Emergency Laughter

Welcome to the City. You have a lot of experience, that's good. We look forward to reading your posts! Mike

16 yrs old, wow! Good for you! You have a lot of good things coming your way! Have fun. Welcome to EMTCity. Mike

So if I get called to Dwaynes house and I find him unconscious on the kitchen floor with obvious priapism going on and an empty bottle of Cialis next to his head, and an orchard full of half-eaten grapefruit littering the kitchen, can I safely assume that he doesn't have...um...like... a spinal injury?

Important news for all EMS personnel when taking a patients history and when surveying the scene. Check out the ABC news link to this story. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/11/26/grapefruit-medicine-interaction-warning-expanded/

EMTcoastie, a couple of things you said are important. One was that you decided to use those two calls as good experiences and learn from them. The other was that you built upon your level of experience and learned more about interacting with survivors / family of patients. You're going to see a lot of death on this job. Some will bother you, some won't. You need to remain the calmest, most level-headed person in the room, able to make the decisions that need to be made. You're there because people need help. Sometimes that's as simple as being compassionate. The ones that have bothered me...the old lady that backed over a kid in a church parking lot-head injuries not consistent with life, I lost two little twin girls in a pool drowning, two little babies intentionally drowned in a bath tub, when I worked trauma surgery-little girl from an MVA, massive chest/abd trauma-she died on the table and the doctors disapeared leaving me to close girls chest and belly-what do you do? Crank the music, do your job and choke back tears. Some calls you just lock away in a double padlock box deep down in the cellar of your mind. But I use these calls in everyday life. I'm a lot more safety conscious in my own life and I make other people aware of what can happen. I educate people whenever the opportunity presents itself..... That's all I have to say about thaa-aat. Momma always told me.....

Welcome Jouly, Wo ist das krankenhaus? Ich Habe ein baby. Ich möchte mich jetzt bitte erbrechen. Sorry, that's all the German I could remember. I hope you will tell us what the EMS system is like in Germany. I look forward to reading your posts. Mike

Welcome Jacki, I'm also a relative newcomber here. This is a great place with loads of information and interaction. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Mike

Good shit indeed! Thank you for reading the book, glad you enjoyed it! Did I really? ah...I didn't mean to...it just kinda...happened. Shocked the shit outta me...I think it was #4 #5 and #7 on the Bostic stool chart. I don't know why, but incontinence seems to be a reoccuring reaction for my readers...I could think of worse tho. I wouldn't be offended if you wrote a review on the site you got it publicly announcing your little accident after reading it... Thanks again, Mike Dennis, MUGS? They got Bostic Stool Chart mugs?! How did I miss that? I know some very constipated people on my xmas list...

You ain't just a woofin! We see a lot of necrotizing fasciitis in the OR. Ain't nothin funny about it.

So how many people missed that it was World Toilet Day yesterday? I know I did. Came across this article on NPR, I know it sounds like a bad acid trip, but it's not. It's good information that can be used to....ah....strike up a conversation with a patient that.....ah....needs reassurance. Yea, that's it. How many people knew there was a Bristol Stool Chart? NOOOO it's not furniture.... Read the article...you'll use the info at some point in your career. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/02/164196276/making-sense-of-colors-and-shapes-in-the-toilet?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw Stay regular people, Mike

Glad to hear your son is OK!! What was the biggest thing you learned from being on the other side?

Too bad placebo's can't make a comeback.

So....how is everyone's scatalogical studies going? Are your studies firm and well formed? They aren't dark and tarry are they? Do you study one or two times a day? No studies in the swimming pool now! Three Dutch medical schools are asking thousands of travelers to tropical countries to donate stool samples for a study into the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Naturally, I thought of DwayneEMTP...you know....for the study...

He he...I guess I should maybe look at how old the post is before I write a bunch of stuff to an empty.....hello.....ello....ello Well at least no one is around to see how foolish I feel......

I second everything that Mike, Bushy and Dwayne told you. LISTEN to them. I'll reiterate a couple of things- Respect, very big in EMS and life in general. Aretha Franklin said it best. You will have to be sensitive to, and respectful of, so many things when you start working. It sounds like you care about people and "like to make them smile" which is good! (Don't look for too many smiles from the...you know...dead folks) If you don't truly care about others, then pick another profession. You keep saying "dealing with the dead," I don't know, I've always found that they were pretty easy to deal with. They don't talk much, so scratch small talk off your list, and patient care is pretty minimal....you'll see. Listen to the other guys, not me...I'm the warped coping mechanism paramedic mike was talking about. Good luck! Mike

Hi Destiny, Welcome. This site is a great place for sharing information. Congratulations on graduating! Mike

You have sound logic backing up your theory...but, I just don't know. I've seen a lot of women give birth, and I've also had my nuts kicked in. I'm just not sure it's the best analogy. Maybe having a 7lb watermelon pushed out my aspoi[[0df[=ag] 9\ Whoa, sorry, I passed out there for a second.....

That's funny! Great video, thank you for sharing it.

We're really glad you found it too! Welcome.

Welcome! Working nights is where it's at!!

A very warm welcome Trish! I second that soon to be drooling and soiling myself! Be gentle with us kids.

Curiosity, Tears are a good thing! I'm glad you like it. At least it didn't make you incontinent like some other readers....I don't really know if that's a good thing or a.....I don't know. Thanks for spreading the word.

That's an interesting question Dwayne. No particular reason for when I posted it. I was working on the longer version for my next book, oh and I did pop myself in the right one the other day swinging a bunch of keys around in the air. I don't think about my Dad's testicles on a regular basis....yea it must of been that I was working on the longer version of it and I'm always on the lookout for something goof-ball (no pun intended) to post on emtcity. He would have turned 89 last Sept. 1st. Nice going man, I know how you feel. Your boy will never forget it. Thank you, I'm sure he is still laughing-especially looking down on my dumb ass. Of course you read the situation right or you wouldn't have joked with your patient. Whoever told you it was inappropriate to joke with patients was WRONG and probably wouldn't know a sense of humor if it poked them in the eye. Humor is an extremely useful tool in medicine, you just have to use common sense and know when it's appropriate, which you obviously did extremely well. Patients and family members don't write letters about stuffy, uncompassionate ambulance crews that have sticks up their asses. GOOD JOB! Thank you!

Ha, iCrap, that's good. Surprised I haven't heard that one before. I gotta get out more.

What? No standing orders for administration of blankets? Count your blessings you don't live in Detroit. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/jeff-gaglio-detroit-paramedic-blanket_n_1957741.html