whit72

Umm..I never stated working twenty four hour shift made you a better medic. I stated it didn't make you a worse provider. Some one insinuated it did. I make more annually then a forty-hour guy, more vacation time, no weekends, five days off a week, better tax deductions, on duty con-ed and training. Options for more overtime. Yeah there really sticking it to me. Id better smart'en up. I believed I apologized to you Niftey. Don't get you undies in a bunch.

Ohhhhh...That sounded harsh, sorry about that. You get the jist.

Hey nifty, Must be nice to only have five calls in a 24 hour shift that average an hour, what do you do for the other 19 hours your getting paid? I average ten to fifteen calls a 24 hour shift they average around 45 minutes. There is still plenty of time for napping and eating if you so choose. We dont get paid to sit around, we get paid to run calls. Thats why we have five days a week off thats when you rest. As far as being able to function on little or no sleep its part of the job and not difficult to overcome, thats why there is a 24 hour dunkin donuts on every corner. To assume that people who work busy shifts cut corners or are not competent is bullshit. If you would like to call someone else because we have been up all night. Thats you perogative. I would likely take a provider that works a truck that runs close to 7000 calls annually, over one that does 1500 and is well rested and well fed. Not to say that the slower provider is lazy or incompetent. I wouldnt jump to those conclusions. Thats my experience and I would trust my life or the lives of my loved ones in any of their hands, sleep or no sleep. I know with all the experience an education you have at the tender age of twenty, its easy to pass judgement on a entire group of providers, or EMS systems. Assumption will not get you very far in EMS and maybe you should wait till the ink dries on your ticket before casting your infinite wisdom on the rest of us. Just somthing to ponder with all the time you have on your hands. Sorry if that sounded harsh. My dog just shit on my floor so I might be projecting some of my anger.

I believe I stated I wasnt commenting on this scenario. I never stated anything about telling anyone they want to hurt themselves. If I feel they are a danger to themselves or others they lose their right to make a decision on transportation. They go. If you want to sue me have at it. I ll take my chances in a court of law, rather then get a call in an hour for someone swinging in their basement. I

I usually beat them senseless, steal their beer, split it with the PD and commandere their boat. Kidding PD should be with you, if you feel threatened return to your ambulance, call for the police and wait till they arrive, hopefully by then they all have drowned and you wont have much work left to do. Kidding again. If you ever feel threatnend return to your ambulance or a safe distance, get the police involved. Dont get into a pissing contest with a buch of drunks with beer muscles you are in a lose lose situation. Let the police do what they are trained to do when their finished, you can complete what you are there to do. It isnt worth gettin hurt over.

No health insurance no transport. Interesting theory, Let me know how that works out for you.

Not commenting on the case presented here. I dont really know the situation. When did it become a medical emergency to be intoxicated, or un-lawful. If you are over 21 not a threat to yourself or others, not incapacitated enough as to not being able to protect your own friggin airway, or sitting in the middle of the road pissing yourself and reciting the lines from a christmas story. I like to party a little, do I need an intervention? Mental health evaluation? A bed in an ER thats already strained, understaffed and full of people that for the most part require hospitalization. If your not underage, not a threat to yourself or others. You dont require a bed in the ER or a cell at the police station. Then again medicine is now driven by liability. If there is a chance you might be held responsible. You have to err on the side of caution. Its bullshit. So I have to get up every twenty minutes to haul a drunk to the ER because everybody is worried about getting sued. Even though the guy has no business being in an ER. There not babysitters, and I am not the party train.

Seven bucks an hour. Thats a good one. I wouldnt bag your groceries for that. I suggest moving out of California, or a career change.

See things around here havent changed much.

I have to agree, a polite " I think we are all set, thank you though." would have sufficed. Belittling a person in front of others is an insecurity problem whatever the level or title. There is enough of that already in this field. Remember you see the same people on the way up as you will on the way down. That might be your ass she is wiping someday. Hope you like it all the way up your back

Hmmm.... three doses of morphine for an abrasion to the knee? At the pts request. Interesting. Best to wait for the whole story. To form an opinion.

Hmmmmmm...........

