Just Plain Ruff

We watched this new show last night called "The Night Shift" and aside from the Eye Candy of the female doctors, and let me say the lead female doctor, she's just delicious to look at, this show is one hour of entertainment but the rest of it is simply a comedy of errors. I give this show 1 season but then again, that's what I gave Chicago Fire. Needless to say, it's like Chicago fire was when it started, count how many errors you can see in the first 10 minutes of the show. Well I didn't realize I was doing it but here they are. Caveat here - I really did like the show - I won't stop watching it because of the errors but here you go. These are what I caught. 1. New hot shot back from Afghanistan doctor riding his motorcycle comes upon a guy being worked on by some medics. He'd been impaled by a tree limb. The doc says "We're gonna remove the limb from his abdomen" "He's got a lacerated renal artery" and he proceeds to remove this tree stump sized limb from this guys belly. He then takes a empty IV bag and puts the tubing into the belly and fills up the bag with the guys own blood and then begins an autologous blood transfusion all the while saying "I learned this in Afghanistan" when asked. He then opens the guys belly and clamps off the renal artery and saves the day 2. Helicopter to a crash scene, child in the back seat of a van. Has a separated skull from spinal column injury. A storm is rolling in. They request that EMS fashion some sort of foam block devices to secure the kiids head. (hmmmmmm can you say head blocks that EMS normally carries). They get the kid in to the helicopter and they fly through this terrible storm that no other helicopter pilot would be dumb enough to fly through but they get the kid to the hospital. This doctor from Afghanistan performs a surgery he's only done one time before and that one time was in afghan and he lost the patient. But this time it was a success. YAY Oh yeah they also decompressed the kids chest but there was no chest tube. \ 3. The new interns were practicing (terribly) defibrillating a dead homeless guy in the ER. The doctor allowing this said "come on practice on this guy, who knows when you might have to do it on someone who really will need it!" I kept thinking that they were actually going to shock this dead homeless guy to life. That would have made me love this show. 4. Drunk driver brought into the ED and survives a wreck that killed a man. The doctor who's patient died, walked into the drunks room, talked to him about his morphine pump and told him how morphine would take his pain away if he pushed the button every 10 minutes or so and then he unplugged the button and took it away from the drunk. (that was pretty cool). So really the show is entertainment only, don't expect to be wowed by medical procedures that are correct. Entertainment value 7 Medical correctness 2

Nick, being that violent patients get restrained, that's a given. but why are you letting verbally abusive patients get to you. You didn't respond to my post at all. You focused on Island's post and no-one elses. So the tribe has spoken, why do you allow verbally abusive patients get to you? I've been in EMS for 20+ years and I've had patients tell me that they wanted to kill me, to kill my family and to do all sorts of nasty things to me. Did it bother me, sure but I never took it personally because it's part of the job. Sure in my first year or so, I had a unlisted phone number because I was worried someone would search me out but you know what, it never happened. But your response to Islands post leads me to believe that you really get defensive at just the little things that are thrown your way and you really need to work on that. The question is "how can we help you?"

Well, they know more about guns than I really do so they are more qualified than me, so game set match to the cop. And Artick - quitcherbitchin - what are the rules again?

