Just Plain Ruff

curious why you didn't give the emt who responded the patient info instead of the police officer. Any reason why you bypassed the emt and went straight to the cop? Just curious. Did the officer provide patient care or did the emt? would the EMT on scene have done more with the patient information or would the cop have? I am not criticising this, I'm truly asking and wanting to know why you gave the officer the patient info over the emt?

This is a terrible and saddening story. What makes a person kill two kids and then try to kill herself. Madness I say, Madness.

From the article According to the violation notice, squad members were able to access prescription doses of Lasix and Benadryl and put the drugs into the drinks of unsuspecting crew members, a clear violation of the EMS Act. This is assault and it should have been dealt with in a more strict and harsher manner. I've been on the wrong end of the lasix in the coke joke and it ended up nearly killing me so those putting lasix in the drinks of the unsuspecting crew members should have been disciplined as well. This ambulance service is a disgrace to this industry and in my opinion should have been shut down, not fined but that's my opinion and it's just what I read from the article. I will rescind my opinion if the charges in the article turn out to be false (I suspect they are not). Hopefully the changes that have been made have made are enough to turn around this service. Another step in the right direction would be to fire those putting the lasix and benedryl in the unsuspecting crew members drinks. nuff said

This quote in my opinion May just invalidate the study "Because ambulances typically transport patients needing true emergency care, diversion reroutes the neediest patients away from their nearest hospital, representing a failure of the systems to provide the intended care,'' the authors wrote." (just kidding) There are more than 200 hospitals in California that are in areas that allow diversions, did they specifically go after the hospitals the were in the minority areas?? That's a question I would want to know. I'd like to see the full study before taking this study as the truth and gospel.

I believe we already mended the fence dwayne. So answering the question would be a exercise in futility. Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

We used to have 2 vials of crofab antivenin in our ER Refridgerator due to a rash of rattlesnake bites a number of years ago. I wonder if it's still in the fridge in the ER. Prolly not. But in my 9 years of working on and off there, I think it was the same vials.

Kanga, you really can do this with kids or without. There was recently a thread that had some of us saying that if you put your mind to it you can do whatever you want and I am of that mindset. Unfortunately, if you don't have a support system, and sorry to say, but some of us on this forum do not, but a great many of us do, this job can be difficult at best for them. You need a strong base to work this job, you need a husband (or wife) that understands that you may have to miss those all important dates and milestones in a relationship that are so important to keeping a family or couple together. Birthdays, anniversaries, christmas or whatever other religious holidays you observe. The other person in your relationship has to understand that you will be married to your job but that is NOT what has to happen. I was that person, I was married to the job and ate up the overtime like a cop ate up donuts. I made nearly 55K my first year as a medic simply because I took every shift that came available with the mindset that I was young and I wanted to prove myself to the old timers that I was part of the team. I worked every holiday and every shift that someone needed off. I learned after 3 years of doing that and getting very very sick after letting myself get run down and exhausted that the only one I was hurting was myself. I stopped torturing myself and I felt better and realized that the city I worked for would not DIE and there would be sick people for me to take care of on every shift that I worked and that there were sick people on my off days. The sick people never stopped getting sick or hurt. Car wrecks and trauma patients never stop and I finally realized that the big incident would and did indeed come to me but I only had to wait. I didn't need to work every day to get that one big incident. It was going to happen. So to make a long story short, go for it. take the plunge, you may love it, you may hate it. BUt I get the feeling that you will kick yourself for not trying at least. Feel free to pm me. I'd love to hear what your decision is.

NO you misunderstood my whole point. What frustrated me was that you came here asking about how it was to work with kids and that gave the impression that you had kids and you were wanting to know what it would be like in a situation with you having kids. Many people here come and ask questions and they don't give the entire story and then when we give them our best answer they come back and say, oh that's not what I asked and they get mad at us for not having a crystal ball to know their situation. That is what you did. I would say I'm not busting your chops but you did come here and say "what's it like working in EMS with kids" thus giving me and many other the impression that you had kids, and we gave you our best answers, but you came back saying "oh I don't have kids" and many people spent time and effort answering a question that had nothing to do with your current situation. But no harm no foul but it was frustrating to me to see that your original post was no where near what your current situation was. Now it's not a sin to ask but you didn't put it out there in the first question. But that's water under the bridge. I will apologize as I may have made the single mom assumption but I hpe I did not. But I since you are not a single mom nor are you a mom with kids nor are you single, then your options are very much open since you have a very supportive husband which does NOT happen very often in this business. Shift work is a big help. YOu have to be ready for long hours, not seeing your husband for every holiday for the first year because you will be the low person on the totem pole so you will get EVERY or nearly every holiday. Expect lots of extra shifts as the new person. Expect some hazing as the new person. And NEVER NEVER NEVER stop learning. Your book learning ends when your class ends. your street learning begins when you start your job. I do wish you the best of luck. I'm glad you stuck around, I'm not really a bad guy, just having an off day.

