ClutzyEMT

36

Kind of neat to find this, thank you Kat. We are working on PTSI awareness here and bringing some programs to area squads. I was actually kind of shocked that I received that high of a score...hmmm....

I know a few times in the past I probably would have blew the chart up......

One thing working for me, I make myself do things that my mind tells me I don't want to do. The more I make myself go out and do them, the more it isn't so hard to go out and do them...

If that makes any sense.....miss you guys!

At the EMT-B level there is not a whole lot that you can screw up (in most States you are more or less the ambulance driver who will be paired with someone of a higher skill level, and experience level), unless you refuse to transport someone or wreck the truck, so realize that the chances of you being responsible for a patient's death is very remote unless you are totally irresponsible.

Good advice mikey and Ruff if the poster is an area that routinely uses EMT's as a dual partner to a medic. But if he's in an area where EMT's are routinely running the calls solo, not so much......

There are a whole lot of things that an EMT can 'screw up'.......whether you like it or not or agree with it or not, EMT's run calls solo in many states with rural services. ND, SD, and Minnesota for example....

Not so sure I agree with the statement that they couldn't be held responsible for a patient's death unless they were totally irresponsible....

Pretty sad that the Doc in the box & the nurses had to call you to figure out how to mix a D-10 bag up/

They call him for judicial decisions too Island...

I heard he's a right smart mayor too, when they can keep him out of 'jail'......

Ah hell, I plain old miss batting the ball back and forth between all of us here... why aren't there more hours in a day?

Let's see if anyone who has been doing this job for less than 30 years knows what these are....

Wait...what?? You don't still do this there??????????? What am I missing??

I am sorry to say what I am sure others are thinking, but will not say ....... if you need a tutor for the EMTB program, you are not cut out for this profession.

Huh? I wasn't thinking that....so please don't put words in everyone's mouth. Have you ever sat in front of an "instructor" who reads word for word off of a power point? Some people need "hands on" experience and examples in order to put things into perspective...not everyone can see something on paper and make sense out of it........

Don't go slapping someone upside the head with a Brady book before you know what they are talking about...........

Not trying to be rude --- it is probably me that is dumb, but what is your point ?????? I have no idea what you were trying to say or prove. You don't get respect, you earn respect. Are your co-workers being mean to you ????

Seriously mikey? What, do you live under a rock? Have you not been to many of the Facebook pages and read an article referring to an EMT or Medic who gets called an "Ambulance Driver" by the journalist or news caster and the entire thread dishevels into a debate on why EMS doesn't get respect? EMT's from all over the world jump those threads and post how they are NOT an ambulance driver and how they are so much more than a simple "ambulance driver."

EMT's screaming out to the world that medics may have patches but "EMTs save medics" etc. all the time....

Paid EMS services screaming out that the volunteer services are dragging down the professional services....

Fire/EMS debates that descend into a whirlwind of disrespectful comments from both sides.........

Just what do you think they are asking for when they are posting all of that?

However, I'm not really too worried about the public at large. Why not? I would think that public relations would be a high priority of any industry that wants to advance and improve. Will you get support if there isn't any respect for the industry?

The area where I think we need to step up our game for professional recognition is with other healthcare providers. Totally agree!

Oh, and for god sakes, can we please stop wearing the star of life T-shirts on our days off? I don't wear mine, I wear a superman cape....

respect of your peers and other healthcare professionals that you interact with is a valid thing.

For the Dr's you work under to have respect in your abilities and knowledge to provide proper care without being in a " mother may I " situation . This has changed greatly over the decades. It was originally a need to call in for a consult on just about every single part of the decision making process and to proceed with interventions as ordered.

Today we are very autonomous by comparrison.

Why??

Because of the respect we have earned .

Well said my friend.

Tami, maybe the 50% is all that she can do?

Maybe...I didn't think of it that way, thank you

I agree Ed, in the condition that he already is in, I don't want to sit any longer.

Second Epi is in, patient is loaded and we are headed for definitive care, 02 sats have not improved.

One note about Morquio Syndrome, due to their airway anatomy should you decide to intubate you are taking a greater that 50% risk of paralyzing them for life. Their chest are 'pigeon' shaped as well.

Vimizim is a new treatment for this syndrome and patients have been recorded to have severe allergic reactions anywhere from the second infusion UP to the 42 infusion. These reactions can begin anywhere from during infusion, to up to six to eight hours after infusion therapy has ended. The infusions are weekly.

I think I'm moving to another community until this lil guy is done with the infusions!!

**shrugs**

Must be a guy thing......... I didn't even SEE the female in the background........

**Chuckle**

Emergency Laughter,

It wasn't ERDoc's patient and I think we were pretty much on the same road in regards to patient care.....

My reply wasn't JUST to "chappy" but to EMS providers in general regarding attitudes....

This problem is more of a Nursing home or Assisted Living Facility abusing the EMS system and unfortunately, a patient that got stuck in the middle of it.....