Ok, Nick, sounds like you are at your wits end with this and maybe you need to discuss some outlets on how to deal with these types of patients. How often do you have violent patients that require them being tied down to your cot with restraints? Is there some reason why they are becoming physically violant and verbally abusive with you? Im not busting your balls brother (to take a note from Dwayne) but seriously, I have treated thousands of patients and I can count on probably mine and my partners hands the numbers of times I've had to physically restrain someone to my cot. Many of these patients can be talked to and transported without having to resort to restraining them but then again some cannot. There are classes out there, your local hospital if they run a psych ward or similar department can probably point you to the right class. Violent patients most often go with the police depending on how violent they are. I tell the police that they can either transport them or they have to send one of their officers with the patient in the ambulance and the decision is usually to put them in the back of the cop car to the ER but I will never put a patient in a cop car that I believe needs a ambulance. EVER. A police officer will go with me. And yes I will get a sedation order from Medical control if my safety is in jeopardy and the patient needs to go by ambulance. But the police will always go with me, sometimes it's pulling teeth to get them to go with us but I tell them that my safety is tantamount and sometimes I pull the "if you want me to take care of you when you get hurt you will do this for me buddy" in a joking way! thank goodness for a great working relationship with local LEO's. But call the local psych facility you transport patients to and ask them about what classes they have to defuse situations like these, and they probably have them available for EMS providers. One other thing, it says you are a student in your occupation, you will get better over time at defusing these types of patients and until you do, always keep an eye out for escalating signs such as clenching fists, rapid talking, pacing, cursing, glaring at you and just hairs standing up on the back of your neck. See any of those and you know the issue is escalating to a possible unsafe level. There is nothing wrong with you leaving the area to wait for help to get there.

So Flav, do you use a clock that big to take pulses with, seems like it would get in the way with patient care?

How new is new Artic? I'd be happy to pay for one and shipping if you are willing to part with one? I'd rather support a starving(not saying you are) medic/emt than the publisher if you get my drift.

Well I can tell you what I'd do. I'm going to move the patient about 10 feet away from that weapon. I for one am pretty sure that a weapon with a finger on the trigger is not going to fire. Of course for all the gun control nuts out there, it's the gun that kills people not the person doing the shooting, just look at the media reaction to this most recent mass shooting in California, they are doing everything they can to blame the NRA, and those who support the 2nd amendment but not blaming the shooter. So a gun sitting on the ground with no-one's finger on the trigger is probably not going to fire on it's own so it's a pretty safe bet that if you move your patient if you can, then you don't need to secure the gun, of course there's always that off chance that this is the time that the gun is going to be the one killing the people and not the person killing the people. But I digress. Have a cop secure it, have someone who knows how to handle a gun if you don't but by all means, if you know not how to handle a gun, then don't fucking touch it or you will likely shoot your foot off.

no no no no no, you put the pen in the trigger area, that's where the pen goes. Jeesh, where'd you learn to handle a gun. The correct answer at a shooting scene is "officer, please secure this gun" The other question is this "Why are you touching a piece of evidence at a crime scene when the police should be doing it?"

did you get the answer you needed?

Just go on down to the local cemetary after midnight on a full moon and you probably could get all the bleeding arms and intubation heads you ever would need. Just a caveat though, they might stink a little. But anything to save a few bucks right?

you would be the first to mention this, is retirement that bad?

Does anyone have a used paramedic textbook that I could purchase from you. Has to be a relatively recent book. Preferably within the last Class cycle. I'd be happy to pay shipping and the cost of the book(reasonable price please). I could go to Amazon.com or Barnes and noble but I'd rather help out a struggling new medic or whatever. Let me know.

Its been suppressed by the people who brought you the broselow tape. They don't want you to know that their coveted tape may under-treat some kids. This previous statement only applies if you believe in conspiracy theories. But if you were to take my son's height and then take his weight, you would under-dose his resus drugs by about 20 percent. I say that's not good juju if you ask me.

Hell, we hung 3 from the roof our our old van ambulance, it was fun watching the patients grab the walls and then try to hold the barf bags. woot

Age should not be any issue. If you pass the entrance requirements and they hire a hot 20 year old chick over you and all the people on the hiring committee are young 20 year old guys, then you have a age bias suit on your hands. But in all seriousness, if you are the best qualified then you should get the job. i'm 46 years old and I'm working towards getting my medic license renewed and as soon as I get it back, I'll be ready to run on the ambulance again on a strictly part time basis. Daddy needs a part time job to pay some bills.

No Not everyone, just everyone other than Mikey

Damn Mikey, just when one of your posts was stellar and then you come here with that pearl of crap, you can't shine this turd my friend. That was rude and uncalled for. Seriously lacking in tact. Not everyone get's the material the first time and sometimes people need help. And I for one, as well as Clutzy, and probably Island were NOT thinking that this person was not cut out for this profession. Aint it great to be living in that glass house of yours.

