Siffaliss

CARE BEARS ... STARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess if she was just an 'ambulance driver' she had no formal training, so wouldn't have known what to do anyhow ...

No idea. It was in Jan/Feb, I wasn't here for a few days, opened up the site and was sitting at 70 something. 2 days later it was over 100. I can't find any of my posts with that many +'s. I wouldn't complain if the whole ratings thing was dropped.

I guess it's different everywhere. I've worked small town where VSU was very close at hand, and I currently work in a large urban area where it takes a bit longer to mobilize VSU. If we are called for an unconscious/man down sort of thing and the person hasn't been seen in a couple or few days and we find them, if family is on scene and I'm their first contact, yes I will tell them. If family is nowhere to be found, the police end up making notification when family is contacted. The first notification I ever made was to someone who was soon after charged with the murder of their mother. It was not my place to give my opinion of them when they asked if there was anything we could do for her. I removed the whole homicide aspect, put myself in the position of someone who was about to learn of their mother's death and said what I needed to say.

Even with 400+ medics and EMT's where I work and probably 5 times that in firefighters, I've never had an issue differentiating. And I don't have to look at the patches on shoulders ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txIO8CkQeQU

Not if they're less than 20 feet away in the other room and it takes a full day for VSU ... I mean working a code etc etc ... EMS doesn't usually go to doors making notification if that's what you thought I meant.

Who are these 'experts' you talk of? Where are the studies behind what you're talking about? What book and what book company? What reason? You can sit in the middle of a busy intersection doing chest compressions 3 minutes away from hospital. I'll continue on as originally planned with perfectly good CPR and meds

Advising family of a deceased relative is part of what we do. Do you remember the first time you had to speak to a family about this? Would you change any part of your communication if you could?

Excellent topic. I would certainly agree that it depends on the situation. I've only run into a couple of situations where family was simply too upset to hear anything and just wanted to watch. They wouldn't have had it any other way, and as it is *usually* their last glance at a dying relative, who am I to say they have to go sit down somewhere? I find that most families are usually happy with hearing SOMETHING. Depending on how it's said it usually involves telling them something involving why there's a tube in their throat, why CPR is being done and that meds are being given to try and restart the heart. When asked "so their heart isn't beating right now?" or "they aren't breathing right now?", I am always honest. There is usually no need to be brutally honest (except with medical relatives who ask the questions and want the answers). Again, always depends on situation.

Thanks for the clarification, it sounded different. I have however seen and myself performed quality CPR while the ambulance is in motion, even in an urban setting with retarded traffic all over the place. It's not difficult.

Better yet, someone who is registered in and and obviously familiar with both provinces.

Most of what you copied and pasted is incorrect. But as we all know, you've never worked in either province and don't have this "information" first hand, from someone (like myself) who actually works in Alberta I'm not entirely sure if you read this information before you posted either ... Please feel free to take a few minutes to review the sillyness of some of what you posted. Heck, try and reverse the little 'reciprocity calculator' and go BC to Alberta. All of those 'additional competencies' that you posted are things that we in Alberta are trained to do through the EMT course itself, or the supplemental courses provided with the EMT course such as NAPD or EVOC, to name a couple. For those looking for information regarding scope of practice and working in a particular area, you should consult someone from that area. "Consult the provincial regulators for final decisions regarding practice." Please do, as there are several errors in this 'calculator'.

I have posted a link so you can look up the 'scope of practice' for Alberta EMT's. As for 'protocols' (different than scope depending on medical director), those differ from service to service. http://www.collegeof...ofpractice.aspx As for reciprocity coming into Alberta, here is another link: http://www.collegeofparamedics.org/pages/Registration/equivalency.aspx If you need further clarification, feel free to message me.

Thank you AK, well said. (Still waiting for an answer from spenac about why they stop the ambulance to do CPR)

Exactly ... That would be nice ...

Sure, we'll make helmets legal too for everyone in their cars. As for your idea on CPR ... I guess you've never had someone you've gotten ROSC on who yet again coded after transport was initiated. Are you going to stop the ambulance in the middle of nowhere to bang on some guy's chest for a while? Perhaps it's lack of resources, because I can't see you being serious ... And as for this thread, seems to be a revival of something from February 2006 ...

Yeah, seatbelts are a given. Unless you're working a code, kind of hard to do CPR when you're belted into the CPR chair. As for helmets, jeez why not make everyone in their cars wear them? I think it's going a bit too far personally.

Here's how this comes across to me ... "I want people to wear a helmet while travelling in the ambulance." Am I correct? Or are you asking to have them on car for use only in situations that would require a helmet?

I've only ever watched one episode of this show; the one where the vet steals the helicopter. Seems like there isn't much of a theme here, unless you call T and A a theme. So, unless your purpose is 'bowchickawowwow' ... That's just my opinion. These are paramedics evaluating a show about 'supposed' paramedics. Of course they're going to be detailed in their critique of the show. Most of us will recall Dr. Carter from ER yelling "NASAL CANULA 12 LITERS A MINUTE, STAT!!!". Did you not make fun of that? I sure did. Did you want people to just watch this show just glazing over everything like they're watching clouds take shapes of kitties and puppies? Sure, if everyone was to be as unintelligent and unentertaining as this show ... Specifically what is this forest you want us to see?

Haha ...

I also ordered it, just waiting for it to come. Have heard good things from co-workers, and yes diet would be important.

LOL