cosgrojo

Agreed.

Consider me suitably educated on the shift patterns of the mid-west.

I have a NEXTEL. Because my scheduler has a NEXTEL... and well.... it makes me a lot of money to be a blee-bleep away...

Most Kelly shifts (24/24 or 24/48 ) are usually 10 days a month....

R/r 911

Never heard of such a shift... We are based on a 40 hour work week.... I believe standard across the professional (for lack of another term ) board. That is a lot of hours to make standard. If you say that's how it works in Nova Scotia, Dust.... I guess I believe ya'. 8)

We keep going round and round on this thread, and every time that someone comes in late or doesn't read the whole thread, we go round and round again.....

In a perfect world, volunteers would be eliminated to pave the way for full-time personnel to get paid and make a living and support their families in the industry of their choosing. In a perfect world education levels would be increased to the point where we can justify our assertion that we are professionals.

NO ONE is saying that volunteers ar evil or stupid or worthless.... we are saying that the volunteer is counterproductive to advancing the industry of EMS. We cannot move forward in the hearts and minds of the public and the purse-holders if they believe that there are people that will do it for free. When the public views us as a taxi service, if the public sees us working our day job at the local A&P and then working their mom up for Diff breathing, we get no-where.

I still don't know why people wouldn't prefer to get paid. Insist on getting paid..... if you don't want to quit your normal profession, sign on per-diem at an ambulance company to keep your skills up.... and get paid..... And create jobs, and help friends support their families, and ostensibly improving the economy! HEAR THAT!!!! QUIT VOLUNTEERING AND FIX THE ECONOMY!!!!! See how easy it is?

Nine-fifty an hour is $228/day. Nearly $28k/year. It's on par with the DFW area pay, and a damn sight more than what an EMT-B is worth. Especially with bennies.

Out of curiosity, what type of service are they providing? Since this is the "off the road" forum, I assume they are doing some type of clinical work?

Dust- Don't know why noone has called you on this.... maybe all are too tired to do the math..... but you are way off... 9.50 a day X 40 hours a week X 52 weeks = 19,760 dollars. Now in your mind that still may be too much for a basic, so be it. But work on the math bro. To make 28k a year you would have to make 13.46 an hour.

Are you calculating how much the money would be worth in Canada? If so, that's the only way it makes sense. :tongue2:

I wouldn't volunteer to do it... I don't like it THAT much....

I'm not sure 26 is old enough....and one year? Hell, I was still finding new things out after 4, and at 4 1/2 I decided I didn't like what I saw anymore. And if you are going to have more than one, definitely find out if your guys can live together. (Is that what he meant?) :scratch:

This was just a bare minimum requirement..... And yes... it's very important to make sure that your multiple ONES can co-habitate.

Yes... as long as the checks keep clearing....

OFF TOPIC.. Lets stick to the original thread topic.

Relax Benito. :bootyshake:

And Techmedic is correct about my job.... no QI/QA for me, they get paid WAY more.

Then how on Earth am i to ever know I was wrong, and go and correct my mistakes?

Yeah, I'm sure there's BATT charts on my paperwork, and memos, and near apocalyptic events daily, but why can't we/ you just tell people what they're doing wrong so they can fix it?

And I do find it rather difficult that an intelligent gentleman such as yourself would need to work and slave in an ambulance for several years just to get the wondrous opportunity to audit EMS run forms for billing.

I guess, to defend your company...It's only one of the largest EMS providers in the United States...not like they can afford such things.

If I told every person every single thing that they messed up, I would be on the phone all day trying to get a hold of people. If certain issues become a trend, then we will talk to them to make sure they understand what is going on. For the most part though, they are one time mistakes that were accidently glossed over. I'm not going to gig someone that I know normally does good paperwork because they didn't write a clear time. I know how it works on the road, sometimes get's very busy, and you get paperwork piling up on top of other paperwork.

