fireflymedic

I'll take Spenac's version as it fits many I've worked with over the years better lol.

Wish I looked that good in a flight suit

Here's a great idea - don't ask on here, pick up the phone, call your state ems office, ask for the legal dept and find out what the state allows, then ensure that flies with the dept you are with. But as others have said, FR are on their way out quickly, most places I know will only hire them as drivers as they can't legally work the back here. Though that is just this area. But if you are serious about this as your profession, get your paramedic.

SO you are saying that experiencing my former partner choosing to murder his child should have had no effect on me? Along with going on multiple injuries from child abuse and other things. All of these experiences have taken a little piece of my heart and made me the caring provider I am. There are times I do get angery, but I've seen both sides of the fence, parents desperately trying to do the best they can, struggling hard and unfortunately it just isn't enough for no fault of their own. THey're working, but make just over public assistance poverty level. It's sad. Those make me change my mind. THink before you act, and don't judge - you don't know where that person has been or would you would do in those shoes. We can say what we like, but we haven't been there. Be professional, documment everything, and let the others handle it and do their job. Past that, it's no longer our responsibility, but to give the child the best of treatment we can in the limited time that we have them.

I try to maintain professionalism as best I can, but there are times that I am left going what snapped in your head? At a prior job I worked at (at this is public knowledge so I can safely post it) the partner I worked with one evening seemed a little off, but then again he was one of those people who always seemed a bit "off". I was scheduled to work with him the following evening, and while I was working two jobs, went on to a shift in another county considerably farther away. THat night when I came in, I was pissed because my partner was missing and assumed he walked off the job (a frequent occurance there unfortunately due to poor management and miserable pay). I started asking around and discovered he had killed his child the night before shortly after getting off work by strangling him with a thick rope chain (no not a ghetto chain - like a solid necklace) and killing the kid because he was "tired" of him. I couldn't process it then, and I certainly can't even now almost 10 years later. It's something I'll never forget. Sometimes you can't always read what people will do and there wasn't an individual thing that made him snap like most people say "the kid wouldn't stop crying" he simply said - I was tired of him...scary thought. THat is definitely someone that should not be allowed to further have children. We allow people with charges of animal cruelty to never have children again, but few have laws preventing those with child abuse to prevent them from having children. We have a problem, that we must address. THis can't keep happening, it's not fair to the children.

I know there are people that I would not trust independent functioning. Until the education changes here, unfortunately, there is a need for EMS personel in the US to be babysat. Sadly there are good medics that could function independent just fine, but there are the stupid ones that do idiotic things that ruin it for the rest of us. Change the education and maybe we'll see some progress.

I have used it on one patient and that's it. It was a unique situation, and the patient wasn't really a candidate to be cric due to some other issues. It worked, but I prefer to keep my fingers, and wouldn't do so without 'lytics on board so I know that I'm not going to have them bite down on me. Be safe and smart about it there is a time and place for it, but mostly it's fallen out of favor.

Would like very much to read it as this is definitely an area of interest for me. The doc that was discussing this at conference, will be there again this year with a follow up and so I'm interested to see how things stack up and would like to be educated prior. PM me and I will forward my personal e-mail to send it to. THanks !

Ummm wow - don't know that I'd be doing mouth to snout on a pig there - though I have attempted to rescucitate more than a few cats, dogs, and baby horses...guess to each his own !

One thing I would venture to question though is if you look at a patient on a backboard, especially if the patient is heavier, they aren't truly kept "in line" which is the goal. Padding really should be put under the head to raise it up to an in line position - part of the reason they say don't remove helmets unless absolutely neccessary - they actually put the head in a better position. Also, there are a lot of people (as another person said with the "no neck club") that don't receive appropriately sized collars in the first place. If you look an immobilized person has a pretty steep curve to their c-spine. Perhaps a shorter collar or padding under the head would be more effective - just a thought? Along with poor immobilization (especially with the three strap boards) patients slide all over. As to the foam blocks, we utilize the "head beds". For those that aren't familiar, they are a foam piece attached to the backboard and then two foam blocks velcro to the sides next to the patient's head. Much more stable than the giant foam blocks and tape that many (at least in this area due to cheaper cost) are still utilizing. Though some are using blanket/towel rolls instead. Also, I have utilized a blanket roll for a large patient that couldn't fit a c collar. Wrap the blanket around the patient's neck, then fold the sides down next to the head to form "headblocks". Similar to the general round foam neckbraces seen worn sometimes by patients. I agree that the study does bring about some questions to be investigated, and the preliminary information is something to consider, but I have difficulty believing that unrestrained movement in any direction with a potential or proven c-spine injury is better than restricting movement in some fashion. Just like any injured part - excessive moment does increase the risk for bleeding, inflammation and damage to nerves and surrounding tissue. I think we need to look into what the stress points in the c collar are, and find a way to eliminate those, as opposed to completely doing away with immobilization because from what I'm understanding of the study, it's not the actual limiting of movement that is potentially affecting these patients negatively, it's the stretching of the ligaments in the neck that are causing the greater potential for injury.