island emt

now thats a truely unique approach to republican fundraising! give me money or i fill ya full of birdshot!!!! Besides only a wimp uses a 28 ga. shotgun.

Dustdevil wrote: "It should probably be noted for the purposes of your research that there are very few states who, like New York, control their EMS scope of practice from the top down. Most states leave SOP completely up to local medical control. Therefore, your question, as currently asked, really isn't going to get you the results you are looking for. Because the truth is, almost every state "allows" fentanyl or any other drug the local medical control approves. " Not necessarily true: Here in maine as in other states we operate under a statewide protocol, where our drugbox contents are determined by a state medical director + the physicians control board. what this means is no matter where you are in the state every drug box has the same contents. we are supplied the boxes by the hospital pharmacies. Use something out of the box + trade it in for a fresh one at the receiving hospital.Every ALS provider in the state whether private, public third service or fire dept is operating under the same protocols. we do have a local medical control physician but they don't have the authority to add or delete from the statewide drug list.

Maine switched from Ms to fentanyl this past year for prehospital pain management. much nicer than Ms due to the lack of the iga histamine release.

I haven't been killed yet cause only the good die young :-}

State of Maine has been using a field spinal clearance protocol since 1994 . the latest version was enacted in 2002. www.state.me.us/dps/ems/docs/spinal.html The protocol was developed over several years after the NEXUS study which found that prehospital professionals were able to appropriately assess the need for full immobilization + were able to rule out the probability of spinal injury as good as or better than many ER staffs . the algorithm is to be followed in assessing motor neuro abilities + disabilities , pain on palpation + exam of the spine. distracting major injuries , reliability ie a+o x 4 no alcohol or drug impairment , no other fatalities in vehicle, The first version used mechanism of injury as a determining factor, but was removed in the current version. please take the time to read the documentation available on the state web link i provided as it will explain answers to a lot of the questions raised in this thread. it includes a lot of history on this protocol and the studies used to develop it. Dr John Burton , an ER doc @ Maine Medical Center + former State Medical director was instrumental in the implementation of this protocol.

buying an autopulse will be cheaper than feeding a big strong country boy + smell a lot better !!!!

Apple Safari it rocks the shorts off of IE without all the security holes + no popups. too bad you can only use it on a MACINTOSH!! I didn't know what a pop up ad was until i used a {gasp} pc at work running IE.

in our state all services are mandated latex free for every ambulance. latex allergies and sensitivities are on the rise. the longer the exposure the greater the risk of developing a problem exposure . I know several medical professionals doctors, rn's , dental techs and EMS folk who cannot work in an environment where latex has been used due to airborne particles remaining behind. if you were one of these folks you might think differently about using latex. most of them have developed their sensitivity due to prolonged exposure on the job.

we also use the Zoll M-Series here very happy with it's ease of use and reliability.

As far who it is : IT DOES NOT MATTER ! if they are in any way impaired they should not even show up at the station period. There are too many things that could go wrong if they operate impaired. truck drivers ,pilots, train crews, subway + bus drivers all have an 8 hour rule of NO spirits before coming on duty as should we. If we want to be looked upon+ treated as professionals then we need to act responsibly. Imagine what would be the outcome if something happened during his/her shift and there was an accident or a med error that could have been avoided by simply not allowing the impaired person to clock in. I have been in this position in the past + would not let my relief clock in due to his inability to function @ 100 % of their ability due to a hangover and lack of sleep. :roll:

4 November 55 yes i am old in my bones , but my wife says you are only as old as you act !! that makes me about thirty .

1emtp: the reason a lot of adjunct medical facilities are swapping over to AED's is lower cost simpler to use, less training required, and face it you or i have a lot more experience in the back of the bus using a full function monitor /defib than the majority of hospital/medical facility staff. unless they work in E.D. , ICU, or Telemetry departments most R.N.'s haven't used one in years. The same goes for CPR, I recently did a recert class where out of the twenty RN's, Doc;s + EMS in the room only three of us { all emt's } had actually done CPR on a human in the last year. We purchased the Zoll AED plus units last year for the emt's on my department who carry them as part of their first response gear. We also use a Zoll M-series on the ambulance.