gemini1030

Congratulations on the new job.

I think a few things are wrong with the country today. First is greed. Everyone is looking out for just themselves. Our politicans are too busy looking out for themselves rather than making decisions on what is best for the country. .We elect them under the premise that they will go and do what we feel is best for the country. In reality, they go and do what is their best interest. The lobbyist and special interest groups spend millions on politicans. They have to get reelected to be able to continue with this. I realize that they have to do some things for their constituants, but sometimes you have to sacrifice some small things for the good of the whole. Kind of like having a bad infection in you hand. In order to save your life you have to amputate the hand. Secondly is personal resposibility. Everyone is so busy blaming everyone else that no one takes resposibility for their actions. When you make a mistake, take ownership of it and learn from it. Lastly, is political correctness. If 90% of people blowing up airplanes are muslin males 18-35 it is not racial profiling to examine this group when they go to board an airplane. It is smart not descriminitory. We are too busy trying to not offend anyone that we can not provide proper security and other services to everyone else. If you do not pay into the system then you should not complain about the services you receive or don't receive. Illiegal aliens should not be allowed to get social security or other services. They should come in legally and contribute before they expect to received services. But as a country we are so worried about hurting their feelings. If they don't like it they can go back where they came from. Once again back to doing what is good for the whole. Ok, I am sure I have upset some folks now so I will get off my soap box.

I really do not think that any message would work. In fact I think it would make it worse. People would slow or stop to read the stupid thing. I agree it is frustrating. I think the camera is the best idea. Send them a ticket. We have a particular road patrol deputy that works our area that if he hears us go out emergent he will hang in the area and pull over drivers that do not yield, but there is only one of him and so many idiots with a drivers license.

For a pelvic fracture why not use the KED? We do not use the SAM splint we use an AOA. It works. I have used them before and do like the SAM splint for hands and wrists but not so much for longer bones . I am curious also about using the SAM as a traction splint. I realize that I am still a newbie but can not picture it. Thanks

You can see the shadows of the helicopters in the picture. That makes be think that it is not photo shopped. I guess it is the angle of the picture and where the helicopters actually were in relation to the ground vehicles. That would make them look larger than say the fire truck way in the back. It appers the helicopters are about 4 rows into the ground vehicles.

Here we utilize ALS ambulances on the street. However. it a paramedic calls in sick and no other paramedic can cover, we will make two BLS units and place a paramedic in the fly car. Dispatch determines ALS need for these units. The BLS ambulance and or fire will arrive on scene prior to the fly car. Once the fly car arrives, the paramedic will ride the call on the ambulance and one of the basic providers will drive the fly car to the hospital (Non emergent of course) to swap back. If extra manpower is needed on the ambulance (CPR) a fire fighter will ride in since they are all at least EMT-I on the fire department. Once the patient is transferred to the ER and the report done, the paramedic goes back into the fly car and the ambulance goes back to a basic unit. Should there be 2 ALS calls in the areas of the basic units, the supervisor will respond or the next ambulance over. So far it seems to work well when needed.

I had a similar incident. My wife and son would listen to the scanner all the time. I had a call at an MVA and it was crazy. Raining so the SO and FD were in the back of the ambulance we all had to turn radios down and we did not hear dispatch call us. They kind of freaked when we did not answer. I took the scanner away. Even though I work in a different county now that I do not have programmed. I keep it in the car even when I work. I have told the wife and kids that If I do not answer the phone or respond to texts I must be with a patient. I even changed my voice mail greeting on the cell to say that if I did not answer I am on a call and will call you back. I will not answer a phone while on a call or driving with or without a patient. I always call home when we get back in unless it is really late at night. That helps aleviate the anxiety.

A lot of good points here. If I may offer and observation that I noticed doing my clinicals recently. I too suffer from lack of confidence. I see it improving after each shift. When doing clinicals with a crew that is experienced or an existing partnership the student feels like a third wheel lots of the time. I am not a strong aggressive person so I was never quite sure what my role was in patient care during clinicals. I was so afraid of screwing up it was not funny. Most experienced partners already know what their role is and have a certain rythm. Maybe enroute to a call explain what you expect the student to do. Knowing what the expectations of me in each call helped. Each medic has a different expectation and way of doing things. Letting the student know there expectations may help. Being with a regular partner has been the most benefical for me. I now am beginning to understand how and why she does things and the things that she expects me to take care of. If you do not have the confidence it can be very intimidating. In class I did well on test and practical excercises but still lacked the confidence. Some how in our little group I was nominated into the role of leader or teacher during study groups. I think that did more to help me than anything. In class try having the student teach a skill to a small group. That would be a good place to start. The leadership role will do a lot of good as stated earlier. Good Luck.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I talked to my regular partner last night about it and she agreed with everyone here. There was no emotional or physical effort in a code and no trauma so it is just a normal part of life. I understand that everyone must die and there is nothing that we can do about it. Do your job and sometimes it is just that person's time to go. The strip is a part of protocol in our area. We just ran a 3 lead to have for our records and a copy for the coroner. The monitors that we use are capable of both 12 and 3 leads. Thanks again for the support and advice. Be safe everyone.

