reaper

You start with three 9' web straps, with the plastic buckles. Two straps are used on upper body and one strap on the legs. Start with one strap buckle over left shoulder. go through handhold, take it down to waist line and come up through hole. take it over the hip and down between the legs, around the crouch. put through hole on other side of board. go back up to above waist line and come back up through hole. Then across the chest to meet the other end. pull the slack and tighten strap. Repeat other strap on other side of body. Third strap is on legs. find holes right above ankle area. feed strap ends through holes on opposite sides. Leave some slack by the feet. Go down to thigh area and come up through holes. Buckle strap together. Go back to the feet. Take the slack and twist into a figure eight. This will leave you a loop. Slide loop over the feet. Pull up all slack and tighten strap. You must make sure that straps do not come on outside of the board, through the holes. This will leave space for movement. Once you know how to do this, one person can secure a pt on, in about one minute. This may be hard to picture. Like I said before, this is something to need to learn hands on. As I stated. This will secure a pt, with no movement. I look at quick straps and spider straps. They all allow side to side and up and down movement. Imagine your pt's body sliding sideways, when their head is secured to the board. Not good on c-spine!!

If it is done correctly, parachute strapping is the best way to secure a pt on a LSB. You can turn the board upside down or stand on end and the pt will not move at all. It is something that you need to be taught in person, you cannot learn it online. To me, this is the only true spinal immobilization. All other methods I have seen allow the pt to slide around on the board.

Some pt's I will treat on scene and some in the unit. Depends on the situation. I don't like starting IV's in the house, unless they are needed right away. One thing I can say. In our system, you would be out of a job, if you walked a SOB pt to the ambulance. That is what they make stretchers for! :roll:

I guess so... the idea here is that complacency breeds an environment that hurts all the good people to the point of forcing them away from what I consider to be an honorable and upstanding job & profession. First on shouldn't be first to wait... I gave oral glucose to a patient who had a BS of 27 by a family members Accucheck, pt meets the criteria... the Engine is waiting for the Squad... why? I did my job AVPU V/S ABC's O2 & Gluc... medics get a BS of 58... push D50 = b/s 157 package and were gone... How many of my "peers" would wait... along with the 5 EMT/FF from the engine and watch the coma? This may be why? You gave Oral Glucose to a "coma" pt with a BGL of 27 mg/dl.??? If this is the case, I would rather you wait till ALS shows up. Just talk politics with the family or something! :shock:

I would do your research on the subject. My ex is a ICU RN and most of the time their ICU is half full of bypass pt's. She sees a lot of the bad outcomes from this surgery. It is not for everyone and as stated the M&M is high. Look at the Lap Band or other ways of losing the weight. The easy way out is not always the best!! Good luck to you!

It does count. But, you need to talk to the state and see if you will have enough time in school to count. Where are you going to school?

Yes, you have to renew in Dec., just like the rest of the state. You should be able to get double the CE's in 9-10 months. Why would you think you can't do it? If you want to get them all at once, just find a refresher course. Then you are done. But, you should take multiple classes and learn new things. That is what CE's are all about. I think I have close to 300 CE's right now and will have much more by Dec. You have to want to learn and find the classes.

Just wait, there will be a study out soon that will say it's bad! There always is! :roll:

If you work for a private service, it would be up to you. In county government, it is absolutely forbidden. If you are a 911 service, I would say no. If you are just transporting them, why not. You tip your taxi driver right?

"Get the (&^%%$^^&^*&(&^out of my (*&&^% face. Do I come to your (**^*&(& work and ask you ^%(^%%^^ questions?? J/K- But that is what I would like to say once in a while.

There are some that will never see how things need to change. I have worked with some great EMT-B's, but I always push them to go on to medic school. If EMS is your passion and the career you want, then you have no other choice but to become better and want to improve the care that is provided to the public. You say that this forum does not reflect how it is in your neck of the woods. This forum is made up of people from all over the world. When you have this many people that are pushing for change in a better direction, that should tell you that the majority of EMS do not feel the same way as the people around you. EMT is a stepping stone to better care and education. I push EMT's to further their education. But, I'm sorry, i have no need for career EMT's that are satisfied with minimal education and BLS care. That is not in the best interest of our pt's. So I may sound like I am bashing EMT's, that is far from the truth. You can look back at old post. I defend EMT's for wanting to learn. I just don't like ones that "Settle".

