katbemeEMT-B

Hey ch, I was just wondering if you were up here in Minnesota when my grandmother was ill. You are describing her hx, tx, and subsequent symptoms to a tee. I will be curious to see where this ends up.

Any signs of edema? If so to what extent?

Benign stroke assessment?

Did she exhibit any pain when doing a rapid physical exam? Clots?

Why does this hospital want to transfer her?

I too smoke and while it is an ADDICTION I wish I had never picked up, it's there. I am however, very productive at work and I don't call in sick, I actually pick up extra shifts for many other co-workers who do not smoke. They are constantly sick. Any of my illnesses are not caused by smoking, (ie: rheumatoid arthritis, migraines, and most recently removal of my gall bladder due to it's lack of function). I don't smoke while at work so my co-workers are not subjected to it. My employer has a no smoking on campus policy but will tell new employees that if they need to smoke, they must do it in their cars where they can not be seen by patients. Hmmm, then they smell like smoke. What I do after work is my business not my employers as long as it is legal. If I want to smoke that's my business. If I want to go to strip bars, again, my business. If I want to part-take in an orgy--my business. There is too much government control in todays world. Soon we will no longer be the land of the free, but the land of the dictated too. It's time to go back to the Constitution and the basic rights of the people.

Just my opinion.

.

PS-This is my 1000th post! I have become a senior. Anyone want to go to the prom with me?

CONGRATULATIONS DOC!!! I would love to go to the prom with you. :flower:

I think it comes down to too much government involvement. Whether it's employer government or the state and federal government. I realize we would be a healthier society if we ate right and didn't smoke but that should be a personal choice. Smokers are being discriminated against all over the US and it's time to take a stand. What government and non-smokers don't realize is that in most states the revenue from taxes would drop dramatically if everyone quit smoking. It's definitely a political issue and most politicians run from it when given the choice.

Was she given any antibiotic therapy while in the hospital? If so, what was she given?

Assuming this is a hospital based service, I can not believe that you would be scheduled for three 12 hours shifts consecutively. I also work for a hospital based service and there are strict rules that EMS can not work more than 24 hours at any given time without a 12 hour break. This is a safety issue. Even if it's in an area with a low call volume, you are not able to get the sleep that is needed to keep you alert.

Don't do it!

I agree that speed is not the answer here. Safety comes first. I too would suggest that if you don't want to drive, go to medic school and find a service that hires EMTs. They will drive you around all day and night.

I'm thinking at this point this is a ficticious scenario. Following are my reasons why:

1. You state you had a closed femur fracture

2. You also state you shattered your femur

3. You also state that you had no other injuries

4. Then you state that you had a laceration with metal sticking in the muscle

5. You state you felt little pain (high pain tolerance)

6. Then you state that you received no pain meds

7. You state that EMTs cared for you

8. EMTs can't give pain meds how can you fault them for that

9. You state the firemonkeys did everything right

10. I beg to differ. MOI dictates that you should have been collared immediately and then backboarded. They did neither.

11. It is standard procedure to roll a patient to check for additional injuries. Like the EMTs are gonna take the word of first responders. EMTs barely have enough training to spot life threats and more than likely don't. They are trained however to spot more injuries than a first responder.

12. You say the EMTs kidnapped you. Your desire was to go to a non-trauma hospital and per your State's protocols, you MUST be taken to a trauma hospital or refuse transport.

13. You say you were threatened by the EMTs in the ambulance en-route to the hospital. Maybe you should have immediately pressed charges against them.

14. You say the doctor wouldn't let you leave the ED. They can't keep you there. All you had to do once in the ED was refuse treatment, sign out AMA, and have your emergency contact come get you and take you to the hospital of your choice.

15. You say you are suing. If all this really happened, everyone involved would want to settle without going to court.

16. You say if you don't win in court you are going to publicly humiliate all those involved. I would have major concerns about this if I were you. First off, if you ever need the services of EMS again, how quick do you think they are going to be to respond? Secondly, when ALL the facts of all sides of the story and those invovled come to light, who's going to look like the idiot?

