bandaidpatrol

I have three sons who went to Paramedic school, they all took basic courses in French and Spanish; speech making; World Cultures; English Lit and a slew of fire service technology classes. This prepared them for working in their career, and working with a variety of patients. It also prepared me for a life time of always being in debt., living comfortable, but always owing an arm or leg to some college.

When a C-Collar will not fit, you must improvise. Any good instructor will tell you that... and leave you at that. You can't plan for it, because every situation will be different. If the situation is bariatric, don't put something on that is tight, it may restrict breathing.

We carried soft foam collars for years before modern collars ever came out. They can be cut down in needed, but chances are it will be too small, around, anyway. This is why it is important for any medical personnel to have an open mind, and the ability to be inventive.

I decided that they will never make a pediatric collar that will fit perfectly. If it's too big for the kid, get it off, you'll cause more damage leaving it on. If it's too small, it will not do the job of the collar. It isn't in place to immobilize the neck or the spine, it is there to less the chance of compression, flexion and extension of the spine. Important to remember. I could go on all day about the mistakes rookies and seasoned professionals make when it comes to 'splinting the spine'. Rather the misunderstanding of it.

Always remember. The towel is your best friend. Use as many as necessary, and stabilize it with a CID.

The worst piece of equipment that I ever had was the sand bag. I used Two wooden blocks, wrapped with bed linen. I should have got a patent for it. Damn. :wink:

Wasn't that the girl from the Adams Family?

My son went to the theatre every day for a week when it came out. Setting in the dark that long, good thing he didn't turn into a mushroom. :wink:

Yea whatever. I have SEEN these things being SAID on scene.

But did you hear them?

Just because I can't spell the world longest medical term, doesn't mean I was a bad medic.

A patient of sound mind, who is mentally able to make their own decision.. Can at any time or place refuse to be either treated and/or transported. In many, hopefully all, US States, EMS cannot refuse to transport, if they refuse to be treated. If this pisses you off, take it out on a congressman, not me. Get their name, info, etc.. and twiddle your thumbs.

Forcing a patient into treatment, not allowing them to refuse, has a name. In the legal world, they call this entrapment. If the patient feels entrapped, or mental anguish because you did something that they did not want done, having voiced their "NO".. Regardless of their life being saved, the door for legal action has been opened. And there is nothing you can do about it, except work in the guidelines of the law and protocols.

Then send them the bill. Because 9 of 10 insurance companies aren't going to pay if the patient didn't need EMS. They will assume they didn't need you, if the patient felt this way. If they don't pay... Sue them. I know many services that take their patients to court.

I used to put Philly collars on patients who refused to be boarded or collared with a modern collar. It was soft, yet provided the support necessary. But, they signed off, so it freed me of any claims or legal action. It was just my way of CYA.

Perhaps the kid had no pain, etc; and didn't want to be strapped down. You can't force them to be boarded..

Of course, he could have been 18 yrs of age, and signed a refusal for the board, but agreed to the collar. Never know..

Yea, bring back Johnny and Roy and their orders for ringers lactate!!!!!

Magically taking blood pressures with out picking the cuff off of the motorola biophone.

My god, it's Hollywood. Get over it, I'm sure it will not affect anyone's career because of something that happened on an ABC sitcom. And I believe he was telling her how to bag the patient, as to not be overzealous, and explode the ordinance. For the shape that it had, if it was shot from a model gun, it probably did not have a detonator, and most likely was shot out using a powder bag. Other wise, it should have gone right through the flesh and muscle. Usually you run into problems when it hits the pelvis, sternum or spinal column.

I seen a man with a rocket propelled gernade lodged in his abdomen in Vietnam. Nobody wanted to touch him, so he bled to death quickly. I won't tell you how they removed it.

I pray that no modern EMT or Medic will have to suffer the trials of a two man. You think it's hard to hook on and wait for the wheels to come up?

Try bending over and lifting that 300lb patient from a distance of 6" off the ground, and then doing your best to wheel it into the catch located flush against the wall. Say your in the city, on even a slight hill, you load your 250lb DOA into the rig. You are doing all you can to keep the bed from rolling back out, then the arm falls down and you can't latch the cot.. Better be able to hold that cot by yourself. Because it'd kill you if it came out on top of you. I always carried a davis tourniquet in my pocket to tie hands together so we didn't run into that problem. But there are many stories about patients rolling off the deck, etc. If we couldn't get turned around, so that the front went down hill, I either loaded the patient on a folding stretcher, or we slid the pins out of the wheels so it couldn't roll. Lots of good medics and attendants lost their jobs because of back injuries, I've had surgery twice, and still have problems.

I have never worked with a First Responder, and really I would have no idea as to the limits of their scope.

Dyna Med came before Galls. Used to be a good company, had a huge catalog, almost like the monkeyward catalog. In fact, I believe it was the first catalog I ever rcv'd via mail that had pictures in it.