I also question the wisdom too. After the night of my alma mater football game, I have solidified my hesitation to keeping my daughter away from cheerleading unless the program is accepted as a sport and there is more than the girls making the routines up themselves. There has to be more than just "hey let's throw Gabby up in the air and hope we catch her". I also don't want the teacher who gets the short straw to be ramrodded into being the cheerleading coach like it was in my high school time. There must be in my opinion someone trained in coaching cheerleading, not just a teacher who either gets chosen by random or a gym coach who has it in their job description. So making cheerleading a sport is not a bad idea. And DFIB, don't you know that Being a blond is not genetic, it's a "choice"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to my alma mater and watched the cheerleaders. I didn't notice a cheerleader coach anywhere near the girls. What I also noticed was the willy nilly routine that the girls were putting together. I watched the two smallest girls climb up the pyramid to stand on the top and then just jump down and it seemed like they were praying that they would be caught. There was no rhyme or reason how they were caught. It was like the girls had put together the routine and not a coach. Or if the coach had put it together it was not one that could be considered professionally done. I am surprised that the kids for my alma mater have not been injured, they were that bad. So if this recommendation is fully implemented and it keeps even a couple of our kids in high school or college from getting these catastrophic head or spinal injuries, then it's a good thing.

See this is what makes me mad on these forums. NOT being clear in your first post. People expended a lot of effort trying to answer your question and then you come back and say "oh I don't have kids, don't plan on having them for a while but answer my question anyway" Please be more clear when you ask a question here, a lot of people went to a lot of time and effort to answer what they thought you wanted to hear but then you come back and say "Oh that's really not what I meant at all" But now that you made it clear as crystal. You don't need our help, you have nothing to worry about in your job pursuit, you have no kids to worry bout, so you should be fine in pursuing your dreams of working and studying as an EMT and then as a medic. Now you have the answer you needed when you do have kids which I believe you said was down the road a bit. But if we didn't answer your question this time because you weren't truly clear this time, please spell it out to us. We'd hate to get it wrong again. Am I mad, nah, just frustrated.

It can be done but you have to have a spouse or a support system that allows it. I think if you are a single mother who has no support system then you would be hard pressed to do it. I'm NOT being sexist but just realistic. If you do not have someone or a group of people who can watch your children while you are working 24 hours on shift then you should not consider this field as the children would have no-one to watch them. If you have someone who can watch your children while you are on your 24 hour shift then go for it. Be that said - is the place you are trying to work only offering 24 hour shifts or does it offer other shifts? There are other shifts that you can work (unless you HAVE to work 24's) that would be easier on your kids and family life. But those shifts also come with drawbacks. you would have to work more shifts to make up for the 24 hour shifts. you'd have to work 2 12 hour shifts in order to cover the 24 hour shift. So you are going to work 4 12 hour shifts in one week versus 2 24 hour shifts. It's a give or take situation. It also depends on the ages of your kids as well. If you have 3 year olds or 12 year olds or 15 year olds. That all throws different dynamics into the situation as well. It can be done, It's done all the time, it's done in single families, and married families but you have to have support to get it done. But if you don't have support and you are a single mother and you want to work 24 hour shifts, good luck.

somehow I think that "Donna" Also wants a "11" button on her phone so when she calls Nine Eleven she won't have to tax her brain.

We need to do a set of orthostats. I do find those helpful in GI Bleeds. He's also amicable in going with us to the ER so let's stop talking in the house and put him on the cot and go. Start an IV, transport and talk to him some more. He might be more open with us out of earshot of his friends if he's a proud person. What happens if we stand him up?

I know there will always be people who have problems with the procedure but there are also success stories as well. My advice is to do research and not jump into the first group who you go to. What works for one may not work for another. I'm not advocating North american spine, I'm just saying my friend had wonderful results and he's still pain free and it's now over 8 months since the procedure. Also do not be dazzled by the animation, you need to talk to patients who have gone through the procedure.

Maybe we should test this on this woman??? Seems her consciousness left her quite a bit ago. Donna seems to be missing a few pennies from a nickel. This has to have been a joke, I mean no-one can be this stupid or "can they???????" http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/woman-wants-deer-crossing-signs-moved-deer-cross-133853876.html

You bunch of lazy no good pansy ass dumb ass firefighters. Can't you take two days out of your "busy" schedules to go get your ACLS class taken care of? What a bunch of stupid idiots unless of course this case isn't true. Then I take back what I said. But I probably won't have to.