My feeling is that you are a person who for some reason feels you were slighted and are looking for attention where ever you can get it. You have made the decision that you are unhappy with your life and now you want to make everyone else's lives just as miserable. I know people like you and it truly is sad. I will pray for you that you find happiness. I will also remind you that while you're sitting here whining and bitching, there are soldiers across the world who are losing their lives and limbs to protect YOUR freedoms and the freedoms of your fellow Americans.

Buck up, be happy with what you have, and enjoy your life and freedom. You never know when it will all be taken away.

Well, well, well... I am surprised that no has brought this thread to my attention before now.

After reading the posts, I am electing not to lock it at this time. All parties participating seem to be holding their own and it has not deteriorated like others in the past. A lot of good topics, that hopefully will be discussed IN OTHER, NEW THREADS have surfaced.

I will be keeping and eye on this one.

Admin

Don't worry Admin., we will play nice as usual :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :!:

:clock: Waiting for the ball to drop on Ruff......

Sorry, can't bash Terri. Us girls MUST stick together. Besides, she's my buddy :wink:

"My life my choice!" makes a nice bumper sticker slogan, but welcome to the real world. I don't have to take you where you want to go. There is no law anywhere in the U.S. that says I do. I have a duty to provide you with aid and transportation, and you have a right to refuse it, but if the facility you like is deemed inappropriate by my medical authority, then you're SOL. Now you can either go where I plan to take you, or you can lay there and rot in the dirt where you lay. You may have a legitimate issue with whoever supposedly "butchered" you, but I will be laughing at the $300k you waste trying to get a civil judgment for "kidnapping," because you simply have no legal precedent on your side at all.

There was no winning with you, dude. You bitch if they don't transport you where you want to go. You bitch if they don't transport you at all. You're just a chronic complainer who caught a bad break and now decides to share his misery with the rest of the world. Good luck with that. The hours may be good, but you aren't going to see the payoff you think you are. Then you'll just be more miserable.

Head injuries and mental problems are not the same thing. And your failure to understand that is further evidence that you simply don't know what you are talking about on any level.

No, it's not a fact. Again, more clear cut evidence that you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Ninety-nine percent of EMTs will never even finish a semester of college, much less graduate. EMT "school" (using the term very loosely) is a 120 hour first aid course, and nothing more. They're making the same money as the guy who served you your last Big Mac. What exactly did you expect from somebody with that little training, orthopaedic surgery?

It is painfully obvious that you wouldn't know the "truth" if it bit you on the arse. You're making a lot of silly assumptions about medicine and the law that only somebody who watches too much television would make. It is also obvious that you don't even have a lawyer or a case, because any decent lawyer would have told you to STFU a long time ago. Do yourself a favour. Do a little research into the "truth" and get back to us. You'll be embarrassed at what an idiot you are making of yourself.

:hello1: :notworthy: =D> =D>

Very well said Dust. This is why you are so highly regarded on this site. Unlike broken who would rather make assumptions and pretend to know what he is talking about, you actually do know what you are talking about.

+1000 to Dust for the best truthfully stated bashing post ever.

TO ALL THOSE WHO WISH TO REPLY TO THIS THREAD!!!

Reading into what has been written by the OP, I would highly suggest no one else replies to this post to protect themselves from him suing EMTCity and it's members. I would also ask admin. to lock this thread and ban this poster.

I guess they teach you these things at community college?Head trauma,NOT BY A LONG SHOT.

I was told by an EMT the second I got on the scene that I was going to hospital b and it was the law.That was a LIE.

I WAS THEN BUTCHERED BY HOSPITAL B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT I KNEW WOULD HAPPEN IF I WENT THERE,HENCE MY INSISTING I DIDN'T WANT TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!My life,my choice.

I hope none of yalls life is ever put in jeopardy by some community college idiot who thinks hes a doctor!!!!!!!!

And as far as the firmonkeys,its a VOLUNTEER FD and they dont have jack for equipment,hell,they dont even get paid.

