Nerd_Slayer

As others have noted this is a technical question. Don't worry. If I have a patient who needs defibrillating, I'll be hooking him up to an AED. You don't have to worry about me wasting time with my stethoscope. Have some faith in me SD.

Hey guys, basic asking a dumb question. Can you hear and identify an arrhythmia using only a stethoscope? I know this seems stupid. I tried googling around but I couldn't find a good answer.

SD, who the hell gave you a job? I don't even mean an EMT job, I mean who the hell hired you? What person would interview you and say that you're acceptable to hold any type of job, yet alone an EMT job. I don't think I'd hire you to clean the bathrooms for fear that you'd go crazy and insist on bringing your own "tactical" cleaning supplies. You're clearly a whacker (with your OC and cuffs), and now you're demanding discounts? The establishment determines the discount, if they want to give one. Sit back, let your bill come, and see if they give you one. Never ask. I don't care if you only had ten bucks on you, you should have gotten more. Use a credit card or something. Ask your partner to cover you. If I were your partner, I'd much rather have you mooch a few bucks off of me instead of making a scene an embarrassing the shit out of me.

So just a couple days after SD's post about RAs I find myself watching the history channel and they're playing a segment on the North Hollywood Shootout. They're playing the radio audio of actual transmissions and I hear an officer scream, "I need an RA! I've been hit!" or something like that. I almost couldn't believe my ears. theres the audio from one of the calls for an RA. Listen at 1:57 So I go online and start looking up stuff, and it turns out that LAFD has "RAs" too. http://lafd.org/appa...pport-ambulance Prior to SD's post, I'd never heard anything about a RA before, yet alone did I know that a large agency like LAFD used them. Interesting find...

Agreed. There was a time when 40 was "old". Humans naturally aren't able to live to 90. We can thank Semmelweis and modern medicine for the average life expectancy in the 70's. And that was a good post SD. Stay away from that wacker thread and I might like you.

Wait. The OC and handcuffs were a distraction! Why do you carry two different kinds of gloves?

You remind me of this guy: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nbpw_hero-dwight_shortfilms

In the United States each individual state is responsible for EMT requirements. Here in California, non-citizens can become EMTs and Paramedics, though it may be different in other states (and different companies will have different hiring policies). That fact that you're already a doctor will help you greatly. I know in California, if you're an MD you can take a challenge test and if you prove that your skills and knowledge are good enough you can get your license after a quick field internship. Though, I wonder why an MD would want to become a medic. I don't know what it takes to become a doctor in Spain, but I'm sure it's alot of training and formal education (I would assume way more than a US Medic, and I KNOW way more more than an EMT-B, which you seem happy becoming). I'm sure that you could probably become a doctor here with minimal effort given your credentials in Spain. I'm not sure what steps you need to take though. Also, EMT-Bs typically make only slightly better than minimum wage (between $10 and $16 an hour in my area). Medics make more, but doctors make way more. The difference is there are many EMT-Bs and not many jobs. Whereas there are few doctors and a great need for more of them. I'm sure a man as qualified as yourself wouldn't want to be starting at $10 an hour where you could be making a six figure salary.

Thanks EVERYONE for the responses. And croaker, that was a great slide show. I laughed at "EVERYONE SUCKS".

Great way to put it, Mike. It's hard to suck up, but it's the truth. My first year working an EMT job (at a water park, not even an ambulance company) I had my stethoscope draped around my neck everywhere I went. Then one day my neighbor (an emo high school girl who loves Marilyn Manson a bit too much) informed me that she got her EMT-B cert from some high school program. I hung my head a little lower that day... It's a basic supply/demand issue. There are many people with EMT-B certs (apparently, high schools are crapping a bunch of them out now), and not many jobs for them. In my area (SoCal), the good ones are making around $15 an hour. If you want to become a medic, then become a medic. Set your mind to it and do it. Just do what you got to do, and don't let anyone stop you.

They still do this in my area, though it's becoming more uncommon. There are two types of cities in CA: those who contract EMS to a private ambulance company, and those who use their fire departments to handle emergency medical calls. The city I live in now sends CARE ambulances to all EMS calls, the city I go to school in sends fire ambulances (they're ambulances, but they say "Fire Department" on them, and they're staffed by firefighters who have EMS training). The most efficient method depends on the city. It might not be cost efficient for city A to contract EMS to a private ambulance service, and conversely it might not be cost efficient for city B to use their fire department for EMS calls. I guess it just depends the city. I'm not sure that it costs $500,000 for a fire truck to respond to a call, though. That number seems inflated. It sounds like they're adding every responding firefighter's yearly salary, which is a little misleading.

Hi group! Long time reader, first time poster. I'm an EMT-Basic, and work for a large water park. The other day I was helping with our weekly inservice training for our lifeguards (we were reviewing CPR, AED, oxygen, and basic first aid). For CPR, I had everybody grab a partner (one guard was the patient, the other was the rescuer). I shouted out the scenario and had the rescuers count and verbalize their steps in unison with the other groups. When they were doing their compressions, I noticed everybody was going a little slow (about one compression / second). I informed them of the proper pace (100 / minute), and told them about "Staying Alive". One guard asked me, "Why?" I informed him that the pace was necessary to keep the blood pumping at a decent pace. He then asked who researched what the most effective pacing was, to which I replied, "I think the AHA, but I'm not sure." That got me thinking: Are their any academic papers on why CPR procedures are the way they are? I understand the basic reasons behind most of them, but I think it'd be neat to read some of the research that went into the development of the policies. Like, what research went into the "compressions first" change that happened last year? If anyone could direct me to some official looking research on the subject, I'd much appreciate it.