Our service is Urban with transport times less than 10 min (usually), but this protocol works very well.

its interesting that you bring this point up; as I was just looking at a new memo from our fire dept. concerning this issue. It basically says that if the fire dept. is on scene at a call where all EMS personnel leave, but a unit is left behind it will be taken back to the station of the responding pumper unit and secured there until EMS can pick it up.