I still remember my first pedi-code like it was yesterday. 4-months, still when ever I smell baby powder I think of her. I remember her name, her birthday, everything about the call is still plain as day. I now think about it when I choose to. It did consume me for a while. I wanted to quit, never come back again, just pack it in. I was lucky there were people who had been through similar circumstances that helped me learn to deal with it. To be able to keep it in perspective. Who knew the traits and signs of someone that could be in trouble. For a while every kid I saw around her age made me think of her, those feelings would come rushing back, maybe there was something more we could have done, maybe if we did things differently. Those feelings do eventually subside. You will realize it is part of this field, not a big part, thank god, but a part none the less. That there wasn't anymore you could have done. Like has been stated in this thread numerous times. Kids die, yeah it sucks. However its part of life. If you choose to stay in EMS, which I hope you do. You will have more bad ones. You have to be able to get by them. You don't have to forget them, just be able to survive them. Some people don't. I have seen EMT and medics with years of experience walk out the door and never come back. It does happen. If you learn to deal with it now, and keep it in perspective. You will not only will recover from this call, you might be able to help others recover from theirs. Good luck.

Stable vitals, no deformity, no swelling. Hospitals don't diagnose FXs without X rays, they don't expect you to either.

I wouldn't worry about losing ETI anytime soon. PASG was proven in-effective twenty-years ago, but they were still under my bench seat six-months ago. EMS is hardly on the cutting edge, at least in my area. Its like the red headed step child of medicine, everyones hand me downs. In one state I worked in I was allowed to perform ETI, I haven't worked there in five-years. If I had to perform it now I probably could, would I be proficient at it? Doubt it. Practice makes perfect. If your not performing it regularly, you wont be proficient at it regularly.

Nifetymedic wrote: To answer your question about supervision, protocol states that the EMT can start IV's under the Medic's supervision. Asysnin2leads wrote: Yeah, the other day I let the janitor have a whack at IV's and intubation. Why not? You know, FL, not for nothing, as they say in my neck of the woods, but if you are letting your basics play with the sharps, you are not only guilty of a fairly serious crime, you are also endangering your patients and setting up your EMT's for major ramifications. Way to go, hero. His medical control allows it. Whats the problem. Funny, when the medic is allowed to work out side his scope, or training, the system is called progressive. If its the EMT its a "fairly serious crime and endangering our pts." Gimmie a break. If the education or training is there whats the issue? Its an IV people, their not bypassing the LAD here.

So does that mean everyone is charged an ALS assessment fee, even though the call could BLS?

I would have advised the family that we would need to contact there doctor to have the DNR signed. After this was completed we could transport the pt home. Hopefully it could be done in a timely fashion. The only issue is that if you had left, and a family member had freaked when the pt had passesd and called 911 without the DNR then the crew arriving would be obligated to work the code, without the proper signed documentation.

Yeah its amazing the homeless guy on the street cocked out of his mind is always wondering where his thousand dollars, and his Rolex went? They always seem to be cocked and loaded on or near the first of the month. We don't encounter many drunks near the end of the month. Got to love state aid.

Imagine Wrote: We, as EMTs, and I am a basic, already do too much based sheerly on protocol, and not enough on education. If that is the case then the fault lies with you. It is all what you do with the information provided. If you are performing a skill or administering a medication without the necessary understanding whether provided in your class or not. If your allowed to perform it you should have a thorough understanding of it. "I didn't learn why in my class" is not a sufficient excuse. I did it because its in my protocols is a excepted answer, however I believe you are selling yourself and your pt. short if you do not have a thorough understanding of the skill or the medication you are performing or administering. Its your responsibility to have the understanding of how and why.

As an EMT I would say no. Not because I don't believe EMTs have the mental capacity. But why would you waste massive amounts of resources training EMTs to perform skills that will not increase success rates. We all know the survival rates of arrest pts. It doesn't matter the level of the provider performing the skill if the attempt, if successful will not increase the success rates. If there was a substantial increase in survival rates from ACLS methods vs non-ACLS methods that might be a logical decision however there is little difference in the survival rates between the two. Why don't we use those resources to de-mystify bystander CPR. To get the public involved. This is a proven method to increase the survival rates of arrest pts. Lets not concern ourselves with re-educating EMTs in a situation that will affect very few pts.

Good luck man, be safe. God bless the bang bros.

I dont think I made that statement clear. What I meant was, do you think there could have possible liability actions if the medic remained in the back with the wrist injury and allowed the EMTs to deal with the MVA?

If your service considered that abandonment, then your service needs a reality check. Yeah I wonder what the outcome would have been if your on scene with all those criticals and the medics remained in the back with his finger up his butt splinting a wrist injury. You made the right decision. I am sure that if put in that position again you would again make the correct decision.

Captbp wrote" Dispatch can determine if you stopping is for the best. Umm.......... I'm happy if they can get the address right, and maybe the chief complaint. Like Dust said everybody waits their eight minutes. I haven't arrived on scene of the original call to be able to evaluate who is in more need. So my responsibility lies with the call I was dispatched.