AnthonyM83

Funny. She's finishing and I'm just (hopefully) starting next month.

That's enough right there. That was the punch line. LOL I first heard that as a made up joke, rather than a "this once happened" true story joke. Like 'Cop: Have you been drinking, your eyes look glassy Driver: Have you been eating donuts, you're eyes look glazed'...it's starts out with "One time a guy got pulled over"...but it doesn't mean this ever really happened, even once.

Well, first off, all the book's been out for awhile. It's based off the work of a Dr. Jacobs whose book was pulled because the medical community thought it had too much medical-ortiented advice aimed at the general public. He also has a video with FF/EMTs and MDs talking about how they use the techniques in their jobs. And even that info came from the work of others. If one wanted to disseminate these ideas as widely as possible, a book only sounds logical. I also got the impression of sincerity at the lecture (but maybe she was just mimicking my body language ) You and I must be taking different psychology courses with different textbooks and journal articles. Guided imagery, hypnosis, and placebo have been gaining more support and more of a foothold in mainstream psychology in the last few years. In fact, it's now considered unethical to have a control group when studying survival rates in cancer patients who receive emotional/meditation/guided imagery therapy, because of the significantly higher death rate in the control. We have to rely on old experiments or case studies on older data or 'some therapy' versus 'more therapy'. It's just something to think about and consider. If the patient is huddled in a little ball crying, you probably don't want to do the same. But you take the overall concept and modify it to your needs. Instead of standing tall and calling his name, you might kneel down and speak in a softer voice with closed bodily language that slowly opens up. It's not really a new concept, rather breaking down old ideas and expanding them. And you don't always need it to the same degree. If you have a big tough no nonsense guy with a broken femur who's handling it relatively well, you can mimic him just by taking a no nonsense attitude as well. In an authorative voice you can tell him you know that's hurting a lot so you're going to get the morphine shot ready right away while your partner stabilizes the leg. It's things I see the medics I've ridden with do to a degree already. Just expanding. Mimicking basic body language was just one of many ways to get rapport (however you do it) which is what matters. Let's not lose sight of the overall concept.

Stay alive. Save some lives. Meet some girls.

Understandable. It is actually a sales technique. It's one I've been uncomfortable using either to make friends or in therapeutic settings, simply because I've always noticed how I subconsciously sometimes start imitating the stances or mannerisms of people I admire. I always try to correct myself, so they don't think I'm a nerd for trying to act like them (this was mainly in high school where I had more hero worship for certain older role models). But in this case, it's to make them feel more at ease. It's not about me, it's about them. BUT that's true. If it makes you uncomfortable, they'll pick up on it, and reflect it back.

One thing that can REALLY help is putting your hand on someone's shoulder or upper arm and telling them the worst is over. They had us do this with the person sitting next to us at a seminar I went to recently and it was surprisingly reassuring. It's almost like a buddy giving you this reassuring hand and telling you it's all going to be okay. It's very human. Going to the hospital can be a very scary and lonely experience, especially for older people. Imagine if something happened to you. You'd want to call your spouse, parent, family member, or friend right away. You'd want to tell someoen. A lot of older people have no one else left. No one to call and they're going to be alone in that bed the whole time. You can see the fear and worry in their eyes as they're rolled out to the ambulance. Even if you're surrounded by professionals working on you and asking you medical questions, you can still feel completely alone. Having one person on the team talk to YOU as a person and just go through it WITH you really helps.

One theory is that higher social classes have more time to teach their children about proper health, have time to watch their kids more, teach proper manners and responsibilities. This can be carried over to responsibilities and importance of caring for their own health when they become adults. It doesn't necessarily have to be racial, but more socio-econimc.

Last month I went to a Verbal First Aid lecture, intended for health practitioners, EMS, and civilians. I was worried about it being a total hippie/white light community crowd, but there was a doctor, a few nurses, a civilian employee from a PD who was setting up training for the cops, and some ex-military. A large number of psychologists/therapists, MA and PhDs/PsyDs. The speaker was Judith Prager who has given her lecture at many different departments at different hospitals. The main thing is how your words can direct healing if you gain rapport with a patient. Here's some of the points: -People look to others (usually authority figures) in emergencies and become very open to suggestion on things like: -emotional state, severity, physical direction, and even body's response -Mind has ability to influence body. Every thought has a physiological/chemical reaction -Embarrassment-->Blushing -Nightmare-->Fight/Flight response persists after waking -The power of well-documented placebo effect Pharmaceuticals must compete with the 1/3 placebo success rate, including angina, bronchitis, and (I think the 3rd was pain) Dr. M Erik Wright's Experiment (with control group) -Paramedics were told to: 1) Minimize extraneous input 2) Read them a simple paragraph 3) Eliminate unrelated conversation The paragraph included, "The worst is over. We are taking you to the hospital...Let your body concentrate on repairing itself and feeling secure. Let your heart, your blood vessels, everything, bring themselves into a state of preserving your life...You are now in a safe position...The worst is over." -This group had a higher survival rate and it's said the only problem with the experiment was it was hard for the paramedics saying the paragraph to keep it from the control group. Dr. Wright apparently died before the study was completed. Words can affect these functions: -Pain, HR, Contractions, BP, Bleeding, Inflammatory Response, Respiration, Smooth Muscle Tension, Allergic Response, more When talking to patients, always keep in mind the healing trajectory you're implanting. Positive or Negative. Steps to helping: 1) Center yourself (imagine a role model, be present in your breathing) 2) Gain Rapport -Show you understand. Repeat back what patient just said. Especially when anxious (freaking out) people forget what they just said. You can repeat it right back and they'll feel like you're really "there" with them -Mimic Body language (hair twirling, stance, speech pattern)..helps build familiarity -Don't disturb someone's reality, instead work within it. She gave the example "Patient: No! Don't give me O2! I've watched ER and they always die when they get O2! Medic: Oh, it's okay. They don't use real O2 on the show" -Let people know their responses are normal for their situation -Pace their anxiety level and lead them out of it (works great with those hyperventilating) -Use of reassuring touches, just on the shoulder is great. 3) Give suggestions -Avoid words "pain" and "hurt" -I see your arm needs medical attention. Scan the rest of your body to make sure it's alright. How about here...here...here... (distractionary) -When giving a treatment say: "Notice how ______" insert what treatment is supposed to do...they'll concentrate on noticing the effect of treatment instead of severity of injury -As I ________(treatment or just any movement), you can _______ (some effect they'll feel) -Involve them in their treatment, even if it's just having them hold a bandage. She gave some examples of how to help children as well, like having finding a role model for them...a cartoon character, superhero, etc and having them pretend to be brave like them (this one works well...if you pick the wrong one, kids will say "no!" and tell you the appropriate hero) I guess I just wanted to give a little overview. I don't want to post all the good details or phrases, because I'd feel like it'd be stealing her lecture that she gets paid to do by hospitals, fire departments, and police departments... I thought it was worth the drive to Los Angeles and apparently a lot of EMS is using it to different levels.

