speedygodzilla

Too late to edit. But figure I would add I was thinking of it like a medical case. Thinking back there is little details but this could of been a trauma. Protocol is different, as is assessment, but seriously I still see no room for errors like this. Just my two cents!

Wow, would love to know more on how this happen. Where I work protocol requires no audible heart tones, lividity or rigor mortis, and asystole in 3 leads. Plus on top of that we must contact medical control painting the picture, giving them enough comfort in our decision to officially aprove Prehospital Death Determination. Probably due to fact of cases like this.

I consider myself human, so some calls do bother me. I do find myself in professional "mode" during the call, but afterwards find myself reflecting on the call. Not too long ago we were called to a house by PD for 2 children that were neglected. The house is on a street that I go by quite often. I always look at the house (now vacant I assume) and think of those little kids hoping that they are in much better circumstances. Venting with my wife does seem to help alittle, but I have come to realize that besides my job of reporting, patient care, documentation, etc, there is not much more I can do. I try my best not to bring work home, and for the most part I don't, but sometimes you just need someone to talk to, that may just simply need to listen. I have a great wife, and I try to return the favor for her where I can. Bottling things up and acting as if your invencible is not wise! At least not in my personal experience.

I have always had a male PCP so I find myself naturally being more comfortable with a male doctor. This being said, I really don't have a problem receving care from a female PCP and now that I think of it I have seen a few Nurse Practitioners at my PCP off when apparently he was too busy, and I don't remember it even dawning to me than. I am not 100% sure why it makes any difference to me now that I think of it. I guess I just find it more comfortable being exam by a male doctor. What would I do? How would I feel? What do you do to be able to work around it? For the most part I don't beleive I would be bother by a refusal of a procedure from a patient due to gender, especially for a particular procedure like an 12-Lead. In my years of as a tech even in the ER I never had a female patient refuse to let me preform the procedure. I do my best to keep their privacy. But if they ask that a female preform the procedure I would understand. I would always do my best to work around it but many times males are the only ones on scene as my full time partner is a male and most of the firefighters are male. If the patient refuse based off of that I would try to limit the procedure to one person to see this would make them more comfortable. I can't see the patient refusing transport base off of gender but if they did I guess I would have to consider another unit. I would probably feel kind of annoyed if they refuse all care based of off my gender. Now if there were other things involved, like assault or sexual truama I would understand. Should gender matter? Should a patient (assuming no history of sexual trauma) be able to refuse a provider solely on the basis of gender? I don't see much reason why gender should matter in our field, but I can understand it becoming an issue for those few patients. I honestly have not had any patients refuse base of off gender that I know off. I try to explain the procedure, what I am doing, and what I am looking for. I really think that helps a lot. Should the patient be able to, well that is kind of tricky. Why I don't think it should hault our care in EMS, I beleive it is up to our patient and that we don't always have to agree with their decisions. We should respect their decision when at all possible and appropriate.

Thanks for the clarification. Sometimes I we call the combination of A/A Duoneb, but I would not document it as such as we don't carry Duoneb. It is nice to know Atrovent is no longer contraindicated with a peanut allergy. Learning all the time. How about soy allergy? It seems I need to pull out the sheet that comes with the drugs as they are delivered to our department, as I would assume they are up to date.

Little confused. Duoneb "is not meant to be Duo Neb as in two med neb." It is my understanding that Duoneb is Albuterol and Atrovent Nebulize together. In fact I have never seen Duoneb come that way, and have always just actually mixed the two and documented at Albuterol on one line, and Atrovent in the other. I still don't see a reason for not considering Albuterol by itself for some patients. If Albuterol will do the job by itself why not let it? Atrovent is a great tool to help Albuterol be more effective but is not needed for all patients. At the same time there isn't much of a contraindication for adding Atrovent (besides allergies including soy and peanuts) so I guess it wouldn't hurt to add. At the same time I am still on the fense in thinking that I can always add Atrovent as needed, while I can't take a drug away I have already given.

I totally agree. I had guess pneumonia from the context but wasn't totally sure. I am a brand new medic as well, have yet to even start orientation yet (waiting for state license). I plan to only give Duonebs with chronic conditions, and when their at home treatment is ineffective. I figure you can always start off with Albuterol, and add Atrovent down the road as needed. But I do plan to start my COPD, asthma patients who have had little to no relief from Albuterol alone off with a Duoneb from the start. As for the CHF patients, well I have the advantage of having CPAP where I work and plan to start off with that and add Albuterol through CPAP as indicated. I too have heard many medics say they will never give CHF patients Albuterol and I beleive I understand the risk of opening the lungs to all the fluid. But with CPAP I have come to the understanding that they constant pressure reduces this risk and keeps the aviola open. Still not 100% clear on this as I have yet to see it done on a patient and if I have I seem to have forgotten, too busy driving. Good questions!