I am not putting you down for " Being an EMT-B". If you are happy at your job and are making good money, then by all means stay put. If someone is happy in life and at their job, then you can't ask for much more. All I was saying is that I get tired of the ones that want to play medic, but don't want to get the education. This does not apply to you. I am just trying to let people know that there are ways to go back to school, you just have to want it bad enough.

Do you want to become a Paramedic? If you do, you will find a way. I was in the middle of a divorce, raising 2 kids, paying all the bills and working as a EMT at crappy pay. There are grants, scholarships and FA available. You may not want another bill, but the raise in pay will help pay it. I had my first 3 semesters paid for by grants and scholarships, that I fought for. I begged,borrowed and saved to pay for the final semester. If you say it can't be done, then you may not want it bad enough. I knew that becoming a medic was better for my kids in the long run. You have job security and higher pay. That is the way to go for your kids. If there are no classes around you, then wait for one or Move! This is your life and only you can make it better. But, if you keep giving yourself excuses, you will never get what you want. It does take alot of sacrifice and hardships to go back to school, just prepare yourself and the kids ahead of time and it will all work out in the end.

For a side note: Please don't bring out the line " Why don't you pay for her medic class". All of us have done it and I can guarantee you that I was at rock bottom, when I went through school. There are many ways to pay for schooling, look around. Please don't use money as an excuse to not further your education! I have no problem with EMT's asking why I choose a certain treatment, I will gladly explain why. But, the first one that tells me I'm wrong and their right, gets chewed up and spit out. BTW, I was an EMT for 13 years, before going on to medic. I can tell you that I learned one thing. I knew nothing about medicine, even though I thought I knew it all!!! :shock:

Tell your boss to fire the guy! I come up there and be your partner!!

Never mind, them menthols will KILL you! :shock:

Better Solution, Send your pack to me, everyday. Then you will know that they are not being wasted!!!

You can't change the tube with a bougie. The King airway is designed to go into the esophagus , not the trachea. So changing the tube out would just place your ET tube in the esophagus!

Dust hit it right! What about Grady, or how about Metro atlanta ambulance?

I worked for MEDICS back in the late 80's. They provided transport for Broward county EMS. They weren't bad, but there was better to work for. They may have became a better service in the past 20 years. Just try them and see if they are worth it. Just my .02, County third service is the only way to go with EMS. Keep it out of the hands of the Fire service!!!

As stated they are two different markets. But don't be upset about it. Being a CNA is not that great. But, they do make good money. If FL. you can get trained in two weeks, in most NH's!!!!

JW, You will learn the common ones, when you deal with them all the time. They put out new drugs faster then you can learn them. My advise is buy a pocket guide. You can look up any med, that you don't know off hand. This in my mind is being prepared. It only takes a second to look it up and know what you are dealing with. This is much better then guessing if you remember it correctly! :wink:

Be prepared to drive! They pop up in FL once in a while. I have been trying for six months to get to one!

Take a look back in history at world temps. It was hotter a 1000 years ago then it is now. I guess that was from all the emissions the horse and cart were putting out. I have done research projects on the issue and find no definitive proof of true global warming. Even a majority of the top climatologist will not agree on the issue. The majority of what people believe on the issue is what they see from the media. Katrina had nothing to do with weather change. It had to do with a city being built below sea level. Andrew in 92' was a stronger storm then Katrina and that was a decade before. Any storm in the Gulf can be changed by temp affects. The Gulf is a closed in body of water, to the north. Water temps are constantly changing, which changes the way storms react. Do I think we need to cut back on emissions? Yes. Not because of global warming, but because of the air quality we are breathing.

DRG for me. Yes Dust, it does have dual heads, but it has other designs that make it better for noisy environments. It is very durable for street use and the cost is right. You just have to try one to like it.