Remember... I'm still slaving away on an Ambulance.... I audit forms because they asked me to, and they pay me to do it. If you were engaged and trying to save for a wedding and a house, and your fiance was without a job because she is student teaching, and your company offers to pay you your overtime wage to stare at paperwork.... what would you do? Probably stare at paperwork.... :wink: And hey.. it's better than selling igloo's in Alaska....

#1 i am not dumping him. we're looking at marriage. adolescent crush?? i think not.

I don't know how old you are, but you sound very young. Even if you have no plans to break up... don't rush into marriage..... unless you want to become a statistic.

If I became Emperor of the world... you would have to be at least 26 years old to get married, and you would have to live with each other for at least 1 year before marriage. Take it slow, make sure it works. Don't get sucked into the "he's the ONE" bull... there are lots of ONES, that you could be compatible with. Make sure you guys can live with each other first.

I guess if it means anything, nothing has ever bounced.

No... that doesn't mean anything.... Sometimes.... we "fix" things that we know to be true. I.E. demographics, mileages, times (CAD), and a myriad of other things that road crews sometimes forget...... Yes... even you. :roll: And yes, I've fixed my own paperwork too.... :oops:

And yes... somewhere out there is a nomadic auditor, out of work because an EMT took their one opportunity to put their lifes passion to the test.... :-({|=

Yeah, I smell what you're stepping in for sure.

I am going to have to continue to be feisty and correct something else...Medics are good for more than just pain management and cardiac. Something like...Airway?...hrmm...and a few other things.

And I'd even bet many are familiar with BLS, too.

HA! Intermediates can intubate! once they see the ___________________ line... :shock: And don't give yourself too much credit for billing requirements.... remember who you are talking to.... hint.... *auditor* I've seen your so-called "billing" skills. :violent1:

My back is so screwed up that it only feels good when I'm lifting a 300+ pund person in the air.

I also find it ridiculous that someone would state that they "wouldn't want ANY EMT-B dealing with my chest pain." Personally, if I was having chest pain, I would want it to be happening in a fully equipped and staffed ER, but that just is not reality. Would you not want someone who can help administer basic meds, supply O2, do CPR, call ALS, present vitals and use an AED? ALS is better than BLS in that situation, yes, and BLS is better than a CPR trained bystander, which in turn is way better than dying alone.

This is stupid. Once again we illustrate why EMS is not as it should be. We beat the crap out of each other, instead of supporting the profession and working together to make it better for us and our patients.

This was said in a way that meant that I would prefer to have ALS to BLS, which furthermore was in response to someone who was frightened having BLS personnel that failed the registry exam role up on a chest pain call. I am a basic, I am not trying to put Basics down..... *cough* unlike Dust *cough* I was just indicating what I would WANT..... which is a personal decision. If you want a Basic working on you, just say so.... I'm sure it can be arranged. :hippy2:

Cosgrojo- Knowing the area in which you are employed [Read: New Hampshire, for everyone else], I happen to know your protocols. BLS can do a lot more than many think. In NH, anyways, Assess assess assess. Just because a provider is BLS doesn't mean they can't become familiar with, and provide, ALS assessments. You have oxygen at about any quantity you'd like, Aspirin is normally a good idea. And also, if the patient has their own nitroglycerin you can 'assist' them with it x3 as long as their blood pressure is over 100/p. A couple more things NH is getting to is, as recently added to almost all of our protocols: "Minimize On Scene Time.", and also Basics are now allowed to perform 12 leads to Fax to the receiving ED. Sure, asking basics to go and learn how to interpret 12 leads may be a bit too progressive, but fax them to someone who can. Early notification to a receiving facility is also a huge part of this system we work in.

[Now, yes...I understand the company you work for doesn't have 12 leads for BLS trucks...Hell, as an ALS truck I didn't have 12 lead a portion of the time...and I know said company also doesn't like providers to think. ::bangs head on wall::]

And I'd take good BLS over bad ALS any day.

