scratrat

Why not lobby the hospital and get some volunteer Doctors and Nurses to ride the ambulance?

It's not illegal in NJ, however, it is illegal to leave your vehicle running unattended. If you leave your car running while going into WaWa (God, I miss that place ) to get your morning cup of coffee, they can fine you. No one does it though. They're, well, what's the word.....lazy??

I never started an IV for my drunken escapades.

I have, however, started my own IV when the stomach flu almost killed me. I swear it did! At least, that's how I felt anyway... I couldn't keep water down. 2 liters later I felt like a new man. Minus the recurrent vomiting...

Who do you go to and who do you talk to when you have no one whom you can trust at the place you are employed at?????

That's how I figured out that it was time to quit working there and move on.

"Dispatch, can you send a flatbed to this location? We need to move this vehicle south before we extricate the victim."

HAHAHA.

I like it!

That's a damn fine idea!!

I'll tell you the best solution I've found :

I moved to Florida.

See, that's why I gave up the street full time. I make WAY much more money working at a prison. It's not the glory job, but hey, my pay about doubled. And i can't say I miss the medicaid "you owe me an ambulance ride" people, and the 3 am stuffy nose.

It's about time.

In NJ, we were allowed to have blue lights if we were volunteers. I admit I had one in the beginning. But I NEVER went through a red light, or expected people to pull over. If they did, great. If not, oh well.

I have personally been involved in two accidents where the EMT driver was at fault. The first was my partner going lights and sirens with a back injury from an MVC. She went through a "green" light (I still say it was probably red) and clipped the front end of a car coming through the intersection. The other was a moron driver who wasn't familiar with where the hospital was. I lead him there in the medic truck (Explorer) and he rear ended me at probably 50 mph. That hurt....a lot.

In NJ, most all ambulances respond to calls and return to the hospitals with L&S. When traffic was rediculously busy, we'd tell them to kill the lights if it wasn't emergent. They'd look at us like we lost our mind. It's like they didn't know how to drive without the woo woos on.

Now in FL, we respond dependent on disptach protocols. It doesn't always work for the better, but it's a start. When someone calls c/o cold flu symptoms, we got without L&S. And we very rarely respond back to hospital with lights on unless it's emergent. I'm not saying this is perfect. There have been MANY times where we were disptached code 2 (no lights) and we get there, and here's the pt dead or near death. By all means, there are catches. But I think it's better than going everywhere with lights on.

LOL, reaper.

How about "Please step into my office"?

For a minute there I thought you said orifice.....not office. I did a double take.

Sad to see that one guy tarnished your reputation with the FD.

Hopefully he was young and dumb and someone taught him the basics of extracation after that?

All of the interesting senarios I have dealt with involve semi's.... On their side, upside down, right side up.

Its alot easier to get someone out of an upside down semi then it is one rightside up!

No, it wasn't just him. It was most of them. I think I've ran into 2 people that actually had a clue. The rest could care less about EMS so they suck at it. Like bringing the CHF'r out into the cold with no blanket and on a nasal when they're impending failure. Anyway, I didn't want to hijack the thread...... :oops:

God I love your posts. That was just funny as hell.

This was one of my reasons for being COMPLETELY against fire having anything to do with medical..

Car hits another car on a major highway. Car goes into a ditch striking a concrete drainage ditch head-on but also causing to car to rest on the lateral drivers side. (Sideways in the ditch basically.) It's a VERY expensive car and the first thing I notice is the gigantic diamond ring on the womens finger that would probably take my lifetime to pay for. So instantly I think "lawyer". She's gonna be suing someone.

The firefighter "EMT" is holding c-spine inside of the car. The rear window was blown out which is how the driver crawled out. HIS idea to extricate the women? I kid you not, this was his reply to me. "I'll hold her head really tight. Then we'll just upright the car and take her out the door."

I swear I'm not making this up. My only reply was "Are you f***ing stupid?"

That's about the time that my partner had to take over for me....

12 is too young to be given life or a death sentence.

That kid needs counseling...BIG time!!! I'd want to know how long he was alone with 10 and 17 month olds. Those ages can try anyone's nerves if left alone with them for too long.

BS.

When I was 12, I knew right from wrong. This kid will never be rehabilitated. He will continue to be a burden to society. Get rid of him now. I'm all for it.

