JakeEMTP

I agree. However, we don't have a tracked stairchair.

They're great for inter facility transports. The first time you have to lug it up or down stairs, you will curse the day you ever considered it. Another thing, I have found that we can raise the wheels manually on the other stretchers quicker than the power stretcher can raise the wheels on its own. Personally, the extra 50 - 60 pounds the power stretcher weighs isn't worth it.

I guess we are lucky. Our mag. sulfate comes already pre-mixed in a 4g bag and a 1g bag. 4g for eclampsia and 1g bag for respiratory or pulseless V-Tach. We simply piggyback it on to the NS. Using a 10gtt for the NS and a 60gtt for the Mag Sulfate. The key is to have your Mag hanging higher than your NS. Sorry for the short response, going on a call!

We send a bill to the pt. if we don't transport. If you call 911 and we respond just to "check you out" or treat your hypoglycemia and then you don't want to be transported, you get a bill. We just don't show up at your door, you called us. We provide a service and bill accordingly. As for transporting codes, that would be a negative. If we can't get ROSC on scene, then we don't transport.

Apples and Oranges. What you describe is assault and not only would it be immediate termination, criminal charges could be filed by you. Surfing porn is, in my opinion, acceptable behavior provided you/I keep it to ourselves. The minute these two clowns left a company computer open to a porn site gets the red flag, but I don't think they should have been fired. Unless of course, there was prior hx. However, if a complaint hadn't been filed, then is there a hx or just hearsay?

I have to agree with the ladies Mikeffd. My safety is paramount, then my partner and then the patient. If either of us don't feel comfortable then we don't go in. I don't know the area where you work (although I've probably been in the vicinity) but anytime there is the possibility of a criminal element involved, I like to wait for the cops. My main goal when I come to work is the ability to go home in one piece. I'm positive I/we have entered scenes where we should have waited for the law. But, the longer I do this, the more I realise it's not my emergency. I remember a call we responded to for a GSW and waited for what we thought was an extended time for the Sheriffs Office to respond. My partner wanted to go in, but we staged an appropriate distance away until the scene was secured. We treated the pt. when the scene was as safe as it could be (no scene is truly safe), and transported routine traffic. Anyway, when taking to the Deputy later we were informed that the assailant was still in the house and was placed in custody. I know I rambled a bit, but we most likely would have been in danger if we had proceeded to the call PTA of the law. The decision to stay staged was a good one. I'm no hero. I will treat me patients to the best of my ability whilst at work but at the end of the day, I just want to go home to my misses.

I think she/he may have been asking about the difference in the UMBC programme and the U of Iowa programme. I have heard from fairly reliable sources that the two are interchangeable as they are based on the same curriculum. I have heard from some who have taken both and say the University of Iowa course maybe slightly better, but that is just hearsay. It's good that you are thinking ahead, but don't put the cart before the horse. Finish your medic first. It is recommended by both schools that you have at least 1 year of field experience before taking either. Welcome to the City!

Back of the forearm is a good place "most of the time" to find a excellent IV site. I started one the other day superior to the elbow on the right arm. Don't let your short transport times prevent you from doing patient care. Good luck in class!

Dwayne, Your post made it to the blog! It is a Corvette blog however. If this was in a fire blog, it might not have made it. Maybe I'll link it to FIREcity (or whatever it is) just for shits and giggles.

HLPP, I went back and read the article again and again, missed the part where it was a traumatic arrest. I didn't read anywhere in the article where the pt. was a traumatic arrest. The article states she was pronounced at the hospital, an hour after the call began, For a city as big as Houston, that is unacceptable. An hour to get the pt. to a hospital? Total F'up by the FD and their idiotic dispatch system. Frankly, your callous attitude towards pt. care scares me.

Quote from the ems1.com article, therefore the credit goes to them. "The new system is designed to triage ambulance calls by dispatching the closest fire engines, ladder trucks and other Houston Fire Department vehicles to "non-life threatening" EMS calls. If an ambulance is needed, one is then dispatched." I'm wondering what part of a 4 y/o hit by a car wouldn't automatically require a ambulance response based on MOI alone. Another place to put on the "Do Not Travel to" list. The answer is simple, but will never, ever happen. Replace the 750,000 dollar fire apparatus with 5 ambulances and the system won't be so stressed.