That's what colleges do...except students hardly visit the career office no matter how hard they try to bring people in.

Argh. Just had another dream last night. I have a vague recollection of forcibely holding C-spine with a cop on someone with alterered LOC after a traffic collision and medics didn't arrive until an hour later. Weird.

Oh, 91B...I remember that. I was this close to joining under that MOS...then switched to 97B then 31B. But then they screwed me Recruiter lied about other perks, so after months of calling all over the place, they let me go. Just in time to escape all that 9/11 stuff. Have you looked into federal financial aide? FAFSA form, state grants, school financial aide and non-interest loans. Some schools also have lists of grants available for students in different fields.

Oh man...RaceMedic must have a lot of down time over there...

Good point...I had placed them on my arms...and kids do have hair there

I didn't list hooking them up to the monitor, b/c those things HURT when they come off! I was playing with the monitor during my clinicals seeing how slow and how fast I could get my HR (yes, I'm easily amused by stuff like that) and a call came out. I had to go to the next call still wearing the electrodes b/c they were too hard to take off (read: hurt too much to take off).

He's definitely invited to my next party... BTW, if the page doesn't load, just reload it a few times...The page is getting a lot of hits today

First Dust, now PRPG!? You guys are a talented group here at EMTCity... I didn't know you had it in your PRPG... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIeIWkK0t4s

Yup, asking questions is a good idea. You gotta engage them. You could start off by asking them what number they could call for a serious emergency (give some examples like an accident with a looot of bleeding or somene choking and can't breathe). I'd expect a number of them to then shout out 911! Explain how the 911 system works. That 911 calls a number to lot of operators who then use a radio to send you a police car, an ambulance, or firefigther depending on what they need. If they call 911 when it's not an emergency, "they're busy talking to you and can't be helping"....(you can trail off and see if they fnish your sentence)..."that's righ! other people who are really hurt."

Yup, attention span is usually low, so I'd say all the important things in the first 5 minutes. Maybe you could do a scenario if there are any brave ones in the crowd, putting him on the stretcher and listening to his heart sounds, so they can see it doesn't need to be a scary experience. You could get a helper to apply pressure to a wound. That way you get to show off some of the cool tools. If you have a partner, you could break it in two, so you each group does a scenario. When you're starting yours, your partner could be on part II showing the driving part and the buttons and stuff.

Hmm..I'd like a more non-biased source...

I agree DocZilla that it was low practical patient care benefit. One good benefit, though, can be taking a step in the direction of more technologically advanced distance patient care. This might not have a real use, but maybe next we can work on improving camera with great zoom, maybe transmitting stethoscope sounds with the video (so doc can see stethoscope placement & accompanying sounds real-time), and so on. It's like that darn voice activated technology. It sucks....but it's better then when it first came out...and twenty years from now it'll be a lot better than it is today. Some advancement start from ideas with no real purposes other than to see if we can pull it off.

That's exactly why I never got why everyone felt this was so important. How does it change preparation of the ED when you give it in your radio report? Woudn't it be the actual components that really matter, rather than the total.

Oh...I could go so many ways with this one....

Not EMS, but I had my tonsils taken out as a kid...sometime during primary school. They gave me this drug to sip mixed with 7-up. I think it was supposed to calm me down...it sent me off the walls. They nurses told me to sit back in my bed and I responded with "No, I'm fine, look, I can even do jumping jacks, I'll show you" (I proceeded to do push ups and jumping jacks in the room)... then my memory blacks out to a scene with the nurse telling me she's going to take my blood pressure and it's going to squeeze my arm, with me excitedly replying, "is it going to squeeze it so hard it's going to pop off!?" Then a memory of being rolled to the ER room and the nurses kept having to push me back onto to gurney b/c I kept wanting to sit up and look around. Then the doctor telling me to breathe into a mask....then me waking up in an empty room with awful smelling oxygen.

I scanned previous posts, but it seemed to be only info on the current study, not data on the past studies. Bah, 'll look again

I'm doing the scruffy longer medium-long look right now...seems to be a phase a lot of people my age are doing...but it's also pretty prevalent in middle schools and high schools. I used to be very clean-cut with finger-length hair, through high school, then short messy/spiky during college. Each style seems to get attention different girls