mediccjh

Heh, EMS, I liked your comments about the line officers.

Too high jack this thread just a little I think the biggest issue that is driving me out of this profession is the arrogance and political bullshit of it. The ratio of people who act like they know all about prehospital care versus the amount of people who can even get through the simplest of tasks properly in the field is extremely low.

If its not dealing with the officer's bullshit, its dealing with my partner's bullshit, and if its not my partner's bullshit, its the EMT's bullshit, and if its not the EMT's bullshit, its the firefighter's bullshit, who's bullshit supercedes all other bullshit, but that's another story.

I ask, whatever happened to just doing your job? Doing my job is the only goal I have at work. Even if the call is bogus, I still try to get it done well. Why can't people just focus on what needs to be done to get the calls done, and then do it, and go the hell home?

Now I'm really ranting, but you know what? I have met a lot of people in my life, people who know things and will do things that I will never even come close too. Neurosurgeons, astrophysicists, professional musicians, Navy SeALs, I've known these people and they do not have the same fucking egos I run into doing this line of work. Maybe some of them do, but not the ones I've met.

So, for the love of God, everybody get the fuck over themselves already! THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, FIREMEN!!!

Okay, I'm done. I need a cigarette.

You are my hero.

I think I've done it 10 times or so. Seeing one done for the first time sealed the thought that I wanted to be a Paramedic when I grow up.

It may seem barbaric if they are conscious, but it's either that or they die. If they need it, just do it.

At every single juncture I have voiced my concerns about our dispatch system. I have always stated that over triaging calls and simply sending an ambulance anytime someone needs their prescription filled might fill the city's coffers with Medicare and Medicaid money, but not only is it wrong it is also doomed to fail, and several people, including our union president Pat Bahnken, thinks the system is now approaching or at critical mass.

But the real problem is that you can't tell the FDNY anything. Its like a bad Monty Python sketch sometimes, the FDNY assuring that they carefully coordinate its resources, as ALS units go flying to the stuffy nose and 88 year old women are allowed to sizzle on the sidewalk at 55th street.

Sounds like our problem across the river too. All management cares about is response times, and that any ambulance gets there, not the proper resources.

It's not even like you can blame the crew for giving the wrong atom, since everything is based on Automatic Vehicle Locators now, right?

Hell no, you wouldn't have to live in the projects and you could play bagpipes with our Regimental Pipes and Drums, they'd love to have you.

When you said Triple Decker, all I could think of are the 3-story projects in Newark, hence the reference.

I want to learn the bagpipes.

1) Anyone who comes from anywhere else than wherever you come from, will have some "unusual" accent. They will also say that of YOU!

2) I like the Yankees, because I like tradition. I also like the New York Mets, as, from 1969, "Ya Gotta Believe" and I do!

I also like any team BEATING the Dodgers, as both my parents came from BROOKLYN!!! (O'Mally, youse should rot in HELL!)

If there's one team I hate more than the Red Sux, it's the Dodgers. The way Walter O'Malley broke the hearts of the people of Brooklyn is disgusting. May he and Robert Moses rot in hell. The Dodgers had the most loyal fan base in all of baseball at the time. If they were still in Brooklyn, I'd be a Dodgers fan.

I can set you up in a triple decker in Southie, you'll fit right in!

Nice try. When I grow up, I don't want to live in the projects.

Come on Chuck, you know deep down inside you want to live here, we have the Celtics, on the verge of an NBA Championship, Drop Kick Murphys, Sam Adams beer and tons of hot college chicks.

I may have to beat you with my Yankee hat while wearing my kilt for calling me Chuck.

I hate basketball, so I could care less.

Sam Adams SUCKS! There I said it. The Lager is too grainy. I'll stick with my Yuengling, thank you.

Dropkick Murphys...one of the few things good to come out of Boston. The others are Aerosmith, Boston, New England Clam Chowder, and Fenway Park, since it is a beautiful park.

CB, I may be Irish and Italian, but I would have to live in the Irish part of town.