Paid or not, if they (the firemonkeys) don't have the equipment and/or know how to do their job affectively to ensure that there is no further injury to the patient, then they (firemonkeys) shouldn't respond. They are the ones that put your livelihood in jeopardy. As stated before, if all that you say is true, then I guess I would get myself a lawyer and sue all those involved. I would then take that money that I receive and seek some sort of counseling as you seem to really have anger issues aimed at EMS and hospitals in general not just the ones involved.

That would be JOHN Belushi, who is dead. Don't insult him like that. His brother isn't funny.

Sorry my bad, doing to many things at once. You're right though, it is John.

I guess I had a little whacker in me but got over it pretty fast. I do have EMS plates but they are required by our service. I have no extra lights on my vehicle other than factory four way flashers which I have learned DOES NOT give me any special privileges. I wear my uniform when on duty and that's it as I would rather wear comfy clothes. I will say that this last week I have been a little more on the whacker side as I have been wearing very soft sweat pants instead of uniform pants. I am suffering from a severe sunburn that even my co-workers said would scare the begeebers out of a patient. Thankfully we haven't had any calls this week or some one may thing I have lepersy. Oh well, this too shall heal and then back to little ol' me.

While there are those kids that really don't care about school, there are others who do care but also don't get the help they need. Should they be destined to a life of pushing shopping carts too?

I have a child like this. He has a learning disablity and instead of him receiving the help he needed, the school just kept pushing him through (NO Child Left Behind). I say screw their no child left behind. It is only hurting those that really need the help and giving those that don't care an easy out. My step-son does not qualify for special education because according to Federal standards if you test too closely to your IQ you don't qualify unless you are deemed mentally handicapped. He has an IQ of 86 and tested just above that, there fore does not qualify. It has been a continual battle. He busts but just to make passing grades but as a soon to be sophmore only reads at a fifth grade level. It truly is sad.

Dust, do you think an EMT-B is prepared enough to make coffee? Or chow? :?:

Having drank some of the coffee made by my co-workers (both EMT & Medics) I would have to say no. It's either too weak or so strong it takes the hair off my chest and I don't even have any chest hair to begin with.

The difference is that a nursing or RT student has an education. An EMT-B does not. And, except for vital signs and CPR, what little training an EMT-B has is irrelevant to clinical care. I'd rather have a CNA. Any nursing or RT student past their first semester is capable of performing many relevant duties in the clinical arena. And their education is continuous, assuring their competence is ever increasing. Conversely, an EMT-B (unless he is also one of said students) is at an educational dead end with no promise of developing into something more useful in the future.

A major reason that hospitals will hire nursing and RT students is not because they are cheap labour, but because it is a recruiting tool. A great many of those students will stay on as permanent staff after graduation. There is no such benefit from hiring EMT-Bs.

Apples and oranges.

I can't disagree with you. As I stated, placing an EMT in an ED is probably not right especially if they are not interested in furthering their education. They are basically glorified babysitters. I personally wouldn't want that job. It comes down once again to not viewing EMS as a profession but rather a hobby.

[/spoil:45a282e4fe]

I'm guessing Animal House with Jim Belushi. The greatest movie ever made.

I don't think hiring EMTs in the ED is a financial position as they also hire nursing students. My understanding when I did my clinicals was that they hire these people (EMTs, nursing students, RT students) not just because they don't have to pay them as much, but to further their clinical experience and education. I know that the hospital I was at offered monies to pay for schooling to advance to the next level of training in your field. ie: LPN could go for RN, EMT could go for Paramedicine. Many hospitals utilize nursing assistants, medical assistant, and the like to do the humdrum day to day stuff that the nurses don't want to do. Does this make it right? Probably not. Would I do it? Not a chance in hell! But as with any thing, that's the American way.

Spenac, you dirty old man you. :twisted:

Can't wait for it to come out....:mrgreen:

There is a hospital near here that hires EMTs in the ED, OB, and surgical. They report to the charge RN. The pay isn't bad but the hours suck. They do get to do a vareity of things though. If it were closer I would apply.

Hey Spenac, are you gonna share your sticker with me?

Darn you caught me. Yessssss another post just a few more and I get the free star of life sticker.

Hey buddy boy, don't you pick on my wacker Star of Life sticker I have on my back window. I'm gonna :boxing: I like being a wacker!