Dustdevil

Didn't this happen like two years ago? This is way old news, except for the rejection of his appeal. There are at least two previous threads about it. I agree with the firing. Being off duty has never been an acceptable excuse for conduct bringing discredit on the organisation.

ROFL! Carl is not the OP. Two different people.

LOL! Typical BS runaround. I got that from Loseiana, Mississippi, and Alberta EMS and Nursing boards too. Idiots. Bureaucrats. Kill them all. Good luck!

No. I still would have sized you up as a douchebag for making that assumption. Is there something wrong with being Haitian? You spout off about it as if it is something to be ashamed of. That's a lot more racist than anything Hush said. You want respect? You should have thought of that before you started insulting Hush, you hypocrite. Sorry, my mistake. I meant GTFO.

Obviously English is not your first language. Haitian is a national origin, not a race. Your racist assumptions have no place in this forum, so STFU.

I'm too old skool to have ever done the CBT thing, so I'm not familiar with the current situation. The NR written has always had a problem with "completely stupid" questions, but I can't ever recall any (since 1976) that had "nothing" to do with medic practice. Can anyone give me some examples of such questions?

Hey Wigger! Good to see you sticking around. Sorry I wasn't around to keep in touch during your deployment. No worries on the cert thing, as far as NR goes. I went through this same thing. They have a "re-entry" policy that allows you to simply take a refresher course, send in a course completion certificate, along with a letter from your medical director saying that he supports your re-entry, and they'll recert you. There used to be an entire explanation of this on the NREMT.org website, but I can't find it anymore. Their website sucks arse, much like the organisation itself. No search feature = FAIL. But there's a front page article about some joker in Ohio being appointed as recert coordinator. Contact him and make him earn his paycheque! If for some bizarre reason you are keeping a state cert, then the story may well change.

Ya know, try as I might, I can't recall ever seeing a medic in my agencies being fired for inappropriate medical treatment. It's always over general policies or politics. Pretty sad.

Very cool to know it found a home with someone who appreciates it! Me mum is still proudly displaying the picture frame you gave me. Thanks! Actually, only my broken heart is in Kalifornia now. The rest of me is back home in Texas, so I am fine with Kali falling into the ocean! I wish I had a lot more time to spend here, but I'm taking enough drugs each day to kill both Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. Consequently, the entire Dallas Fire Department doesn't have enough Narcan to keep me awake most of the time. Anyone who says you can get addicted to oxycontin is full of shyte. I been taking it for over three years and I ain't addicted! So anyhow, I won't be here constantly, as I once was. But I won't be far away. I spent the last week resisting the urge to reply to "Rastus", the Civil Air Patrol kid. My family in Japan is all fine. I have about a dozen family members who are Japanese. Only two of them were here when the earthquake hit. They all live 200 miles south of Fukushima, south of Tokyo, so they're in no immediate danger. But radiation is showing up in the water there now, and shortages are widespread. It takes hours of waiting in queue to get half a tank of gas. A couple of them have fled to the far south of the country to wait it all out. The rest are just living each day as if nothing happened. Crazy. Tniuqs, my sister just turned 26 last week. She's too old for you! Also, the plastic MRE knife still works better than a Nu-Trach! Reaver, cool to see you again! When did you move to Colorado? Again, I've really missed you guys, and I want to thank you so very much for your warm welcome and kind thoughts. Positive energy is always welcome here!

The problem you describe seems to most often be the result of timidity. You have a good eye and feel for the vasculature, but aren't being definitively assertive with your sticking motion. Consequently, you're simply not penetrating deep enough. The bevel is in, but the Teflon has not yet cannulated. So even though you're getting blood flow, the leading edge of the catheter is outside of the vein, and in fact is pushing the vein away as you try to advance it. In the martial arts, we teach not to punch or kick at your target, but to punch or kick through your target. This same technique is also an essential part of a successful IV strategy. Don't push the needle to the vein. Quickly shove it into the vein. The cannulisation should be accomplished with your first motion, at the same time you are pushing the needle in. Then your second motion is to bury it to the hub. And at that point, it shouldn't be any trouble.

Exactly. He "felt" the ambulance was stolen? Ha! Good luck getting a warrant on that testimony. And cops wonder why people want to kill them. I wouldn't be too sure about my employer backing me up on any of this. EMS employers are notorious for throwing their minimum wage employees under the bus to suck up to the cops, firemonkeys, doctors, nurses, city councilmen, or anyone else who complains. It doesn't matter that you were in the right.

Wait... where is this? In well over three decades, I've never worked in an EMS agency that does not have such standards. If you are talking about volunteer agencies, that isn't a valid comparison. I've seen plenty of VFDs without physical standards. And radioactive monkeys MAY fly out of my butt too. If it happens, oh well. That's what CISM is for.

Good call. I think the point others were trying to make is that, until you are very well educated at all of those things, you have no business even responding to the situation. And unfortunately, only a fraction of the medics in this country are. Consequently, defensive tactics is way, way down on the list of priorities for initial education. And if you are a "true martial artist," then you already know the uselessness of a one-time defence class anyhow. Good topic though.

About 20 years ago, a local volly decided she'd take the infant she was babysitting with her to respond to a grass fire. They both burned to death when she crashed the grass rig. Very sad. I don't find it particularly productive to speculate on punishment for this guy But it is absolutely necessary that he be dropped from his position for displaying a gross failure in judgement. He simply cannot be trusted anymore. More importantly, his agency needs to assure that there is written policy against this kind of thing. If there isn't, the director also needs to be fired.