I took a few photos once in a Train vs. car MVC. Showed them to the attending @ in the ED as it was somewhat difficult to explain. Said photos were immediately deleted from my phone afterwards. Only 1 picture showed the pt., the others were all MOI pictures. We don't have a policy regarding photo taking. It really hasn't been an issue. We leave that to the FD.

Congrats Scotty! Sorry I jumped on this late, sometimes I just miss shit as I get older ( yeah, that's it). TC, I've been married 27 years and have a different spin on the "whatever the wife wants" line. I prefer to say, " I can do whatever I want, as long as it's ok with the wife".

Well damn. And here I thought everybody loved the Canadians!

I think all the Alberta medics should be paid the same. Sure the City medics may run more calls, but they do not have pt. care for as long as the rural medics. It is a wash in my opinion. You are all educated to the same level, therefore should be paid the same. If the City medics are bitching, ask them to complain to their union. I would think they would want their union brethren to make the same. All for one, one for all stuff. Either that or apply for a rural job.

I have a valid Canadian passport. Will that count?

Had a look at the NAEMT website and didn't see any close to Dallas, just San Antonio as you said. Sorry I can't help you. Perhaps you could contact them and see if they plan on holding one soon close to Dallas. Sometimes though, we just have to travel to get the certifications required for our jobs. I know it sucks some times, but one does what they have to.

If It was me (which it isn't) I would apply to Forsyth County EMS. Arguably the best EMS agency in the State. Here is a link to their website where all your questions are amswered and then some. http://www.fcems.com/ I don't know a whole lot about Gilford County EMS. Suffice to say, it isn't Forsyth County.

Western Carolina has a BS in EMS. I believe that if you have an AS in any discipline it will transfer.

Thanks Basejump for sharing the link.

There is a portable shelf in the EMS room with linens wrapped in some sort of protective plastic (think shrink wrap). The are supposed to be for EMS so, in an ideal world they make their way back to the hospital to be either laundered or disposed of. I don't know what they do with the nursing home linens to be honest. I do know though that the sheets that were on our stretcher are back at the hospital. When they go back to the nursing home, I can only assume that they are on new sheets which were on the hospitals exam stretcher.

We use the hospital linens. Exchanged with EVERY pt. contact. The stretcher is wiped down with a cavi wipe then new linens placed onto the stretcher. I would consider it extremely bad form to reuse linens. I never have and honestly can't remember even considering it. if it was this crews last sheet, then that is bad planning on their part. Just because they can't manage to pull of this simplest of duties (ensuring they have enough linens), doesn't allow them to possibly expose the next pt. to infection of some sort. As for blankets, we carry some extra ones with us. Of course you could just turn off the AC in the back of the truck. If the pt. is cold, turn off the AC. It is for their comfort, not yours (again, generic you). As an aside, I do hate it when the stretcher fetchers come in and grab arm loads of linens though. They are a for profit company. Therefore should be supplying their own linens. The hospital provides them for EMS and the Critical care folks. It is a costly venture but one they deem important.

RIP my friend. I remember when I was a wet behind the ears EMT-B. I took Rob to task once on a topic which now escapes me. He promptly took me behind the woodshed and whooped my ass. After numerous conversations via PM, I understood that he was educating me and we became friends. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Rob at the first CAP lab that some of the EMT City bunch attended. Great guy and passionate about EMS and medicine in general. We here at "the City" are all better for Rob being a member and providing us with the wisdom of his experience. I will miss him.

That was great! It is amazing what one is capable of when the adrenalin is flowing. The only thing I heard reported that was somewhat disturbing was the LEO instructing the good folks to leave the pt. 5 ft from a burning vehicle.

ERDoc, our Medical Director recommends 30mg Toradol and start with 50mcg of Fentanyl Kidney Stones. I ask why both and he explained that the Toradol helped reduce the inflammation of the urinary tract, thus making it somewhat easier to pass the stone, and Fentanyl to ease the pain. Island, I guess everybody has a different level of Fentanyl "tolerance" for lack of a better term. I once snowed a pt. with a dislocated shoulder with 50mcg. I mean snoring. Others, we start at 75mcg and can give up to 200mcg, although I've never had a need to give that much to manage a pt.'s pain level. I am glad though that the right medication and route was found to help you!