Quakefire

When do you start selling t-shirts?

Sorry Tniuqs after living in Rob Anders riding most of my life I refuse to give the conservative party any of my money at any level (even 10 bucks) I keep my money with the greens because they have yet to screw me over (they will eventually, its politics) and the fact that I like to breath, might be alot of COPD coming down the line for us, but thats another topic I do have a question though, and this would go to any of the people here, would you sign a letter stating your support for the staff of BCAS, or keep your name anonymous for fear of reprocussions? I have heard talk around here of "conduct unbecomming....'

Move to Saskatchewan? You could probably get a pretty steady job with Canadian Industrial Paramedics here as well if thats the way you want to go

The CPAP machines we will most likely getting will be something like the PortO2Vent, oxygen powered and with a nice simple knob for us lowly EMT's our service doesn't carry CPAP, not yet anyway. As for what would happen if I give a chest pain (I am smart enough to look at the monitor first) and their pressure plummets, well we do have a unit that still carries PASG

Can I get a patch that says Waaambulnace Driver? or a patch with a flap so I can select Ambulance Driver or Hurse Driver?

I'll admit to not going to the last AGM, but in reality I had just graduated and had no business voting on resolutions which affect an industry I had yet to work it. That being said that last election for members at large and council members I took the time to mail in votes because I knew the people running. I think we are in good hands for atleast the near future. Although i hate my registration fees I understand the purpose behind the huge increase, transparency has so far been pretty good. What the future holds, well I dunno. Maybe with all the complaining in Alberta, the membership will rise up and vote next year. And remember we dont want to support BCAS, just the people working for them

The problem with writing his MP is that your votes dont count to him so he wont care. If you write your MP you can express your concern as an EMS provider that BC is setting a dangerous precedent for ambulance services everywhere. Just a thought, other wise i'll sign that letter (as a former Albertan)

Quick Everyone To Your MP Before Your Next! Why bother with negotiation and mediation when instead you can force legislation instead! With no actual danger to the public, how are they justifying this act? By the Energy minister going "everyone gave it a good try"? Police and Fire get binding arbitration and EMS gets law makers forcing a new contract, at least until after the games. This is ridiculous, for once the feds should step in and slap some sense into BC

Tniuqs of course you can play No where on my person does it say registered or licensed, but we do still use the old terms due to the fact that Paramedic is protected by law to belong only to an EMT-P. Our Operations Manager, who came from Edmonton to our little private service did propose the use of bars instead of titles on our shoulders but would having 3 or 4 bars (supervisor) really solve the arguing over titles? Of course the patient has the right to choose as long as their conscious and A/O, they can be PRS'd by their choice, and if the people started to demand it, i'm sure most private ambulance companies (like much of Saskatchewan is) would work that into their contracts with the health regions. More money for them. Regardless of Alberta or BC lots of EMS workers are being bent over the cot to be shown whos boss Maybe we should move away from having a 'Paramedic' decal on the side of our units, maybe its time we moved to neon signs, so that when an ALS crew hops aboard they can flip a switch to inform the public Maybe we should be looking at a National Solidarity perspective, instead of a getting screwed over by ACoP or AHS one? Get us all along the lines of the Nurses and Fire Fighters, instead of fighting our little battles alone, we can fight as Canadian Paramedics, not Alberta, or Saskatchewan or BC medics

We can only give Nitro where a patient has their own prescription or with direct medical control, Chances are if we are giving nitro the patient has their own to self medicate with any way. I agree we should have a line in place first in case that access is required very quickly. With the 12-leads it will give the hospital an idea of any changes over that last few miniutes (or up to half an hour from some places in our service area) and allows for preparation of proper treatment

So following along with this, when I show up at his door with my partner, and both of our epaulets say EMT. Now is he going to believe in us enough to let us treat him, when really he called to get a paramedic at the door? What about when I work with a paramedic, will a patient let me attend to them or should the demand the paramedic regardless of the severity of their illness or injury? I understand the worry with ACoP and AHS finding ways to cut ACP's out of the picture as a cost saving measure all the while having a lower level of car slipped in under their nose, but there is also the perception of the public on the industry as a whole. Unless they are a paramedic, they are not capable of caring for me or my family. Should we go back to the days of paramedics and Ambulance Drivers? It seems when I work with a paramedic I get called that a lot more

While we are trained to interpret 3-lead ECG's we are not allowed to interpret ECG's, aparently I cant tell a NSR from Vfib but thats besides the point. The new skill will allow us to capture a 12-lead ecg, not diagnose/interpret it

That would be the definition according to the University of Saskatchewan, not exactly the whole province. I was using Primary Care as referred to "Primary Care Paramedic". But lets move to the Primary Health Care idea. Is it not part of our job to educate the public when possible? And are we not moving towards being able to handle more and more homecare type issues such as replacing and maintainence of catheters instead of taking these people into the ER? So while the U of S shows Primary Health Care as shifting the responsibility onto the public, its most definitely being shifted onto our shoulders as well

Alright, as far as the rest of the country using the Saskatchewan is only partway there. While my certificate says I am trained as a Primary Care Paramedic, I am unable to use that title, or be licensed as such. Now in protocol there is a difference between an EMT and a PCP trained EMT, just like there will be a difference when they drop the ICP(EMT-A) title and make them into EMT's again. All of our units say Paramedic across the side, as far as the public is concerned, do you think they should turn down a BLS crew and tell them to send a Paramedic? What the public needs to know is that no matter who shows up at their front door that they will be receiving highly trained care. Mobey has a point in saying that our PCP program provides alot of education, and we have national standards. Why shouldn't we want to show that we stand out? I understand that it takes alot of time, and alot of work to become a Paramedic, and the respect the title should bring, but I think we need to be more worried about respect for EMS as a whole. And for the record, I think EMR's belong in rural services as first responders while waiting for an ambulance, you should never call 911 and get a car with 2 emrs. I am an EMT (PCP) so I may be biased. I dont have lines, I have very few drugs, and I admit that my scope isn't as big as it is in other places, but I do feel that based on the amount of education we receive the "Primary Care" title is appropriate, just like with all the extra education an ACP receives, a title of "Advanced Care" fits.

