mediccjh

What's a rig? :roll:

I think we did about 130,000 across the river from you in Brick City.

Anyone care to comment further, that there are 4 types of EMS personnel:

Those who are able to bottle it up and wait till alone to cry.

Those who might be called "emotional" and start crying at the earliest opportunity.

Those who end up with a PTSD.

The true stone hearts who never cry.

Comments? Other categories?

Very true. Right now I think I'm a stone heart, but I am thinking about seeing someone about the demons I'm experiencing. I'd rather not get into it right now on an open forum, but I'm taking the advice from an experienced medic who has been in da Brick for 20 years, and I look at her as a mentor.

I was on the schoolyard massacre in Newark this past summer w/ the 3 kids killed execution-style and 1 survived.

I've been in the newspaper about 10 times and TV a couple of times.

Riddle me this, Batman....

If Paramedics save lives because EMTs save Paramedics, why is it the EMTs are the ones screaming on the radios for Paramedics when they can't handle something?

(This is not intended towards the good BLS providers on the board.)

That's funny.

By the time I was 10, I was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and knew the difference between right and wrong.

I'm the oldest of 5, and I never thought of beating my siblings when they cried. And I was watching them when I was 12.

I posted.

I've never understood Newark EMS. How many calls is typical? The mythical average crew, where I work, will run 3.4 calls every 10 hours they're on the clock. It seems that you'd be pushing 8-10 calls for every 10 hours worked with those numbers.

Are you just busting nuts to get things done? Is turnover through the roof or do people like the pace of work? You're not going to get bored, that's for sure.

You either can handle it, or quit shortly thereafter.

My record for one night is 18 ALS jobs in 12 hours. Included were some cancellations, and 9 or 10 ALS treats. Others have done more; some BLS have done 25 a shift..

Situational awareness.

Never have your exit blocked. When you enter a residence, instruct the people to leave the doors unlocked; they usually do (and it's easier for help to walk through than try to break down the door if you need them).

Like Asys said, respect. Treat them with respect, and most of the times they will treat you back. Even with that, you still need to watch your back.

Go in, get your patient, bring them to the back of the bus, then lock the doors and start your treatment. If it gets hot, transport, park a few blocks away, then start going to work.

In Newark, the term is Code 5. If we are being held hostage, we are to say our name over the air, and that's it.

We do have the Orange buttons, and they do work for us. However, NPD is overworked and understaffed, so it can take some time before they get there.

The search button is your friend. Last year, we beat 5,268 dead horses on this topic.

Are we talking Explorers, or are you a volunteer unit that allows any idiot to join?

Newark, NJ. 130.000 jobs a year with 13 ambulances at the most.

Busiest per-capita system in the nation, and 20th most dangerous.

One thing you must remember about Urban systems is that though you may be physically less than 5 minutes from the hospital, one must take into account extrication time. When you have to carry your equipment up multiple flights, take care of the patient, extricate patient and equipment, it takes time. Even in the high-rises in elevators, there is still the elevator wait. Therefore, you can still be with your patients for the longer times that one would see in some rural areas.

Blunt trauma is a pretty broad term. Can you give an example of what kind of blunt trauma you are talking about? There aren't many thoracic blunt traumas I would board for.

I considered myself pretty well read on cavitation at one time, but perhaps I am behind the times now. What exactly would thoracic cavitation have to do with spinal compromise?

That makes two of us, since sometimes Brick City can be as bad as Baghdad at times (I had a pt shot w/ an AK-47 multiple times this past Saturday night).

You beat me to it about the cavitation. If you think about it, the organs would have to hit the spine at a high velocity to cause damage. The only thing that would damage the spine itself would be the bullet itself. And if the spine is hit, 99% of the time, you will get neuro defect, or your patient may even be in neurogenic shock.

Honestly, if I had the MAST, I'd use them, however, not inflate them. The pants deflated still work well to immobilize.

Does anyone have any pre-plans for utilizing multiple helicopters for large scale operations that they might be able to share? I'm working with the NJ State Police Medevac unit to set up a plan for implementing and managing a large scale air medical operation (MCIs, hospital evacuations, etc) and was hoping to see what other states or areas are doing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you can help.

Devin

Did you talk to anyone at REMCS, since they are the ones in charge of NJSP Helicopter Dispatching?

Everyone gets the IV funks in their careers.