How is it that we both frequent the same forums?

Those are I believe hangars from the cieling of your ambulance to hang a third stretcher so you can transport a third patient. Our Braun Ambulance had one of those setups. Used it one time and the lady below the patient above her freaked and we had to call a 2nd ambulance to transport the one being suspended. Does anyone still have a EOA on their rigs?

TWO COWS ~{Matthias Varga} - This one's for Kiwi - see last three lines. SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour ... COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buys your bull. SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. AN AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead. A GREEK CORPORATION You have two cows. You borrow lots of euros to build barns, milking sheds, hay stores, feed sheds, dairies, cold stores, abattoir, cheese unit and packing sheds. You still only have two cows. A FRENCH CORPORATION You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and market it worldwide. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch. A SWISS CORPORATION You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them. A CHINESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation. AN INDIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You worship them. A BRITISH CORPORATION You have two cows. Both are mad. AN IRAQI CORPORATION Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the ** out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy. AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate. And for KIWI A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive...

Dang that was good mikey, but I'll add this, this is the reason why you are going to school and also why you have a experienced emt or medic watching your back. If you do not have someone like that in your field preceptorship then it's time for you to look at another EMS agency to do your rides with or requesting a more alert and engaged person to work with you. My first emt job was at a city service, I don't really count this as my first job because my preceptors sucked big donkey balls and did not help me at all. I was left to flounder while my two seasoned partners told me "you are here to drive and that's it, don't expect to do any skills." and then they would go into the back of the unit and put a sheet up so I could not see what they were doing. Many people told me they were a couple and they hated men. (these were two women who I worked with). I only drove, was their gopher and at my time to get off evaluation they would not approve me off because they said I had not proven myself as a quality EMT even though they let me do NOTHING with patients. So I quit I then moved to a city service about 20 miles away, first day working I have told everyone here about but the learning atmosphere as a new EMT was night and day different. I say that this service made me the EMT I was until I got to medic school. Then I got my medic and worked for a great hospital based service and my preceptor was one of the best medics I've ever worked with bar none. So you can do it, don't let anyone say you cannot and keep your chinup.

This is about someone who made statements that a collective organization considers racist, and since that organization relies on a majority of their employees who are black to win games for that organization that makes it the big deal that it is. If the organization relied on a bunch of white guys to help them make all their money that this would even be an issue? I don't truly believe so, but since a majority of the players are black then this cannot be tolerated. But what really pisses me off is that if a black owner were to make these statements then there would be no outrage or there would be minimal outrage. Obama would not go on TV and give his two cents. Jesse and Al would not be spouting their mouths off over this. But because an old fart white guy said this, this is tantamount to the end of the world.

Seth, my first day on the job as an EMT was like this I come in for work ready for a day of orientation and they tell me to get on the truck and drive the medic to where he needs to go. That location is the scene of a adult cardiac arrest and we work this guy to the hospitals. We then catch two transfers back to back. The fourth call was to a major trauma on the interstate - Class I trauma, closed head injury, massive internal injuries, kids involved and lots of blood. The final call of my 24 hour shift was to the scene of a infant non-breather where we were unable to get the baby back. That day nearly was my last day in EMS. I stuck with it, you can too. PM me and we can chat. Everyone of us on this site have had the kind of week you are having right now. By the way, my second shift I ran 2 calls for the entire 24 hour shift. We just were never in the right place at the right time to catch the calls.

ok, to risk sounding like a bigot but how can he be a racist when at least half if not more of his employee's are black? But the NBA has to take this stance because they can't take the risk to offend anyone.

No wait guys, what he's really asking is this "I really really really really respect you guys and all that you do, I really want to be an EMT and am hoping that I can get into one of those free classes that I've heard so much about, you know, the ones that only 50% of those who enroll, actually pass, and I want to know, will this experience and this criminal conviction have any bearing on whether or not I can become a super duper top of the line zero to hero balls to the walls EMT that will be better than anyone of you posers on this forum?"