Hehe... I immediately thought of that when I saw your name! Good times! Thanks for remembering! I'm so sorry that I wasn't around to see you graduate and get started. That is one of the greatest pleasures I have had with this community, seeing you guys spread your wings and leave the nest. I am so proud of you and so many others. I admire your patience and commitment through all the hard luck, Bro. You're definitely going to be a better medic for it, and I am looking forward to following you along the way, so keep me up to date with how it's going! Of all the things I really miss, the practice of medicine is certainly one of the hardest to cope with. God, how I miss the intellectual challenge of following those clues to a diagnosis, and sending my patients out the door with a script and some peace of mind. It all sounds so simple, and becomes so routine after three decades, but man... I really miss that routine. Every now and then I get lucky, and a friend or family member has an illness or injury that I can diagnose and offer advice on. I was so excited when I got to diagnose my Mother's Shingles, lol. Then she developed a concussion the night after a fall. ER doc told her she was the first patient he ever had actually come in asking for a CAT scan, lol. Step-dad got Cat Bite Fever. I sent him to the doc-in-the-box, and again, the doc was amused that a lay patient already knew his diagnosis and which antibiotic to get. What I am saying is that getting to exercise my brain like that is still -- and has always been -- just the most satisfying thing about EMS. Spread that word to the n00bs. And may you all enjoy many more years of that satisfaction.

Greetings, Comrades. Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I can't believe some of you actually bet money I was dead. If you did, may all your children be born naked! Anyhow, I'm down, but not completely out yet. Don't pull your bets yet, because they will most likely pay off this year. I took a long hiatus to avoid creating [more] drama here and distracting from the forum. I didn't want to start a pity party, but as some of you know, I've had serious health issues since my injuries in Iraq. I certainly won't be returning to practice. Or walking. Or even wiping my own arse. My piss glows in the dark. And it takes all the strength, energy, and coordination I have just to type this. But shyte happens, so I'm cool. Nuff said. No worries. I've been devoting my attention to spending my time with family and friends, who keep my spirits up. I'm not a real fan of Walt Whitman (after all, he's from NY), but I often echo his thought that, "I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don' t believe I deserved my friends." My thoughts exactly, Walt. And many, many of you here are my friends, so I owe it to you to keep in touch. If I have ever pissed you off or offended you, either intentionally or unintentionally, I apologise. I only hope that you recognise that it was most likely my passion for the future of this profession that drove my tendency to get carried away at times. Of course, sometimes I'm just an arsehole, but I apologise for that too. No excuses. There's not one of you here (over the age of 21) that I wouldn't happily buy a beer and get small with. Especially if you're hott. Anyhow, other than the occasional trip to the doctors at the VA, my life is pretty much spent in this bed, in front of this piece of shyte Macbook, so I hope to start spending more time here. I dropped in yesterday and read through some hot threads, and it got my juices flowing like the old days. I do miss you guys! Life is not total boredom here. Family from Japan came to visit me two days before the earthquake and stayed for a week. It was great to see them, but I sure hated to see them return home. The next week, half a dozen colleagues I served with in Iraq came to visit me. These weren't just guys I was stationed with; these are all guys who were actually patients of mine at one time or another. One had been so seriously blown up that I was certain that he died after I put him on the helicopter. Today, he's alive and well and looking great. The scar from my trach is more obvious than the rest of his many scars, lol. He's not complaining though. And getting to see him again was the greatest thing I've experienced in the last three years. I truly hope that all of you have the opportunity to experience that kind of satisfaction once in your career. Okay, getting really tired now, so I'll catch up with you soon. Kisses (no homo, not that there's anything wrong with that). And don't drink any water in Iraq, Rob

Theoretically, it's sound. However, there are a few problems in actual practice. First, by the time you get to them and start applying the dressing, they often already need decompression. A flutter valve only prevents progression (if you're lucky). It doesn't reverse the process. Second, the Asherman's have a tendency to clot off, defeating the flutter valve function. Consequently, unless you are very, very close to definitive care, it's often that you will still need to dart.

Definitely! It's great that he's here! My opinion mirrors those of most here, in that, while I am not a fan of rap (not "rap music", which is an oxymoron), I do agree that this was very well done and presents a positive message. I cannot speculate on whom Farooq intended this to be targeted towards, or what he hoped to achieve with it, as others seem to have done. Only he knows that. I simply maintain that, overall, I would not expect this to be a big positive image builder for the profession in general, or for FDNY. I think it may have marginal value as an appeal to the ghetto community to perhaps see that, "Hey, we're the good guys. Please don't shoot us." But other than that, I see it more as an artistic outlet than a service to the profession. And, of course, anyone who thinks this didn't cost the city anything is incredibly naive.

Can you break down for us how much you were charged per hour for use of the vehicle, including fuel? Use of supplies?

Agreed that there should be mass decertification, with no exceptions. Such a breach of integrity cannot be overlooked or excused by the profession. It is extremely unfortunate that yes, the firemonkeys and cops will keep their jobs because, well... they don't have to have EMS certs to keep their jobs, and their unions will argue on their behalf. But any without the integrity and shame to quit should be killed in the streets like the dogs they are.

Yet they want us to pay for their bailout. Idiots.

Loma Linda University in California has such a programme. You don't have to be a medic, however, it also does not make you a medic. It only provides a general education in EMS. Works okay in California, where few people want to go to anything more than a 12 week medic mill. Of course, the most well known programme is at University of Maryland - Baltimore County.

The "reality" is that New Yorkers are just weird, and most normal people, like myself, don't get them. This video is a good illustration of that "reality".

Sure, but they weren't violent! That's exactly what you get when you try to force yourself into someone else's occupied vehicle. You think otherwise? A grand total of one person has tried to force themselves into my vehicle, and he did not live to tell of it.