paramedicmike

Yes, I was purposefully being vague.

You've made your point. Thank you. Can we move along now, please?

Good question and I think an argument could be made either way. Wheeling her into the ER while seizing or immediately thereafter? Probably. Wheeling her to a quiet area to recover outside of the ER? Not necessarily.

So you do, in fact, see what this particular student's problem is. We're not talking about random people walking down the street. We're talking about people in this particular school who would be dealing with this particular student. We're talking about people who have every day contact with this individual who would be advised of, educated on and kept in the loop regarding any plan as it pertains to any student under their care. You're really unnecessarily extrapolating this to include the greater public and that falls outside the bounds of where the discussion was limited as it related to the subject in the OP.

Come on. You have a chronic condition. How would you feel if every single time something happened to you someone around you who didn't understand what was going on insisted on calling 911 even if you were completely and totally capable of handling the after effects of such an event? You'd get annoyed very quickly. It would also be a waste of resources. A reasonable care plan put together with the person in question and any necessary parties (PCP, school administration, power of attorney if there is one) that will outline if and when 911 needs to be called is both reasonable and practical. There are times when it may be necessary. There are times when it won't be. There's little need to involve the 911 system every time it happens while this student is in this particular school setting.

So no LSB for transport but a collar and blocks are in place? That doesn't make much sense. I'll second the request for clarification.

Popcorn's popped. Please continue. MTA: I'm wondering who's trolling us. Is this a former regular? We've certainly had our share of people who like to stir the pot simply for the sake of stirring the pot.

Welcome. When are you eligible to sit for your EMT exam?

Yes. It is a reality. These types of care plans exist in facilities all over the place when there are special considerations to be made regarding individuals with special health needs. They exist in schools, day care centers, long term care facilities... even workplaces. They are put together in conjunction with the individual or responsible family member, the people providing care on site and those responsible for the overall health care management of the person in question. These plans are in place for kids and adults alike.

And with the student. The student needs to be involved in this process, too.

Please reread what both ERDoc and I posted above.

If this is a concern within the administration and day to day functioning of your school perhaps setting up a meeting with everyone involved to develop a care plan for when this particular student has a seizure is in order. That way everyone is on the same page about what to do the next time it happens. This will also create a list of things that would trigger a call to 911. Not every seizure patient needs a ride to the emergency room especially if that patient has a known seizure history and doesn't want to go. MTA: Looks like ERDoc and I were typing our responses at almost the same time.

+1

ERDoc explained things pretty well. Surely, in your search for information on seizures, you read about the variety of seizures conditions, circumstances which cause them and recovery periods after a seizure. I imagine, too, you would have read about auras and the ability some seizure patients have to tell when a seizure is coming on. Included in your reading should have been information on different medical conditions which can contribute to someone having seizures, also. Or were you just looking for information on people who fake seizures? Nothing in what you have presented here sounds unreasonable or impossible. Assuming that someone is faking is a dangerous position to take. There is an awful lot of information out there on seizures and related medical conditions. Please approach your education with an open mind and don't assume anything.

I've gotten more use out of a standard, run of the mill Swiss Army Knife than any other knife I've ever carried. And welcome.

For the win.

Welcome. Do you want to be a soldier? If you really want to be a soldier then consider the military. If you're just looking for what you think is a road to student loan repayment please look elsewhere. You will be in for a rough ride. Coincidentally, 68W is not a combat medic. It's a "Health Care Specialist". You can wind up doing a lot of things none of which involve being a combat medic. This is especially true if you don't see combat. This isn't to say there isn't opportunity for learning there. But know what you're getting into before jumping into an assumption. If you have the opportunity to go back to school and want to do EMS then go for a paramedic program. This will benefit you more than an EMT program will. You will very seldom go wrong by choosing to pursue and enhance your education. Ruff and ERDoc both make excellent points as well. One of the hardest questions people face is "So what do you want to do?". Until you know the answer to that question, though, we can talk until we're blue in the face. It probably won't help you. Pick what you want to pursue then do it. We'll help if we can.

Call you!

I had neither a slow or quiet day today. I will not blame you for it.

Dude. You've got a lot of concerning statements wrapped up in that post. Please tell me you're getting help aside from a 30mg dose of valium. Do NOT buy the gun.

From the survey website: Of course, there's little way of verifying if that is, in fact, where it originated. To the OP, perhaps a little more info on your group, the purpose of your study, and what it is, specifically, you're trying to validate would be helpful. We tend to be a skeptical group here. The more information you share with us about who you are, what you're studying and your goals could go a long way in improving your response rate.

Many hospitals do employ EMTs as techs especially in their emergency departments. Rather, they require their techs to have EMT certification. It may be an option worth investigating.

With a DUI or equivalent on your record you are very likely to be unemployable in any field that has as part of the job description driving responsibilities. This includes EMS. Your conviction is a liability and insurance companies are not going to want to take a risk on anyone with that on their record. Is there anything you can do to make yourself more appealing to employers? So long as this is on your record no. As Ruff mentioned in his reply EMTs are a dime a dozen. For every applicant with a poor driving record there are many more who have the same certifications and a clean driving record. The choice in who to hire is that case is made somewhat easier because your application can be immediately discounted based simply on your driving record. If, ultimately, EMS is what you want to do you're going to need to gain additional training, education and put several years of clean living between your conviction and the present day (whenever that present day may happen to be). Even then, however, there's a chance that you still won't get hired due to your conviction. In the meantime, however, you've got a lot of work to do. You're still young so you have the advantage of time to demonstrate that this won't define you in a negative light. It will, however, take time to demonstrate that. And time isn't something you can force.

LMAs have been removed as an airway device from every first responder related service in my area. They were removed years ago. LMAs fell out of favor when combitubes came out. Combitubes fell out when the King airway devices came out.

I was the one who reported it as I was there. Several EMS medical directors inferred or said outright that paramedic education is a big hangup when it comes to these programs as it is inadequate for this type of program expansion. There were a number of factors tied into this. EMS is still a DOT controlled entity and not Health and Human Services (this despite EMS being a subspeciality of EM). Fire Departments have been pushing back against educational expansion (mentioned in discussion without specific mention of any department). Financial constraints and justifying a program that hasn't been shown to be profitable is proving to be a barrier. The medical directors who spoke said in theory they liked the idea behind it. Making it work has been challenging. There was not a clear consensus across the board about what these programs should even be doing. To be fair the comments were all made in a day long seminar crammed with a lot of other topics including research, hot topics (i.e. ebola) and coming trends so prolonged discussion was limited. I'd like to think that increasing awareness of the current state of EMS education would have an overall positive effect in forcing increases and improvements in EMS education. The cynic in me isn't so optimistic, though.