mrmeaner

Definately cooler than a segway. My guess is that the program will be scraped after the first medic lays down his bike and does a rapid assessment of pavement. Urban EMS is not my gig so I guess I can't say whether or not this is a necessity in anyway.

Given that EMS providers are a typically a reflection of the areas they serve, that is probably not as much of an issue. Everybody judges people by appearance, the difference is whether or not you hold on to that first impression. What's the first thing you think when you see an overweight cop? Probably either a joke about Dunkin' Donuts or a judgement that "He/She must not catch too many criminals on foot." Being a provider to the public puts EMS in the position of being judged by a first impression. If you are a competent and caring provider, it won't matter after about 2 minutes of care.

I think this would have ben a good contest idea.

Well, if EMS was to be taken seriously, the NHTSA wouldn't have anything to do with it to begin with.

Thanks, Ruff!

After looking at the NHTSA guidelines for the Emergency Medical Technician (Basic), it looks like the ability to give oral glucose is intended to remain a skill appropriate for this level. That being the case, I agree it would be appropriate for the EMT to use a glucometer. The reason being if they are going to make the intervention, it should be a more informed one. This is given that: they are calling med control, this is being done en route, and there is no indication that the pt. can not control his/her airway. It would appear that glucagon is no longer an option for the EMT. Good. It has already been explained why this is appropriate. Even though I agree in this case that the EMT should be able to use a glucometer, I voted no in the poll. The reason being that I don't believe that an EMT (Basic) should be solely responsible for the transportation of a pt. in an emergency therefore no reason to have a glucometer. I don't have anything against Emits personally, I work with Basics and Intermediate Technicians (a Wisconsin thing) all the time. Your level of care doesn't necessarily reflect your commitment to patient care (I know Dust, if they were that committed, they would get as much education as they can and become medics). I just believe that the reasons there are still EMT services are not enough to justify the lower level of patient care.

Damn Wikipaedia.

I don't know Thom any better than any other EMS writer, but I would guess you can't be to heavy-handed if you want to have another article published next week. Especially with the number of volunteers that read Jems. The article reminded me of the theory of motivation by inactivity. The idea is that you motivate other people to perform an action by sandbaging your own attempt. I'm not saying that this was the intent, but it just seemed simmilar.

I had to give up trying to read it online and just print the article. I agree that the article died at the end. The entire "Keeping Your Balance" aka "Fight Your Inner Wacker" section distracted from the rest of the article and should have been removed. The rest of the article discussed topics not exactly new to this site. It didn't make a strong opinion, but did hint at one. Fairly good article overall.

I prefer to pick my battles outside of consealed weapon states.

Good points Rid. Part of the problem in trying to change the standard in EMS is that there is no standard EMS. EMS is the red-headed stepchild of healthcare. In hospital based EMS, staff is used as transporters, CNA's and maintanence. The only time EMS is brought up in advertisements is when a hospital gets a new helicopter or critical care unit. In fire based EMS, the job is tacked on to a job that has a lot of downtime. Private EMS is the only sect that is completely independent. In any of these cases, it's hard to see getting support to increase the standards of professionalism and education especially when they're afraid they'll have to pay us more. Joe taxpayer is not likely to go to bat for us either. The average person has limited knowledge of what we do. We show up at car crashes and take people to the hospital. Little difference between us and your local taxi service. I can't speak for every state, but our local legislature is not giving much support either. In our state EMS office, staff members are dropping like flys. The state EMS director has been here for a little over a year which is a miracle in my opinion. The EMS department doesn't see much monitary support unless in comes in the form of a grant. It's not that we don't have supporters. Medical professionals like Dr. Bledsoe, some of your local legislatures and some average Joe's do want to see us succede. But, they're not going to do it for us. I'm not saying this because I don't think there's any point to try. Quite the opposite. If you look at some of our surrounding professions like nursing and fire, they had to come up the same way. The advantage we have is we can look to see what they did right and wrong. Any change, I agree, is going to be internally driven. Start with your own appearance, education and demeanor. Encourage others that you work with to do the same. If nothing else, creating competition in the job market will help. Around here, most of the full time services and some of the on call services are becoming paramedic services. It's actually pretty hard for an EMT-B to get a job here. 5 years ago, it would have easily been enough. Maybe it's not where we need to be, but it's in the right direction. My question is whether or not there is an association that has these goals in mind? Most of the ones I know of sound like they are either driven by money more than advancement or are too small or disorganized to do much at a national level.