ArticKat I started this wondering more along the lines as to what other people are seeing, and what other services are doing. We have had discussions during staff meetings and we have all of the health canada bulletins up as well. One of the things I like about forums is that I have access to people from all over the country to get ideas. I didn't know there were different levels of filters for the Bipap or intubated patients which makes me wonder what our hospital is using. We were told that with the "closed Loop" masks were not required

We were innoculated as part of the hospital staff, because in Saskatchewan we are mostly private services, we were treated as health region employees. We so far have no specific instructions as to deep cleaning our units after these calls, we try and get a mask on the patient before getting into the unit, but we haven't done a full deep clean after, just the wipes on all surfaces. Has anyone tried to avoid the use of nebulizer masks as i've heard that it actually puts the crew at higher risk?

Our average transfer (which is what us call in crews do alot of) is about 260km - 280km round trip it adds up pretty quick, our 2006 unit has over 350 000 on it already

So far I swear H1N1 is tied to the full moon (very long night) but regardless of the tides flu season seems to be in full swing so I figured I would ask a few questions find out whats going on out there. For your confirmed (or heavily suspected) cases What seems to be our average time for onset of symptoms What do you wear for BSI? Are gloves good enough, do you wear a mask from the second you get out of the unit? after initial assesments? N95 or Surgical? Mask your patient as well? What similarities are you seeing Did you get innoculated? Just H1N1 or both? were you required? What are your disinfection policies regarding your unit after transporting these patients? Anyone else have any questions?

Do you actually use padding? Under knees? In between knees? Blanket over the board itself? On EVERYONE? Not normally, but occasionally a flannel on the board, especially for MVA's or anything outside in the rain, keep a flannel under the head of the stretcher and throw it on right before the patient, so he doesn't get more wet How do you immobilize head? Do you use head wedges? Cheese blocks. The styrofoam triangles and head pad? Rolled up blankets. Does it depend on patient? Our service uses the orange ferno blocks and straps usually but we carry headrolls too Do you use backboards always? Or do you have the hard foam boards? Our protocols only allow spinal immobilization on a LSB or KED, we also carry wooden short spinebords for some reason, no one uses them. Our scoops are the old metal kind and therefore not suitable for spinal immobilization. Spider straps? "Box Method"? Straps that click in like an X over chest? Binders? (Pre-ripped sheets that wrap around) We strap with an X over the chest and one across the pelvis, sometimes a 4th strap for the legs depending on the patient, but there are some services that have nice vacuum backboards and other goodies Do you ALWAYS immobilize cervical if immobilizing lower back? Vice-versa? Depends on MOI, chances are yes unless we are moving them from hospital to hospital Do you use tape over the neck? Does it go straight across or angled up (perpendicular to the forehead tape). We use the velcro straps, angled as much as possible on the chin of the collar and across the forehead, same with head rolls just with cloth tape Do you use the arm straps? What do you do for unconscious patient's extremeties. Leave one arm out for IV? All in and you unwrap later for IV access? I avoid strapping a patients arms in, even though I have no IV access I need an arm for BP's and such. for an unconscious patient I take a triangular bandage and tie it in a loop, put their hands across their chest and loop it around their elbows, easy to get arms out and holds them in place nicely

Wow I would freak out at that hospital, but here blue is oral and red is rectal, then again the only difference is taste..... Regardless of volunteer or paid, at least the laws here, if you are on call and you are dispatched and refused you are abandoning the patient even without contact. There is no reason this person should be allowed to practice, they have no dedication to the profession, and have no right to be allowed anywhere near a patient

So far all of our board members are at least EMT's but a large portion are ACP's with the current president also being the program coordinator for SIAST's Kelsey campus EHC program. So it nice that the college actually represents the practitioners but they have more than doubled our registration fees this year

Check out Deuter, one of the larger bags should let you fit individual kits (like an IV kit or intubation kit) on the inside as well as various other pockets. Even has a built in rain jacket

I doubt we will be able to wait a year for new units, our one main unit is so close to 700 000km its painful, I liked working in the GM chassis on my practicum, guess we will have to see

So far my favorite part of the whole series, was the guy in the collar beating the crap out of the rig with a baseball bat over his bill. Extreme yes but i'm sure there are alot of people who have thought about doing it.

I look at it this way, the car I usually end up staffing as our second car/transfer car has a stryker electric stretcher. Last i looked its rated for a 700 lbs lift (i'm proudly Canadian and very metric, but the stretchers American) so if the hydraulics on my fancy stretcher are unable to lift your giant butt we have a problem, not to mention my service doesn't own a center mount. These people are just not going to fit. If we need to buy a bariatric unit and stretcher, plus call in another on call crew (min 3 hour call outs) we should be able to charge extra. The other thing I see is that yes while there is extra cost for the equipment, there is alot of extra wear and tear on my back, and some of that money should goto me and my partner, or atleast to employee benefits of some kind. That or we just need the fire department and a SHAMU (think thats how its spelled, big tarp with many handles