Since my original post got deleted FOR THE SAME REASONS WHY THIS PART HAS BEEN DELETED - ADMIN. I'm just going to sit on the sidelines and beat my head against the wall, while displaying my shirt!

Yeah Richard, its kind of like that! Fortunately for us when the Health and Hospitals Corporation was dissolved we became part of the Public Health Commision as opposed to FD. Just because we have that similarity doesn't mean the Yankees don't suck though.

If it weren't for the fact that I would be in the heart of Red Sux Nation, I would consider Boston EMS for employment.

Then again, when I'm up that way in the summer, I'm going to 'Nuf Sed McGreevey's Pub on Boylston St.

The problem is that we are not considered a profession, but merely a techincal service, full of technicians that "drive the ambulance."

We do need more education, yes. We need to be under our own flag. Not fire's, not police's, but our own.

We need to set up the system so that to be a Paramedic you have to be in school for 2 years. I consider myself a good Paramedic and have yet to hear otherwise from my colleagues, but I kick myself in the ass everyday for not getting a degree. I'm trying to change that though.

We need to stop the infighting, and unite as one, with the goal of making EMS a profession, and advance EMS to a highly respected service, because like it or not, we do provide a service.

That's all I can think of for now, for I am having trouble converting thought to prose.

We become cynical.

We realize there is another world behind the one that is shown for all.

We learn not to trust strangers.

We become humble, yet we get pissed when we're forgotten about.

Most of us are not afraid to take charge when the world is exploding.

NYC EMS Rescue Medics have specific protocols to deal with crush injuries. If you visit www.nycremsco.org , the protocols are there.

That'll be $42.50 plus fifty cents a mile..

"I'll pay you as soon as you get her down to the hospital."

And the following is priceless............

Could be a pontine bleed due to the cocaine use. Then again, nothing surprises me down there. I've had a couple of pontine bleeds, and they are 1 of the 4 causes of pinpoint pupils.

Congrats!!

We have it on the trucks in Newark. I haven't used it yet. We have to be careful here with it due to the cokeheads we pick up. Something about runaway tachycardia doesn't sit well in my stomach.

Back on track.....

gaelic, an ALS unit should be dual-medic in the big-city. Not doing so leads to burnout, whether it be the EMT stuck doing all of the BS jobs, or the medic stuck doing all of the ALS jobs. I personally prefer dual-dispatch, with BLS trucks being dual EMTs and ALS trucks being dual-medic. I prefer working dual-medic.

Congrats Dwayne!!!

Doc, that was a well written and thought-out post. Maybe you should send it to Dr. Henry Wang in Pittsburgh.

God forbid we would actually expect to educate our providers, instead of taking things away.

That's it!! Scrap the system and start over.

I hate it when idiot providers make it harder for us who actually know what they're doing.

Go to New York.

Go to Philly.

Go to LA County and LA City.

There you will see why Fire should NOT be a part of EMS. Work together, but have separate identities.

This comes from a medic who worked in NYC. Most of my friends do fire, and they support my opinion.

It's amazing how 2 Paramedics and 2 EMTs can run a cardiac arrest better than most doctors and nurses.

I believe it's true.

Guns don't kill people. The person who makes a conscious decision to pull the trigger kills people.

As someone who is contemplating getting a vest (and has been shot at before), I personally am looking for something that would protect me if someone were to attempt to stab me or kick/punch/hit with a blunt object. I'm not worried about getting shot at as much as I am about getting kicked/punched/beat/stabbed.

Suggestions?

such reasoned discourse... your ancestors also bled patients and owned slaves... why don't you

You would be wrong. My family came from Italy in 1902, which was AFTER slavery was banished. And I am also half-Irish, so where do I start there about how the Irish were treated in the USA? Did you see Gangs of New York? While not totally factually accurate, the treatment of the Irish in that movie was accurate.

Please ask before you attack my family. In most cultures, this would mean war, and I would have to paint myself and put on my kilt.

And in referring to liberals, I was referring to Oregon. The Left Coast is majority liberal, and most of them are the ones who believe we should change our language for immigrants. And this comes from someone who grew up liberal.