EmergencyMedicalTigger

I'm just curious but isn't it contraindicated to use MAST pants with a chest and head injury?

I was thinking the same thing.

Lady in Red-Chris de Burgh

Mendocino County Line-Lee Ann Womack & Willie Nelson

Walk Like an Egyptian-The Bangles

Dear lord...nursing homes...an entire other topic.

Ruff you should be writing some of this stuff down; it's pretty funny. You could go on the road with it, scheduling stand-up acts at different hospitals and services for the medical staff. It could be a nice side job.

My partner and I almost fell over when we walked into a nursing home to see fire guys standing there looking shocked while the staff was doing "compressions." The pt's entire body was bouncing off the bed, perfectly straight. I don't know about light as a feather, but stiff as a board...ya think. :shock:

And don't get me started on nursing home calls. OY VEY.

Oh boy...people starting to make rude remarks. Just as long as Dust doesn't get involved you might have a chance to survive. May God have mercy on your soul.....

To answer the original question...

Yes, we should have the ability to run hot with MIs and strokes. Anyone who thinks it doesn't save much time, even in an urban setting, has never had to transport an active MI/stroke to the appropriate hospital on 59 inbound in 8am rush hour traffic. Our service is pretty strict on reviewing all reports that are run code 3 to the hospital. We have been told that well over 90% of transports could have been done non-emergent at no detrement to the pt. If a medic's run reports show more than that 5-10% code 3, then they are reviewed and might have to explain some calls.

For the BLS question...

I hate saying it, but at least in my service's case, yes, even BLS calls should be responded to emergency, b/c our dispatchers are a bunch of non-medically trained boneheads who don't ask appropriate questions of the callers and dispatch erroneous info. Half the time what we're dispatched for isn't even what's really going on. I would hate to leave the initial triaging decisions up to dispatch; they'd end up killing more ppl than they already do. :shock:

I think that 14 or 15 is too young to be riding along in an ambulance. That's just a personal thing, of course. I wouldn't want my young teenager seeing some of the stuff I do. I would make my child wait until he was a little older. At least the agency is doing the proper thing by having all forms signed and hopefully the maturity level of the child is taken into consideration. Are these children who plan on getting certified or continuing to be active first responders or just wanting to participate b/c "blood and gore is cool?" The agency should definitely be considering some of this stuff on a case-by-case basis. The parents also really need to be aware of the possibilities of what their children are going to be exposed to, i.e., death, violence, other not nice stuff.

Don't dispatch me to the mall entrance #17-you know, the one where riser 58 is located-I'm not the freakin' fire dept! Tell me what store it's next to.

Don't give me a random suite number on the freeway or major highway that runs through the city and then get huffy when I ask you for a business name. Then I have to wait two mintues for you to find out that information, b/c you didn't think of asking in the first place. What a surprise, I ask you this question every time you do this, so maybe you should've learned by now.

And...please, please, please for God's sake, give me some clue as to what I'm walking in to. Don't tell me this person called 911 and you can't tell me anything about what is going on or what the medical problem might be. If the caller won't tell you anything, that's one thing. But tell me if there's screaming in the background, if the caller is saying something like "my leg has fallen off," "I'm going to kill you," or "no, put down the ax!"

Hmmm...called out of district after having the call dumped on us to a 1 week old bleeding from the mouth. When we get there mom tells us she figured out it was from her chafed and bleeding nipple. She then proceeds to ask us tons of questions about breastfeeding. We answered what we could and referred her to her hospital, doctor, or breastfeeding support group. All I could do was shake my head when my partner checked in service w/no pt-mother had questions about breastfeeding.

Boobie Apple-Buns :shock:

I am now 17 weeks pregnant with my future medic/hose monkey/donut muncher and found out today that I'm having a boy! I'm so happy (I didn't want a girl). I'm just happy that everything is going well and the baby seems to be doing great.

FYI Dust: My butt is still the same size.

Our truck was flagged down while transporting a pt once. My partner, who was driving, simply told the people that we had a pt in the back and another unit was being dispatched to them.

How would you feel if you were the parent of the 9 month old and saw the ambulance pulling over to take care of other people when they were supposed to be taking care of your child? Maybe the child wasn't having a sz at that moment, whose to say the child wouldn't start to have another sz at any moment?

Take care of the pt you already have. The medics responsibility at that time was the 9 month old in their care. Call for another unit to take care of the MVA. Their poor judgement could've gotten them or their pt shot in this instance.

11%...a little inaccurate, b/c of the question about lights-there's not an option for none!

So the fact that she outright told the producer ON CAMERA that she took the entire bottle of pills doesn't bother you?

If some patient you're called to never told anyone he wanted to hurt himself, but he's standing on a bridge looking down, is he just looking for something he dropped?

I wasn't specifically commenting on this episode of the show. If you read my comment, it was a generalized statement of when a pt can refuse transport even after he has drank or taken something. Most of the calls I've made the pt has been altered to where he was required to be transported. I was simply stating under what circumstances I wouldn't take some against his will.

I agree with Whit. If the pt is over the age of 18, CAO x 3, and refuses, I can't take him unless he told someone he was trying to hurt himself. Now there have been plenty of times when our wonderful law enforcement officers tell the pt "I am going to take you to jail for something unless you go with EMS." Gotta love officers who don't want to write a report, but want the pt taken somewhere to sober up. And the nurses at the ER love it even more.

Dust, you're hotter than I thought!

Philly U's program looks really cool and I actually considered it, but I'm still having to think about it. Is the degree I'm getting worth $27,000? Like I said, it seems like a very interesting program, but I don't know if it will be worth the money versus getting an Master's that is less expensive.

I agree that drinking the D50 should be a last resort. I know with the pt we treated, we didn't have access to anything else, so we just worked with what we had.

The D50 brought the pt's BGL up quickly, but not by very much and it never got past a certain level. The pt had something going on with his meds though. I haven't given D50 orally to pts very much, so I haven't noticed a big difference between the two. Maybe you could search the web for research on it.

I can't honestly say I have ever worked EMS with a partner who was so pregnant that she was into maternity clothes. They usually find a reason to fire you before you get to that point.

We've had several medics work until a week before giving birth. They all took a month or so off and came back to work. My doctor said he will allow me to work as long as he deems me fit to work. I want to work as long as I can do my job and not be a safety hazard to myself or my partner.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll have to think of something since we have our shirts tucked in.

I already know a shirt I'm getting made for off-duty...it's going to say "Yes, I'm pregnant...No, you can't touch my belly!"