OK, I am very new to EMS and had my first call to a DOA. It was an older lady and she had been down for several days, maybe a week. For some reason it did not seem to phase me. Is that normal? I am more concerned with the fact that it seemed so routine and was not in the least bit upsetting or anything. I did help hook her up to a 3 lead to run the strip. We had a student doing clinicals and he had never done a 3 lead so he and I hooked them up and printed the strip. Is this normal or should I be concerned about my reaction. For some reason I thought that this would bother me more.

All nigh long by Joe Walsh

Thanks for the well wishes. The street learning is unbelievable. I work for a private company "Gold Cross EMS" they are a 911 contractor here. Lots of good people that are willing to teach and let you learn while looking out for you. It had been a blast so far.

"They are coming to take me away" Napolean XIV From the Doctor Demento Show Considering that 3 of the last 5 calls were psych related and it really fit the last one. Then again it was a full moon last night.

Welcome to the boards. Not much experience to help you here. Only about 3 weeks in the streets. Loving it so far. Learning tons everyday. It is always a leaning experience on a call.

Dwayne, You are correct, and no I am not offended. The first one went well (First Aid) I knew that I was doing that and was able to prepare for a week or more and borrowed some props. It went great. The second got sprung on me with about 3 days notice. I did not have the time to do a good presentation and worked with what little I had. Yes it could have been better and yes I have wondered if "I" failed them... As the old saying goes, If you are not a part of the solution then you are part of the problem. I totally believe it. I know a little more about the subject and if need be with a little more notice I can get the necessary props to do the class. The general attitude of the kids was more of what I was commenting on. Unfortunately some of them have no interest in putting forth the effort to achieve anything. They believe it should just be handed to them. Some of the requirements like the 5 mile hike we try to make a little more intersting. We include other requirements like identifying wildlife and trees and stop along the way to do this as well as just talking to the kids about what is going on with school and family and life in general. Anything to get there mind off the fact that it is 5 miles. It is inevitable that about 1/2 way into the hike or whatever I hear the complaining about stopping and just saying that we did it. I guess my observation is more from a lack of integrity, honor, or commitment. But we will keep plugging away and working with them. We can't give up on them. We have to keep working with them and trying to teach the values or we have failed. If we give up on them, then they have no positive reinforcement and will give up on themselves. Failure is not an option. Thanks for the feed back. I am always open to criticism and new ideas. Trust me I do not have all the answers.

I believe that to many young people feel entitled and must have instant gratification. When I was in EMT school a couple of months ago most of the younger group really struggled and came to the older group for help. They had never learned to study or do research before. Most of these people are younger than 35. Most of them failed the NR exam first time and some the second time. It is worse with the younger kids. Just this past weekend I taught the First Aid and Emergency Preparedness merit badges to a bunch of Boy Scouts. They were impossible. Several of them wanted to leave not half way through the class. I told them it was up to them, they could go anytime they wanted. They asked if they could still get the badge about half way out the door. When I told them no they acted like they did not understand. I explained thet if they did not put in the work, they would not get the badge, thay came back in and sat down. I gave them 2 hours to finish some of the work and to bring it back to me. I told them to have it on the table by 18:00. At 18:05 they could not understand why I told them they were late. They have no sense of work ethic. It scares me to think these are the people that will run our country. No wonder the country is in the shape that it is now, what will it be like in 10 years.

First of all, being new to the EMS field, I have not had the experiences that many of you have to base your opionons on. I can only comment from personal use of hte EMS system and observations made during clinicals and the hand full of calls that I have been on. We have a county run fire department that requires that all fire fighters become at least EMT certified within a year of hire. Many of the fire fighters work part time for the ambulance service. Most of the officers in the fire department are paramedics. The ambulance service is a private company that contracts to run the 911 calls. Fire fighters are dispatched as first reponders for MVC, respiratory distress, cardiac issues or anything that may be a higher priority call. Out in the rural areas of the county (where I live) first responders are generally on scene in 2-3 minutes, whereas an ambulance can take 12-15 minutes. I also know that if the medical call volume is high the fire department will go on scene to begin care due to longer response time by EMS. Since a large portion of the fire fighters work for the EMS service part time, the level of cooperation is high. I have seem cases where the ambulance will go on scene before the fire department and if the medic did not call off first reponders they start grabbing equipment from the ambulance expecting to find something major since the medic did not have them put back in service. They are also great help for lifting assisstance. I have also seen 2 fire fighters climb into the ambulance to assist the medic with CPR and other procedures when needed. This takes that engine company out of service until the fire fighters can be returned to their stations. I think that this works here, so far. I see no need to really change the system. Maybe in the future my opinion may change or I may have some brainstorm idea to save the world (doubtful, but even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes). Just my two cents worth. Be safe everyone.

New to the EMS field at 44. This was a second career for me. I just completed EMT-I 85 classes in December and passed NREMT in January. Started last week here in Georgia working for the local 911 provider. Sofar so good. I have been lurking here for a couple of months and appreciate the pointers and advice posted here. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thanks again for the guidance.

First call was a couple of days ago. Called to a nursing home for trouble breathing. Older patient with multiple issues. Nurse says he has aspiration pneumonia, and is barely breathing. Really struggling. Working with the paramedic, inserted an NPA and bagged all the way to the hospital and in the er until respiratory could come down. It is probably something that I will always remember. Looking in to the patient's eyes while assisting his respirations and seeing the panic in his eyes. He was unable to speak (stroke and other problems).