Assuming he can keep himself out of trouble and on both legs that long! Good article, Doc. :thumbright: The trick is getting these ideas out of EMS media and into EMS training.

Yeah, actually I bought the movie a while ago so I've seen it, along with the interviews. Good movie (although I still find it hard to believe that there's a doctor out there that wears silverware earrings to his interview). But as the point has been made, the EMT-B class is short as it is. Although I understand that the movie illustrates the motivation to help and heal patients not for money, but for the life experiences, the patient's ability to help the practitioner in their own life and to develop a sense of community and ownership in that community's well being, I think the movie could have been watched on an individual basis and not have used class time. However, I was not the instructor, it was his class and his decision. I am glad you have a high regard for your instructor and I wouldn't be opposed to meeting him. I don't think he was a crap instructor and would like to think I wouldn't base my assessment of his ability to teach because of one decision. That would be disappointing. You're making yourself look like someone who doesn't have a whole lot of experience in this field, but has the determination to defend his ideas. Not a bad start for 17. :wink:

That class was one of the reasons I was glad we switched to the Mosby text for medic class. I took the class as a basic and even though some of the material was over my head, it was presented in a way that made sence and made me want to learn more.

Glad to know I won't be going to Mississippi any time soon. I'll be sure to warn my family that travels through that area though. No wonder the nurses are pissed. Weak.

It's just an epi rhythm. Wont make it to the ICU.

Best of luck.

I hope this was a typo or I'm missing something. The one mandatory class was movie night? I wouldn't necessarily judge your instructor on this one point, but that statement doesn't make a great case for him. I don't think a person should be solely responsible for pt. care until at least 25. As far as assisting, 18 is pushing the limit.

To: Bayside Area Life Support ambulance crew From: Dr. Jack Knauf, Medical Director Re: Cooter Shooters In response to the growing use of tampons soaked with alcohol and placed in the bottom drawer, local law enforcement will start using a new tool known as the fartilyzer. As first responders, you may need to decide if this tool is necessary if law enfcorcement is not on scene. This may be accomplished by a simple sniff test. Stop by Bob's Scuba shop (on the corners of Norfolk & Way) to be fitted for new BSI. You will not be expected to operate the fartilyzer, however you may need to assist in it's use. As such, all new uniforms are flame retardant and smoking on scene is no longer alowed.

Most songs by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Dropkick Murphys, or Less Than Jake work for me.

...and now I have a headache from too many smartass comments at once.

Congratulations!

There are a few keys in this scenario: 1, -35 C or just below 0 F is damn cold. Too cold to wait for anyone. 2, Two crushed legs is a significant MOI, not a death sentence. 3, Bleeding control and treatment for shock are BLS skills. 4, The goal for treatment of a major trauma is rapid transport to a trauma center, not to an IV. 5, Extrication will take twice as long as you expect. The problem, I think, is that a paper scenario gives you time to think yourself out of the right answer. Imagine sitting for two plus hours in the freezing cold with a patient that has two tons of weight on their legs and telling the patient, "Sure you're in a lot of pain now, but you have to think long term." Even if you had thought this was a good idea initially, after ten minutes you'd be digging him out with a spork if you had to.

Thanks for posting this!

I would have to agree that going to the local media is not the way to go. I think we already get enough bad press. There may be a statement in your hire paperwork that addresses "competition" and schooling. How sure are you that the school you're enroled in is a good one? There are still a lot of people who believe that EMT's should go through each step of training and not jump from basic to medic. They may have put this in writing. In any case, do what you think is right; but I hope you plan to get more out of this lawsuit than vindication. Your decision was probably a good one, but just make sure you look around to see how deep you are before you keep digging. Good luck with your class.