paramedicmike

I'm not answering the questions. I'll leave that for others. I'm just here to jump on the "that's an awesome video!" bandwagon. Nice find, indeed... ... doctor.

Agree with the others. I'll also add that if you're asking such specific questions this close to your exam then your school doesn't seem to have prepared you very well. Talk to your instructor. Ask him/her these questions. And good luck.

No way! That's awesome, AK! Congratulations! Best of luck in your venture. I hope you see the benefit of your labours in more ways than one. -be safe

Another vote for making your own drug cards. Making my own helped me. -be safe

If you're going to a reputable school and not a medic mill the financial aid office should be available to help you answer the question of funding for education. That's their job. (Although, to be fair, some medic mills will bend over backwards to get financial aid for students because it helps keep them in business. These are generally the very type of "educational institution" you want to avoid.) They won't fill out the paperwork for you. But they'll help you find the sources for loans and/or grants. Good luck.

Please don't lose sight of wanting to go back to school and continuing your education. As you spend more time in EMS you are going to meet many, many people who swear that "one of these days" they're going to go back to school. You're also going to meet many, many people who had the best intentions of going back to school and never did. They will offer you a million and one excuses as to why they can't/didn't/won't/couldn't etc.... They will have all fallen prey to the trap that is EMS. It is a rare thing, indeed, for an EMS-er to say they're going back to school and have it actually happen. Do not let not going back to school happen to you. Do not wait too long to go back to school after your finish your bachelor's, either. If PA is your goal, and a worthy goal it is, get into it as soon as you possibly can. Trust me on this. Yes, paramedicine has its moments of excitement. Yes, paramedicine offers a lot of things that a young adult can thrive on. I'll even go so far as to say that it can offer you some limited experience that may help you in PA school (this is a heavily qualified statement that I won't go in to right now as I have an exam to study for). But the sooner you get into an advanced degree program (PA/MD/DO... hell, even if you go to nursing school and on to NP) the better off you will be in the long run. Please take it from someone who spent many years in EMS and is finally back in school. I should have done this years ago. I should have done this years ago. I should have done this years ago!! I love EMS. I really do. I want to stay active in EMS in some manner for as long as I possibly can. But I should have gone back to school years ago. And I'm glad I finally made it happen. Good luck. -be safe

I'm interested, too, in the line of questioning AK is presenting. My questions lie more along the line of you thinking about going to PA or medical school. If PA/MD/DO is really your goal, why are your wasting time with going to school for, but not working, in EMS? (Please don't answer that you think the experience will be invaluable.) Did you finish a college degree? Or is the paramedic education you're pursuing a degree program? Does it provide the academic background needed for you to continue an advanced degree? -be safe

Hello Alanna, Welcome! I'm going to echo JP's comments. If you want to go to paramedic school then get the classes he outlined and go as soon as you possibly can. I'm going to suggest, however, that you seriously think about where you want to be down the road. I know you're young. I know it's hard for young people to think about where they want to be five, ten or twenty years down the road. I know I couldn't do that when I was your age. However, this is something you really should think about. Working as a paramedic is a really great job. However, it is pretty limiting in terms of opportunities down the road. Nursing, according to my nurse coworkers, is a really great job. It offers *many* opportunities that are not available to someone with strictly an EMS background. If you're debating between the two, my suggestion is to go to nursing school *first*. Then, if you're still interested in EMS, go back and get your paramedic certification. It'll be much easier to go to nursing school then paramedic school than the other way around. If you're thinking PA school or medical school, don't mess around with EMS at all. Go straight through and get it done. I can tell you first hand that JP is right. Non-traditional students face many unique challenges that their younger, more traditional students don't face. So if you decide this is what you want do it now and don't wait. I don't know what it is about a lot of EMS-ers. A lot of people talk about going back to school but never do. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to go back. Don't be like them. If you want to go to school for anything do it now. Talk to everyone you can (like you're doing here). Ask questions. Lots of questions. Consider as many angles as you can. Weigh your options and make the best choice for you. Good luck!

I think speaking to your state office of EMS or a current EMT instructor would be a good start.

I don't talk on my phone while driving much less try to text. So I didn't click on the link.

What Croaker said. It's simple, to the point and spot on. I appreciate the maturity you demonstrate regarding the work you've had done. I only wish others demonstrated the same good sense and willingness to do right by themselves, their employers and their patients. Good luck in your quest. -be safe

This one in Oklahoma. Rest easy, brothers. Here's a link to the article.

Interesting. So what did the woman who died do to deserve the death *she* suffered?

They don't provide these results anymore? I know it's been a few years since I took NR but I got percentages for each section when I passed. Of course this was back with an actual paper test...

You mean something like this? Try here, too.

Looking at the protocol I agree that it could be written better. It does seem to imply you can do a non stop albuterol/ipratropium neb. You probably want to ask your medical director for some clarification on this one. Let us know what s/he says. Good luck.

I think I see your problem right there.

Only one book? Good luck with that. The closest you might get will probably be The Merck Manual.. Hope this helps.

For school, go cheap. Everybody says that a Littman is the best thing to get. They are quality stethoscopes. But most EMSers will never use them to the extent for which they were designed. What does that mean to you? It means you're wasting your money. While you're in school, go cheap. If you decide later you want to drop a significant portion of your meager paycheck on a high end piece of equipment, one that should really be provided on the ambulance anyway, then that's up to you. Good luck with school.

The point the President is attempting to make is a valid one. However, he could have communicated his ideas in a much clearer manner. As such, given the emotional reaction brought on by mention the 9/11 attacks, people will easily ignore the point he's trying to make and misconstrue his comments.

Try these.

It's true!!!!! They put a wedding ring on it and it stopped putting out!

If this was, in fact, a VAD it is entirely possible for the person to be awake, alert, oriented and able to converse with you while having absolutely no cardiac electrical activity. The patients with whom I've dealt have either been asystolic or VF on the monitor yet they were able to communicate with me... decidedly not dead. The VAD is designed to take over pumping (or seriously assist the heart in pumping) blood throughout the body. Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) patients can be sent home with the device. Bi-VAD (left and right VAD) are generally hospital bound. It sounds completely counter-intuitive. But with this device it is possible to have an asystolic patient presenting quite alive. There's a lot of info out there about it. Take a look and see what you find.

Exactly. Given how poorly this was presented to the students in the OP's class it wouldn't surprise me if it was simply stated that the patient was "worked" so that everyone would assume CPR was done when, in fact, it wasn't. I guess we'll have to wait for BoCat to come back and let us know what the solution is to this case.

While I'm not ruling out a poor description of what "work the patient" means, there is no mention of CPR being performed. The VADs on which patients are sent home usually have a hand pump or crank to keep blood moving if, for whatever reason, the electrical power to the VAD became inoperative. Conceivably, since it wasn't specifically mentioned, "working the patient" could simply mean someone operated the manual back up for the device while other resuscitative measures were enacted. Although, I do agree with your premise. If this guy really had a pulse and a pressure and they really were doing CPR somebody screwed up big time. ETA: The Heartmate II is the device we're seeing locally. Just in case anyone is interested in reading up on it.