kemt217

Our service in town has about a 1 to 2 minute tansport time. We do not stay on scene to do IV's or stuff like that when we are that close to the hospital. We transport from the nursing home to the hospital which is across the street from the hospital, no time to do much of anything. We document why things weren't done according to protocol. If we are out in the county, depends, transport could be anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, just depends on if we come back to town or go to the closest larger hospital.

Most states have some type of association that you can join to help with EMS changes. I am on the board for KEMTA(Kansas Emergency Medical Technicians Association), we have a Legislative Liason to represent our members to get things changed.I go to region meetings now to see what is going on around us here. I don't know how the rest of the states work as far as regions or whatever. Talk to your state board of EMS to find out. There is a lot going on nationally with the whole Scope of Practice, and the debate as to where EMS should be located. If nothing else talk to your EMS director, he/she should know. Thanks for the links Rid, posted them on my yahoo group. I am editing this to add that there are two groups in Kansas that represent EMTS/EMS. there is KEMTA and KEMSA. Both are good groups that are working to make EMS better in Kansas.Am headed to the KEMSA conference next weekend. www.kemta.com and www.kemsa.org

Hey John, I know the plane isn't going to just drop out of the air. I am nervous that something is gonna quit on the plane or something or if something happened to the hubby we'd be screwed. So you are right, I do need to take some lessons. He loves to fly and is an awesome pilot and he would love for me to share that with him. Thanks for the advice. --Kim

reading,writing, crosstitch,playing with my kids,bubble baths, getting together for a BS session with friends, pool,darts. About every three months or so a bunch of us from work, including the boss get together,head to the bar and drink a few and dance like fools. I go flying with the hubby sometimes. I am so scared being up there I don't think of anything else.

My bad Budda, meant glucose gel not glucagon. Thanks for pointing it out.

We have no paramedics to give anti seizure meds or glucagon IM. We would have to give glucagon gel rectally in this case,and drive like hell or as a tech here did in the past ....honey rectally. It is something this tech still gets teased about because after using the honey bear to do this, she set it back on the kitchen table....

OK,where is the test?? I am sure I would probably not pass but I am always up for a challenge. I am not a paramedic.

Yeah saying the S,B,Q words doesn't seem to work around here. But saying the "we haven't had a ---- call in a while "sure seems to. Getting in the shower seems to set the tones off too.

I have a 2004 Chevy Cavalier, and a 1993 GMC Jimmy 4wd, just depends on what I/hubby are doing or where we are going on which gets driven.

I am not a paramedic but have had a call like that. Hell even the doctor we called who came to the scene told all of us that no matter what we would have done it was a no win situation. That call was almost two years ago now. I still after the doc saying this second guessed everything for a while. It will take time but eventually you will realize you did what you could.

I am not afraid to tell ya I am 34. Born 12/30/1970 Life and stuff...ummm yeah...gets better with age!!! Hey Scotty, see you are a Pink Floyd fan....welcome to the machine!!

I work a 10 hour shift, either 500-1500 or 1500-100. Either shift I work I don't get much sleep. I have 3 kids at home,and a husband that does like to spend time with me. I get an hour supper break if I am working evenings and a hour lunch if working days. Would you want a nap if you worked til one am, and then got home, may or may not have went straight to bed, then you have a call in the night, yes we are also on mandatory call time from 1a-5a, then you have to be up with kids at 7 or 8 am. Working the day shift, I am not in bed any sooner than 10 or 11pm. Getting up at 430 to go to work. Might get 5 or so hours of sleep if I am lucky and don't have any calls. That is why I personally take a nap sometimes on my 10 hour shift.

I would have called the police had I of smelled alcohol. You are right, the next time it could have been a person,not a bush.

Good luck getting a pt w/ pulmonary edema to lay supine to bag them. As long as you have a good seal then bagging the pt semi-Fowler's isn't a problem.

Working for a service that only has about 350-400 calls a year, it rarely happens but it does still happen. The last one was a man who hurt his elbow.

At the last conference( KEMTA ) I went to there was a class about taking care of ourselves as ems providers. Typically we are all so busy caring for everyone else's needs we neglect our own. The evaluations for this class were glowing, I know b/c I am doing the summary of all the conference evaluations. Steve Berry presented a class on working with deaf pt's which was also a great class. Of course any of Steve's classes tend to be great!! Issues with documentation and what to expect in the courtroom,always helpful. Around here pediatric classes are what is wanted most. Protocols, I am also guilty of not remembering everything in the protocols(especially since they just changed).

He would still be impaired and a danger to pt's. I would tell him to go home for a while and cover the few hours of the shift, or part of it and find someone to cover the rest if need be. The boss would get a phone call.

We have standing orders and protocols for most everything but still contact medical control for times when advanced care is needed. We have to contact medical control on assisting with some meds also. A lot of cya stuff.

Boy after reading all of the posts, I am glad I am in a small town. Everyone pretty much knows everyone,and when they see our private vehicles with flashers on,they move out of the way so we can get to the ambulance shed. Never hesitate to move for our rigs. Most of our patients we know already. People never hesitate to help us out with lifting or whatever we may need. Our call volume is the only thing that I don't like. Pretty slow most days. Still, I will stick with the small town life.