We carry three on each truck in external carriers, staff wear them as they feel the need. I just used to put one on scratrat and use him as a shield

I made a pretty damn good shield didn't I?

I used DFO the other day, and the 2 Medics looked at me like I just admitted I was a Liberal

I suppose it is a North Eastern term, since I am in Fla..... for now

Try the scrote one.

They've never heard that one here either. I had to tell them it referred to a bum. Here, an officer called one 'residentially challenged'. I liked that one.

ARMC was 22 something an hour for per diem and a little less for full time.

UMH was also a really good paycheck.

No, they're not false, you just misunderstood. They are functioning as EMT's only but they are making the same as, if not more than, they would at the MICU. That's why they work OCFD full time and only per diem at the shore. They'd rather work at the FD and work OT there before picking shifts as a medic. The guys that have been there awhile made as much as I did working two medic jobs. And the only worked 1/2 the hours I did!

No, they get paid EMT salary. And unless MICU is on scene, they are only EMT's and cannot function as a paramedic.

Yeah, I finally got them to reset it since it never got mailed. It's kind of a funny thing with reciprocity. I guess since I was certified there for 5 years, they allow me to just resume it I guess. It said that I can't apply for reciprocity because I am "already approved for paramedic certification". Then it only asks for a project with whom I'd be working.. I wonder if I'd get my old cert number back?? It was so easy to remember. 2424. Anyway, I guess that means all I have to do is get a job, and I'd be recertified.

On to you OC,

MICU will pay you more than NWFD. And probably ACFD, to start. But I know the medics work OCFD full time and only PT at ARMC because they get paid better at OCFD. Your friend that got hired, where were they from? I didn't recognize the initials.

OCFD and ACFD are probably going to be the best paid. And at least your EMT cert won't go bad if you in OCFD. They are hard to get hired onto though. ACFD is a little easier to get on to, although it's quite political. NWFD, you've got a snow balls chance in hell. They hire infrequently, and you usually have to work with them in some capacity before they'll hire you. At least, thats the way it used to be. You've got a better shot at the other two.

I see the rabbit ears you are talking about in III and AVF, which would be indicative of an LBBB but I just don't think they are wide enough. LBBB's or any branch block tend to be wider. I could be wrong, hopefully we can get one of the Docs to weigh in.

Not wide enough. Plus, you need to look at V1 to determine if it is in fact a BBB. V1 isn't too bad, so it's probably normal variant. Although your V leads look like you're coming close to having LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy). Not there yet, but it looks like they are getting there.

That web site isn't very helpful....I was already registered apparently but I can't get my password! Bastards!

On to more pressing points.....what the hell would possess you to go back to that god forsaken land? You've got it made here. Not for the pay, but you'll never beat the retirement. And until NJ follows those recommendations and opens it up to municipalities and counties to operate ALS trucks, it will continue to suck. Yes, you can get paid double what you're making here if FLA, but unless you do a 401k you get nothing for retirement. And then you just hope the hospital doesn't pull a Kessler and file bankruptcy causing you to lose the retirement you paid for!

We went on a chest pain so we needed to do a 12 lead. The women was old, in her sixties, but had a great sense of humor. She was screwing with me from the get go.

I explained the 12 lead and told her where I'd be putting them and that I would need to move her breast (which were rather large and saggy). When I lifted her breast she looked right at me and said "Oh, you frisky little boy!". My partner about lost his damn mind! I couldn't think of what to say, so I purred at her. She laughed her ass off and my partner could no longer keep a straight face.

Try this rotation :

4 on

4 off

6 on

4 off

4 on

6 off

THAT... sucks..

I miss night shift, but it is still slightly better than days. When I was on nights, I actually feel I got more time with my kids because I could wake up and have dinner or whatever then go to work. But my days off sucked. I had to get out of that mentality each time I had off, so my first day was spent being tired and miserable, then the remainder of my days off I could do things. Now I'm on days and aside from not having to get out of the swing of night shift, I'd rather be back on nights. The only shift available was 8a-8p so now when I get home, everyone is getting ready for bed so I see my kids less now then on nights.

Yes, the soft bags fold over on themselves. They make the same size bag only a little narrower, it a harder plastic bag. It takes more to fold it.

I did read that about DEHP. That's where my question originated. I wasn't concerned with the adult population but it did have warnings about sending pediatrics into respiratory arrest. Although fixable, it's something I like to avoid.