PCP

Welcome to the City Doris and Uri. You will find some great information on this site. Feel free to jump in to any discussion and ask questions. Brian

Sorry still don't and can't figure out how to only reply to the certain portion of your post that is direct at me. When I was hired I had just finished my EMR and just started my PCP training. I had not gone to licensing for my EMR, due to thinking I would be completed my PCP course within the nine months. BCAS hired me under the terms I complete my PCP and go and get my EMR license. So I was a driver only for pretty much the entire two years I was in Gold River! I still had patient contacts, as you know as a driver we do lots to help out in the call. so yes, I did not have to submit patient contacts. Actually this reporting period is the first time I have to submit contacts. I am also working on getting my 25 IV starts so I can submit that to licensing and have that added to my license. It has been a long road due the strike and trying to complete school.

Good luck in the interview! If possible, try and get an interview coach and have them run you through some mock interviews. As already mentioned do as much research on interviews as possible. Do some research on the company you are having the interview with, as this may help you answer some of the questions or if they give you a chance to ask your own questions, you can question them on their service.

Happiness I apologize for that comment, as it was wrong of me to say Sorry if I upset you or any other BCAS member on this forum. I will think what effects my post or wording I use may have on others or on my credibility. I understand why it upset you, as it is putting down our service, which I did not think about before hand. I was just attempting to say that the interview portion is not that hard compared to other interviews I have done. That is what I should have said.

Welcome to the City! Hope you find the information on the site useful and I am sure you will and have, as there are many, many, knowledgeable and skilled Paramedics on the site. Brian

I am sure he will, but it is a good feeling knowing if you are stuck you have someobody you can ask that has the experience

Good choice in going to EMT-B school. Bieber will be a big help to you, as he has lots of knowledge and as long as you enjoy the course and have the passion to learn you will do well at it. Good luck and welcome to the CITY!

Well hopefully I don't get attacked as I am a very nice person. If the situation occured and the person had a gun, I would do everything I could do to not upset that person, by doing what he asks. If the person was attacking me and turned out he had a gun, well I would do everything in my power with the martial arts training I have to defend myself. I agree if you carry a gun you need to be prepared to take a life, but also be prepared to defend your reasoning for shooting that person., I do agree if someone is attacking someone and they get shot then too bad for the attacker. I just feel that there is a time to use a gun such as being abused by your spouse or being raped, attacked, but when they break into your house to steel stuff. Now if they broke in and where using physical violence towards you then yes shoot the SOB. I feel a person should not be allowed to carry a weapon on their persons while out grocery shopping or walking the dog due to them maybe missjudging the situation and shooting someone who just wants to steal their wallet or car. I honestly don't know what the rules are for carrying a gun such as age limit or being conceled or not so maybe I should not have responded to this thread due to my lack of knowledge of firearms and the reasons why people carry them. Maybe some of you could give me an example as to why someone feels they need to carry a firearm, so I could better understand the reasoning behind it. What are the rules for being allowed to carry a firearm down in the United States?

rat115, My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Being a dad myself I could only imagine how worried you are for your son. Keep us posted. Take care, Brian

I say go for it! Good for you for doing something you have always wanted to do. I feel age should not make a difference, as we have many EMRs and PCP in our service that have retired from a different job, but wanted to persue a career in EMS. All the best to you and good luck! Brian

That is just perfect!

This is a interesting question. As Happiness posted I call for the RCMP and have them remove the gun, as I am not trained to deal with guns as a paramedic. There has been a case where a patient was brought inside of an ambulance and when asked to undo his coat so they could check for further injuries, he declined. After attempting multiple times for him to remove his coat, the paramedic requested the RCMP cst. to assist him in the back in removing the coat. When the coat was removed there sat a gun in the guys waist band. This is not normal practice where I live. People only carry guns for a few reasons, Hunting, or shooting people to pertect their drugs and if you are carrying a gun in your vehicle it can not be loaded. I just don't understand why someone needs to carry a gun. Sure you may feel safer doing so, but bad things can happen when carrying a gun. The wrong person may get a hold of it while you fight with them and then what? Either you get shot or someone else gets shot. Different places have different rules I guess, but I just don't see the reasoning behind it. If you don't feel safe, maybe take some self defence classes. Kate, this post is not directed at you in any way, as you have every right to carry a gun with you. Since I live in Canada where it is not normal for people to be carrying guns I am ignorant when it comes to this subject, but I am happy that the genral puplic does not carry guns in Canada.

paramedicmike, That was just my dumb ass mistake Mike when I typed it out last night. No excuses just bad spelling.

That is crazy that you folks can carry a gun!!

As a dad I don' t think I could stand watching my son or daughter go through such a thing. Know parent wants to see their child get sick let alone have cancer. I am not sure that it was right for the jurry to convict this mother as she is the parent and should have the last say as to what is best for her child. My question is, was the cancer treatable and was the child getting better? Maybe it was best for the child to take the meds and go through the side affects maybe? I guess what bugs me is that I don't think it should have been left up to a jurry to decide if she was being a bad parent, Did they put themself in her shoes and think of what they would have done if this was their child?

Happy to see that you did not thing my comment was rude. You never know how people take it when they read a post, as it may come across as rude. As a Primary Care Paramedic, we do not draw blood, only start IVs. So my question is why only use betadine when drawing up blood? Thank you for the tip. Next time I start a line on a patient with darker skin, I will attempt to only use iodine and see if that helps me see the veins better I am going to ask a few of the other paramedics I work with as to why we use iodine first then alcohol. I am on the same page as your ILS, as I was taught in school to use idodine first then alcohol. I guess I should have asked the reason why? I have one more question for you. What is the reason that you take vials of blood from your patient and how many vials do you take? Thank you again for the great tip! Brian

Congratulations and all the best to you and your family

I feel you did everything that you could for that patient. The patient mentioned she did not feel that she needed to push, nor did she have any cramping and when you looked you said you did not see the fetus, so to me the best option was to head straight to the hospital and that was what you did. Now by putting the damp sterile dressing over the vagina, I feel that would have helped keep what ever it was that was exposed moist and possibly keep from drying out and soak up any body fluids. I feel that is the best that you could do for that patient along with starting a line which may have helped keep her blood pressure stable. I don't have much experience in genral, and especially when it comes to dealing with OB. Hopefully some of our more experienced members can coment on this post. Good Job! Brian

I just doubled checked in my IV refresher course book to make sure that I had it correct and yes, we cleanse the site with a povidone-iodine swab and then with an alcohol swab. Seems you folks down in the US use alcohol first then the iodine. Not sure if it makes any difference, but if it does I am curious to know why? Hope that did not come across as rude, as I am always up for learning and new ways of doing things. Brian

Who is going to win the Stanly Cup? My bet is on the Canucks!!

We use iodine and then alcohol for cleaning the IV site.

An old guy walked into the dr. office and sat down next to another old guy. The guy he sat beside asked him why he was at the dr. office? The guy turned to him and said he was there to get circumsized. The other guy said " Oh man I had that done when I was born and it was brutal. I could not walk for a year!"