Part of the problem can be the catheter brand itself. The ones we have in Newark suck---the needles are dull, and the catheter itself tends to kink. The ones I use in PA, the needles are sharper, and the catheters are made of Teflon, so they don't kink.

I hate late calls, but I love my job....

Well said.

I hate the office politicks.

Strippel,

Sounds like you have RPS...Rookie Paramedic Syndrome. You will question yourself over and over again. You will not be comfortable for the first 2 years as a Paramedic. You will get into your own rhythm; it takes time to develop. Once you develop that, your scene times will go down. All in due time.

Be confident in your treatment, and don't be afraid to pick the brains of the elders. You will learn valuable information from them.

If you have a PDA, go to www.epocrates.com , and download it. It is a valuable resource.

lol@"proof" :oops:

I actually showed that pic to an ex-gf of mine once (yes, believe it or not, I really have had more than one gf in my life), and she just looked at it and said, "Proof of what?"

Listen, I am all for Explorer programmes. But there is a significant difference between "going on jobs," and being the primary provider with the total responsibility for the life or death of your friend's father. That's where the real psychological impact comes in. Rid and I weren't Explorers, third-manning a volly squad at 16, helping an adult who took the ultimate responsibility. There was nobody telling us what to do. There was nobody we could point a finger at afterwards and say, "well, I would have done it different, but he said to do it this way." We were the lone providers in the back of the ambulance, and whatever happened fell on our shoulders, and ours alone. I'm not patting myself on the back about it. I'm just pointing out that it is an insane, archaic concept that anybody with half a brain figured out was stupid thirty years ago. And it appears that is what is going on with the kids we are talking about too. Again, there is a very significant difference in psychological impact between those two scenarios.

Just because we walked ten miles to school, barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways, and took off from class to help harvest the corn back in our day, doesn't mean that our kids should still be doing that thirty years later. That's not tradition. That's just failure to progress. It's retarded. If these kids want to be medical professionals someday, God bless them. But instead of encouraging them to skip school to go play dress up, we should be encouraging them to spend MORE time on educational preparation, receiving something much more valuable to their future than a chance to see blood and play with the siren.

This is not helping their career goals. This is not helping their education. This is not helping the community. And, in fact, it is putting all three at significant risk. What possible good can come from this, besides saving money in a community that is not poor to begin with?

+100 for showing your true age. So what was it like working EMS in the 1400s?

After reading through all 8 pages, and wanting to bang my head against the wall numerous times, I think I'm gonna chime in.

I started at 14, started going on EMS jobs at 16. My first cardiac arrest was at 16, and it was my friend's father. Did that fuck me up in the head? Yes, for about a week. I was also lucky enough to have good providers to take me under their wing and form me into the medic I am now. They also knew when to talk to me and shield me.

I found something I enjoyed, and turned it into my career. Because of this, I did miss out on some of the things a normal 16 y/o would do. Would I go back and change it? No. Things happen for a reason.

The proverbial "Which came first?" question applies here. We all want competent, educated providers with experience, but how are above providers supposed to get educated and experienced? This argument has been going on since the beginning of time, and will continue forever.

Am I f--ked up in the head? Yes, I am. I have seen the things that some 16 y/o shouldn't have to deal with, including aforementioned arrest. However, it is a choice I made that my parents agreed with. It probably was because I was always mature for my age, all the way back to elementary school.

I still love my job and wouldn't do anything else in the world.

Sorry, I've seen the results of post 16 year old EMT's. Look around and see how many you find 5, 10, 25+ years? Looks like Dust and I are few remnants that survived.

R/r 911

I'm one of them. 10 years so far, though I know I have a LOT more years I need to work to catch up to you two.

I'd disagree with the MAST and the fluids both.

Use to MAST to splint the extremities, not to inflate them.

At my full-time job in the 20th most dangerous city in the nation, we are required to bring in our airway bag, Box that goes Ping (LP12), med bag, and a carrying device. This is usually the stairchair, Reeves if it's an unconscious/arrest, or the stretcher (We have the Ferno 28s that convert into the chair..I LOVE THEM!!!)

That being said, if they are walking around, they are walking to the bus, unless they are going to die. Sick people get carried, sick people get the stretcher.

Just remember, at the end of the day, we must return home in the condition in which we left in.

No truer words can be spoken.