My son, an NREMT-P, put EMT patches on a hawaiian shirt to wear as a Medical Coordinator at a Summer Camp.

Tazewell,Va, eh?

I bought a bunch of Thomas Splints from someone there via ebay. Gummy things, the Ischial Pads dissolved when I washed them.

Bob's Quick.. well sort of.. CVA Test. Sometimes I do it on myself.., because you never know.

Start from the top and go down.

Look at the pupils

Have them wink

Have them give you a big grin

Have them stick out their tongue

Look at the face

JVD?

Have them hold out their arms

Have them squeeze your hands, both at the same time

Have them press and pull with thier feet

Finally.

Have them say "Precipitation floods the Mississippi" good words to detect a slur. Or something simple, if they are having a full blown CVA, and you can't pick up on it, simple words such as answers to normal questions should complete the survey.

We all make mistakes. It shows who will be great, by those who can admit and correct. And then there are those who cover them up. I guess, as a funeral director, thank you in advance. I love driving that Cadillac SUV.

Use of abbreviations is actually recommended in many curriculums. You should find a long list of approved abbreviations at the end of your EMS text, be it ALS or BLS. Your local, or state EMS office probably has an even larger list for you to use. As far as legal documentation goes, if it is written, it was done. If it is written by the use of abbreviations, then you have the opportunity of making it longer. They can always refer to the master list to interpret what you are saying. Just make sure you are using them correctly.

I may be old, but I'm still quick.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your replies. I enjoy reading all of them and learned alot. When I need more answers I'll make sure to ask you guys on here!!

P1, P2, P3? Priorities

ETOH? Ethanol Alcohol

SNF? Skilled Nursing Facility

Dx? Diagnosis?

CXR? Chest X-Ray

LPM? Liters Per Minute

DNR? Do Not Resusitate

DNI? Do Not Intubate

DNH? Do Not Hospitalize

AMS? Altered Mental Status

MVA? Multiple Vehicle Accident?

COA? Certificate of Authenticity

HGT? Human Genetic Test

GCS? Glascow Coma Scale

PVCS? PVC's are Premature Ventricular Contractions, but I don't think it was meant that way...

ICP? Inter Cranial Pressure

Also what does a Narcan IV do? Is that given in a drug overdose? What does it mean to be lavaged?

Narcan is an opioid antagonis, it is used for complete or partial reversal of opioid depression. Lavage essentially means to wash out, such as a gastric lavage, i.e. stomach pumping.

bandaid wrote:

I did say "most"

I realize that, it was a joke.

TN - ?

Hx - History?

Fx - Injury?

Tx - Treatment

Rx - meds (prescriptions)

R/O - Rule Out

CVA - cerebrovascular accident (stroke)

HR - heart rate

BGL - bilingual? blood glucose level?

win

HTN? Hypertension.

BGL: Blood Glucose Level

Must be hard to get there with a fractured ankle and hip!

Abdo pain x 2 weeks.

Shorten it up more. abd pn. x 2 wk.

"Medic 1: dsp to a med/emerg, found pt LRCBT in bed. 27 y/o/m, c/c, abd pn. x 8 hrs (-) n&v, (+) blood in stool, vitals w/n/l., abd s/tndr on palp RLQ, (-) dstn, fvr x 4 hrs, ALS Intv: IV NS/rate @ 30/min, O2 4 LPM/NasCan, bgl 92, . Tx to CHP."

dsp: dispatch

med: ical

emerg: ency

pt: Patient

LRCBT: Lateral Recumbent

y/o/m: year old male

abd: omen

pn: Pain

hrs: Hours

(-): Negative

(+): Positive

w/n/l: With in Normal Limits

s/nt: Soft-Non Tender

tndr: Tender

palp: Palpation

RLQ: Right Lower Quadrant

dstn: Distention

fvr: Fever

Intv: Intervention

IV: Obvious

NS: Normal Saline

Nascan: Nasal Cannula

Tx: Transport (or treatment) depends how you employ it

CHP: Hospital Abbreviations

I retired at 64. Only because I was getting bored on the calls. I figured when my job lost the excitement, I needed to move on to something else. In this case, that was retirement.

I was 33 when I took the Paramedic class, only because the training did not exist prior to that. I'd like to see prospective students have some street expirence as an EMT, etc. before taking the EMT-P class. Figure 18-19 for expirence, 20-22 for training, that puts my minimum age thoughts at around 23 yrs/o.

I had my first ambulance attendant training at 26, again, because it didn't exist prior. And my Standard First Aid & Advanced First Aid at 14.

Everything was so much easier when we just had to drive the person to the hospital, and that was that. Talking was optional.

Every system should have a deaf paramedic in the dispatch office to interpret in case a deaf person calls 911.

That's what TDD is for.