He needs evaluation and treatment in a mental health facility but unless he says something to make me take him or unless I can convince him to go, then he's going to be left at the scene. His physical exam may also push him to go. But what will probably need to happen,(armchairing this) is that his friends will be the ones having to have to take him. Unless he decides to just go with me. I'm curious as to what other than the physical exam showed, what did he tell you in your questioning.

Every one of our passengers were amazing," she said. "They followed instructions and were good humored about it." Yeah, they were too drunk to care.

are the bottles empty? When were they filled? How many are in the bottle and how many are gone. Do the numbers in the bottles mesh with the dates and how many SHOULD be gone? IF not then you treat as an overdose. What does the patient tell you? Any statements referring to ending it all? Any statements from the friends that relay the same? What are the medications?(missed the previous info) LIthium - NASTY NASTY overdose. I'd focus in on that pill bottle first. HOw many are in the bottle?

Following your doctors advice is great advice but to get anything truly done with workmans comp requires the work comp doc and their nasty protocol driven health care world to comply. IF you don't follow what they tell you then you can end up being on the hook for the cost of the care, not the company. Best thing is to make sure your doctor is involved in your care plan but unfortunately, workmans comp really runs the show, at least in my area. The last straw you can go to if you disagree with work comp is to hire a attorney and go that route but remember that if you do that, then your treatments will more than likely dry up and it will be a nightmare getting anything done. Lawyering up is a last resort. But you can ask, and you SHOULD ask for a 2nd opinion prior to any major stuff being done. Don't just take the work comp doc's word at it. As for your question of Am I finished in EMS???? Depends on how far you let this go and whether you follow the advice of your docs and physical therapists. If you don't, then you probably are finished. If you go back to work too soon(work comp loves to push people back to work too soon) and you re-injure yourself that could lead to a career ending injury or worse, it could lead to permanent disability. Trust your body, listen to it, your body will let you know when you are ready. If you don't think you are ready, then don't go back and push back against the docs. But if you do all the stuff the guys with higher degrees than EMT or EMT-P tell you to do and you let yourself heal, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to return to work and work for many more years. Just remember, once a body part is injured, it is very easy to injure it again. So be cognizent of what you do and how you do it, and when you feel that you are pushing it, stop. Good luck.

Me too Laura. If there are younger more agile crewmembers on scene than I, I'm more than happy to let them lift. I usually carry the equipment. Makes me look caring to carry the equipment.

good to know on the friends part. You never know. Sometimes friends turn out to be the patients worst enemy. But continue on. I'm in a scene safety sort of mood today.

Are you going to be driving? What kind of EMS system are you working for? Remember, the patient knows more about themself than you ever will, so don't forget that. Don't assume that in your treatment and listen LISTEN to what they have to say. If they tell you something is wrong, listen to them. Remember that the family that is there is also your patient by proxy so include them in your discussions. Nobody likes to be in the dark and a family member who doesn't understand what's going on is a failure on your part. (certain exclusions apply of course) Remember, all little dogs, BITE, no matter how friendly they seem. NEVER NEVER stand directly in front of the door when you arrive at any scene especially a scene where you are unsure of the occupants of the house. Always stand to the side of the door. Remember, rodeos are some of the most DANGEROUS places you can work. From pissed off bulls who just had their nads zapped and a cowboy riding on their back, to a bunch of drunk cowboys who get pissed at you for not running into the arena to help the downed bull rider. Even though the bull is still in the arena. Always wear your yellow safety vest and ALWAYS wear bunker gear if you are going to be inside or extricating someone from a car. (this assumes you are issued bunker gear). If no bunker gear, make sure you stay away from the extrication area unless you are in the car. Wear safety goggles or a face shield to keep your eyes safe. Always try to stay with your partner. Go off alone and you are asking for trouble. Become friends with law enforcement in your area and the fire services in your area. You need a amicable relationship with them. Alienate them and you can expect some major issues on getting help. Always keep a couple bottles of water in your ambulance for you and your partner. One thing I found one day was the need for water to mix up formula for a non-injured baby. I had one bottle of water and was able to use it to mix up formula. So it's not just you that might need the water. Make sure that you are supplied with good boots and pants. Don't cross the street or walk to a street scene without looking both ways several times. Not looking both ways might just get you killed. And finally, if you see something that you feel is wrong, speak up. I know you are a new guy but if it's wrong you have every right to speak up and make yourself heard. To keep silent is cowardly.

Make sure you are between the door and the patient. Don't let the patient get between the door and you. Plus what are the other men there for?