ERDoc

I'll agree that it is a little suspect that the OP says he/she is a student and then in the post makes it sound like he/she is part of a regular crew. I wouldn't get to stuck on gurney, it is used frequently around these parts (and makes me cringe every time I hear it). This area (suicidal pts refusing treatment) is a somewhat gray area right now. Currently, suicidality is considered a mental health issue that leaves the person unable to make an informed decision. This means that they cannot refuse treatment. It is why states can involuntarily hospitalize people (5150 in California for those keeping score). So, in the OP's scenario the pt cannot refuse to be brought to the hospital. Now, as for the restraints, that is a whole other issue and is highly dependent on what local laws/protocols are. Not every suicidal person needs restraints (I'm assuming the OP means more than just the normal stretcher straps required to provide safe transport). The only time they should be used are when the pt is a physical threat to themselves or others. I don't think enough info is provided in the OP to really determine whether the restraints were needed or not. Unfortunately, in EMS there is a large proportion of providers who are complete assholes to suicide pts and don't realize that mental health issues are just as real as MIs and trauma.

I think someone might have mentioned that.

It was many moons ago, but I used to work for TransCare in Suffolk. I have no idea what they pay now, but it was $8/hr when I was there. It is actually a good learning experience as you will learn more about medicine than you will doing 911, especially if you take the time to read the charts for the transfers you do and then pick up a book to read about the pathology.

This is one of those things best remembered by seeing it. I don't have any memory devices to help, sorry. Maybe check out youtube. I do have to agree with Island, though. It sounds like you are trying to make things more difficult than they need to be. You are making up a mnemonic to remember your mnemonic. You are adding an unnecessary step. In your example, just remember SAMPLE. It's easier to remember one word than a whole sentence of at least 6 words. Unless we are talking about 'Oh, oh, oh, to touch and feel vinny's girlfriend's vagina, ah heaven' because OOOTTAFVGVAH just doesn't make sense.

I agree Ruff, it is very suspect. 11 months seems about the right amount of time to contact a lawyer and have the slow cogs of justice put in motion. If they were telling you what to write, they had an agenda.

It is okay to do an addendum after the fact as long as you are clear that it is an addendum and that it is being written on X date but the call was on Y date. NEVER alter the original record. The addendum needs to make sense though. It should not state the exact opposite of your original report. It is used to clarify something in the original report or to add something that was forgotten. We do it all the time in the hospital. It will look suspicious if it is done after a lawyer has made contact or if it has been too long such as in Ruff's case where it would have been 11 months later.

Welcome to America, where people have lawyers on speed dial. Anyone can sue anyone else for anything. It doesn't mean that they have a valid case but all cases have their costs as you are finding out. Even if your company provides you with a lawyer and you have no financial costs, there are the costs of your time for depositions, testimony if it gets to court, etc. There are also the emotional costs, as you are finding out now. These may be some of the biggest cost as they can sometimes be career ending. Don't let it get you down. Island has a lot of valid points so I won't repeat them. You need to be able to show that he was restrained for either his or others safety.

Your best bet is to find out who will let a 16y/o ride along and then call them and find out how you go about signing up for it.

You could always become a volley!!

Congrats Ruff!! I think most of us remember when our cards expired. I was in my first year of med school and thought about renewing but in the end decided not too. They tell me that if I went back and wanted to renew my card, I would still have the same numbers. I may do that just for the nostalgia.

Those other conversation are public record but I would assume the dispatch records would be. Yes on the accents, but no on the pitchforks and torches. You can expect to see sanitation trucks with guys in pinstripe tuxedos with machine guns.

Scuba, you will find that you are in the minority and I admire you for that. There is a big push by Mundinger, et al, who want to practice and be paid like doctors (and want to be called doctors). It's interesting that they are using the argument that using a DNP will decrease costs because they get paid less, but yet they want to be paid the same.

Dude, these are vollies in NYS, never question their service. NEVER. You should probably watch your back for the next few days for even suggesting such a thing. As for the medic, he may have been busy taking care of the pt and getting the history. He may have been told by Ricky Rescue that he had an ambulance on the way and didn't give it a second thought. It would be nice if someone would release the dispatch tapes, I bet it would be quite revealing.

From their website it looks like they provide their own ALS service. So he was probably volley. I don't think that really had an effect on what happened though.

Thank you chbare, you explained it much more eloquently that I can.

Just to make it a little more confusing, for a brief period of time, we had EMT-DI, which was an EMT-D who was certified to intubate. This was stopped because it was shown to have no benefit on outcomes so they went back to EMT-D.

My group hires them too and they are great for the most part. The big issue with the DNP movement and independent practice is that most are not adding any courses that involve basic medical sciences, they are more nursing based (nursing research, nursing leadership/admin).

I think retirement is a prize all by itself.

Just to add what others have said, the letter after EMT will vary from state to state and will have an interesting history. IIRC, in NYS before the early 90s it was just EMT. Once AEDs came out, not everyone was trained in them so we had EMT-B and EMT-D (defibrillation). Once the AED became standard of care later in the 90s and everyone was trained to use them, the letters were dropped and we were just EMTs. We had intermediate levels which were called AEMT 2, 3 and 4 but became EMT-I, EMT-CC and EMT-P. I'm sure things are different now, but I do not know the specifics.

Just to go a little off topic here, but I find it interesting about the whole doctor thing. I totally agree that in the clinical setting, only MD/DOs should be identified as doctors as it implies a certain degree of education/training. Outside of it, I'm all for anyone with a doctorate degree calling themselves doctor if that is what they want, but as for me, I try not to let people know I am a physician unless I absolutely have to.

I can easily see a bad situation happening. Take your average serious MVA where there are multiple patients. You have multiple ambulances on scene, with crews who don't know each other. The paramedic that arrived first is triaging and has a real sick pt who needs ALS. A crew walks up and says, "Hey, I'm Bob, a medic from XYZ ambulance. Do you want me to take him?" The paramedic assumes that the provider is also a paramedic and hands the pt over to a BLS crew. I could definitely see this happening where I was a volley. If you have to mutual aid a neighboring dept, you don't know the people from the other dept so you can only go on what they say.

It matters a lot when you are in a situation and need to know who you are dealing with. I would hate to be in the field and have to ask, "When you say you are a medic, do you mean a paramedic or an EMT?" to everyone I don't know. It is also a term that implies a certain level of care to the patients, who will not be able to assess if the provider is, "the real thing."

Receives bacon, tries to put in as many quarters as possible, possibly dollar bills.

We need to remember that this is a volley squad so it doesn't run like a paid system where you have crews in house. Most vollies allow you to respond from wherever you are. The paramedic that went to the scene either went in a first responder/fly car and they usually don't carry controlled substances. Or, he may have just been near-by and responded in his personal vehicle. Most vollies take anyone 18+, even if they can't drive. Like I said before, my VAC had a similar rule, but with the caveat that if someone over 18 was there but not a certified driver, they could roll the ambulance, but no lights and no sirens. As for the squad leader, it sounds like he was a youth squad leader where the company had a youth squad for kids in high school to try to build interest in EMS in them.

Like I said, he failed his stress test. I guess we know for sure that he had ischemia and not reflux.