You are fiesty little $%#@& aren't ya? I think you know what I am saying here. At least I think you know me well enough to know what I'm saying. I agree that our protocols may be much more aggresive than the average, but that doesn't stop me from wanting a medic if the shiz hits the fan. In the state of NH, Medics are good for 2 things.... pain control, and cardiac calls. Well my friend, chest pain is a cardiac call... so I'm still callin' for a medic on the chest pain, even if I know the medic who's likely on the way isn't very good. :bootyshake:

:tweety: I disagree. We can get the patient moving to the hospital. We can get a baseline set of vitals. We can give O's. We can run a strip (our protocols allow basics to apply a 12 lead). We can provide the ER with a good assessment, giving them a head's up. We can get a good history. We can begin excellent patient care and if ALS doesn't show up, at the least they get good BLS. If ALS does show up, we've done a whole pile of stuff that they don't half to mess with. It does make a difference and in services all over the world that don't have access to ALS providers, what BLS does is of consequence. C'est la vie. I know a number of BLS providers that I would be happy to have dealing with my chest pain. I would take good BLS anyday over iffy ALS.

Assessments are good, fast transport even better. But none of that manages my chest pain. I'll take a medic. Granted I want a GOOD medic. And I agree that there are good and bad medics, as well as good and bad basics. And good Basic's can assess and transport well enough, but that doesn't actually DO anything for my chest pain.

OK, so you'll take good BLS over iffy ALS.... would you take good BLS over good ALS? Didn't think so. ALS wins. :wink:

I've been together with my wife for almost 6 years. I've been in EMS the whole time. She gets 1 phone call a day while on an overnight. And sometimes (like last night) we were too busy, she didn't get any. Separate life from work. Create some extra seperation if you can. Work at work, live at home. You are already behind the 8-ball foir choosing someone else in EMS. When you guys break up... find someone outside of EMS to spend time with, they will increase your sanity levels by a factor of 10.

On side note to cosgrojo....What the hell is "squadushe" :shock:

I suppose I've been watching "Around the Horn" too much. It is a New York slang for, "Nothing, Nada, Zilch, Zero."

Cosgrojo - Been around a while? It was only in the 1950's and 1960's that we were run from funeral homes, and "You call, we haul, that's all." Compared to, say, nursing, we haven't been around all that long. Just now people are realizing what EMS can and should be doing. And just now research is focused on prehospital measures, not just hospital based applied to the prehospital arena....say, like, 2 amps of sodium bicarb as the first line arrest drug.

We have a long way to go, still.

A long time from a business perspective. We are talking about a sector of society that commonly has businesses (and entire niche industries) that last less than a year. 30-40 years is a long time in business to last without proper business management. The importance of EMS and prehospital care notwithstanding, I was talking about the business aspect.

And I don't know whether anyone is going to call us on this, but I just got a chuckle about a 22 year old lecturing a 28 (almost) year old about the way "things used to be." Neither one of us is truly qualified techmedic.

I think basics need more clinical experience before being turned loose. I'm required to get just one more transport, and I tell ya I wouldn't want some newbie EMT with the amount of experience I've had to be dealing with my chest pain. :shock:

God help my partner :roll:

Personally, I wouldn't want ANY EMT-B dealing with my chest pain. Chest Pain is not a Basic call, and there is little of consequence they can do. And as a Basic, I don't feel that I'm slapping myself in the face, only apprpriately sizing up my abilities (and protocols).

Then there are the classes I teach, CPR, ACLS, PHTLS, PALS, PHTLS, TNCC, etc..... so teaching at least once to twice a month, I have to review material and practice my skills.

R/R 911

Hey rid.... what's the difference between PHTLS and..... PHTLS????? Overly fond of acronyms?

CONGRATS!!!! Good luck with your newly deserved "dehydration technician" license! Keep us updated on your search!

Yeah.... tell them to get a real job... one that won't ruin their lives and make them squadushe for money....

If that doesn't work, tell them Hep B can lie dormant in dried blood for weeks.... and then explain what Hep B is.

I'm not a paramedic, so I'm sure that you would be much more appropriate to answer the questions... Good luck!