Vial of Life Not a bad idea. I'm gonna make some copies and start handing these out. Heck if time provides I'll just fill the darn thing out for them. This would be so handy if people had this or something to its effect. Thanks for the reminder of such a handy tool.

Thanks I am so

Just wanted to announce that I am now a National Registered Paramedic! I took my test on Wednesday and found out that I passed yesterday morning. How about that for quick results? They did a pretty good job making it feel as if I could of failed, but I was somewhat positive I passed as I studied a lot. So for the past two days I have barely picked up a book. That won't last, oh joy, as I have to go over my ALS protocols now for work. Thanks everyone for your support and answering my questions on the forums from time to time. Paramedic Nate Johnson

We are not allowed to represent the company in personal photos, and this can easily get you fired depending on what you are doing during the photo. I would have to say from that piano improv of that chat site, this would be the last place I would go while at work. The idea that it randomly puts you with another is a bit scary while at work. I really have no intrest for such thing anyways although the piano guy was pretty funny lol. Sounds like from the news papers site that it was a bit political too as the Hospital did not want a article about it, even though it still ended up that way. Humm weird how that works.

Glad to hear you figured it out! Google is great for me, as I can access it from any computer (with internet), my phone, and if I ever change smart phones I can easily sync it. What happens if you drop your phone into a body of water, or something else ruins it.

You have probably already tired this but you may take both phones to your wireless provider. I know when I got my new Palm they moved all my contacts to it. However since the calendar is a different software it may not be able to be sync to the BB. I don't really know. My advice to you would be to start using google calendars and saving your contacts on there as well. It is a lot easier to edit your calendar in google and I beleive it can easily be sync to your BB. I have a Palm Pre and use google to sync making life much easier. Let me know if you need help with that. You can make a calendar for each job, etc. I have around 10 calendars. Sorry not the best answer but it is all I got. I really doubt anyone here is gonna know more than crackberry.com lol, as I go to precentral.net for my Palm related questions.

Thanks all for your help. I am not too worried about being sued, but how would I answer this question if it popped up on my NREMT-P test which I hope to take soon. I am now going to go with involuntary consent even thought I really don't like that answer. I see it more as implied consent seeing that the patient is not in the right mental form to make proper decisions on their care. One book says one thing, and another says another yet the NREMT doesn't seem to have a source that I can rely solely on for testing so I stuck picking what I think is the "best answer." Oh joy!

Above is a test question from Barron's Paramedic Exam 2nd Edition I was taught that involuntary consent does not even exist. From emergency Care in the Streets, Nancy Caroline, 6th Edi Both books copyrighted in the same year. I agree with Nancy on this one, but still find my self think What do you think?

Should of ready the dates first lol.

While reviewing my text I came accross something that gave no explanation: "[Cardiac Arrest] Cases of Hypothermia Less Than 86 degrees F (30 degrees C) Contiune CPR, attempt a single defibrillation for V-Fib/V-Tach, establish IV access, withhold IV medications, and transport to hospital." "[Cardia Arrest] Cases of Hypotermia Greater than 86 degrees F Contine CPR, and administer IV medications as indicated by the electrocardiographic rhythm, but space them at longer than standard intervals..." Emergency Care in the Streets by Nancy Caroline Can someone please explain why it says to withhold IV meds and/or space them at longer intervals? Thanks

Now that is funny, thanks for sharing.

Be prepared to be ran through your skills. This basically includes all the national registry stuff, BSI, scene safe, etc. Many times places use this somewhere in their process to weed out the unprepared. Good Luck

Thanks! Yes I have experience with the NREMT testing. I am NR EMT-B and took my test the first year they went to the computer based, 2007 I think. There is a lot I need to do in these next few weeks. I did leave the EMT-B test thinking

I passed, thanks for all your support. Now to take the written.

Thanks all, the skills test is tomorrow and I wish it had been today. I am ready, I am ready, I am ready. Thanks for the advice. Keep it coming I still have tonight and the morning.

Hey all, I have been a member here for sometime. I don't say much but I do try to read the fourms a bit here in there. My last year of life has been extremly busy with either work or school. I am a EMT soon hoping to be a Paramedic. I am taking my skills test this weekend and am feeling a bit nervous. Just thought I would say hi and try to write my nerves out. I will keep you all posted on when I get my medic. If anyone has advice on how to get rid of these nerves that would be great, and no I don't want to take any pills lol. I have studied a lot and feel ready for the most part but knowing that all you have to do is miss one thing and you fail really makes me worried. I plan on giving it my best, and hope to be contributing more to the fourms as a Paramedic soon. Thanks All Nathan Johnson