I'm pretty sure from the sounds of it, Chappy did his job and did it with compassion, well done Chappy and thank you for showing compassion to someone who probably had no choice in the matter in the first place. No offence meant to you and I apologize for not understanding the frustration~

My reply came out my frustration from reading it and thinking how a provider "with an attitude" (Okay, I'll say it.... a Paragod) could read it and not see the intent of the post, just as I missed it, and think that taking frustrations out on a patient with a less than profession attitude is okay...

Once again, I see now that Chappy did not do that...and I apologized....I am fortunate in that I live in a more rural community and when the Nursing Homes, or Assisted Living Facilities start abusing our EMS system by using the ambulance for non-emergent transports I know who to contact and can usually get a handle on it. I know it is NOT that way in the larger cities, and understand the frustration...........

Anyone know where I can buy a shark like that....................have a couple of ex's I'd like to take swimming....

I'll bring you some cupcakes in the corner Ed.....the wanker didn't want to listen and had already decided that regardless of what people who have years of experience had to say, she was going to do it the way she wanted to. She didn't want advice, she wanted someone to tell her she was right and that she could be become a miracle EMT in three weeks and go out and start "saving" lives...."EMT" was just a stepping stone to her 'incredible' wages, not from any want to really help anyone besides herself in the process.........No getting through to people like that! Hopefully she doesn't make it into the "50%"........

Tami

Do we in EMS want the media, the public, our peers, or most importantly our patients, to take us seriously and respect the profession of EMS as much as we feel they respect the office of state trooper or police officer? Do we want a certain level of respect from the people we serve which recognizes the continual education and training hours we pursue to remain at the top of our field? From all intents and purposes, we seem to want that. In our off hours we will oftentimes don sweatshirts or T-shirts with “EMS for Life” emblazoned across the back of them. We wear our duty jackets when we are not working. Some of us even adorn our vehicles with some type of EMS symbol or lettering to further proclaim, or solidify our relationship with our chosen career in EMS.

When tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing, a 104 car pile-up on a busy Denver Interstate, or the stabbing of dozens of students at the Franklin Regional High School in Pittsburgh strike and peoples lives are saved by ourselves, or others in our profession, we are proud to be a member of the EMS community. When a citizen in our community walks out the door of a hospital, weeks after surviving a cardiac arrest that we responded to, we are justifiably proud of ourselves, our ambulance service and proud of our responding crew. We are proud to be one of the few.

We dedicate our lives to learning the rapidly changing world of emergency medicine and spend countless hours out of our daily lives training, adapting, and overcoming obstacles. We meet life threatening calls head on and battle drug addiction, alcoholism, and neglect on a weekly basis as a part of this career we have chosen. We carry the secrets of the dark side, the unimaginable sights and smells that we encounter deep within ourselves. We watch our children a little closer, and maybe trust a little less. We have seen the worst side of what people can do to others or themselves, and we carry that part of life inside of us. Hidden away from the public’s eye and away from our family and friends.

Because of our career choice and our decision to enter EMS, we have accepted this responsibility of being the ‘secret keepers.’ No one is forcing us to stay in this industry and it is a decision we have made of our own free will. And because of this, because of our conscious decision to become a public servant, we are held to a higher standard in the public’s eye than many other occupations. We are expected to maintain a high degree of confidentiality concerning what we have seen in the field. We are expected to be professional. We are expected to have the maturity and the ability to retain all these qualities on a daily basis while we are interacting with our patients and with the public. And for the most part, I think as an industry we do quite well at this task.

But I also think that as an industry we could do much better. We need to band together and make a conscious effort to encourage each other and support each other. And we need to remind each other that the public is watching us. With the world’s Wi-Fi technology and the increasing ability of the public to access what was once heard or said behind closed doors, between two providers in our field, can spread across the internet in the blink of an eye. What may be considered by those of us who work the streets and run the calls as an innocent comment uttered out of frustration can be construed, or embellished to make it more than what it was intended to mean. In an instant it can be turned from a frustrated comment into a malicious attack on our patient. And it can’t be taken back. What was once said in the rig or in the station house out of simple frustration or exhaustion is now being developed into sweatshirt and t-shirt slogans. It’s appearing on postcard type pictures that spread across the internet like wildfire with big bold words stating, “EMS- Where your stupidity is my job security,” and other forms of a less than a professional view of the people we serve. We can make all the excuses in the world for why it was said, we can rationalize it, giggle about it, and even understand it, but we can’t take it back once it’s out there in social media. And then we must work twice as hard to regain the respect that we sometimes so delightfully sabotaged in our effort to be comical.

If we truly want to be respected, we must first respect those that we serve as well as each other. We need to remind each other that this is a career path or profession that we chose.

We must also learn to have more respect for each other within our industry and stop getting into public squabbles over whose patch is shinier than whose and who is the most important provider in the chain of survival. But that’s a discussion to be held at another time and another place.

Tami Bulik

NREMT-I

I agree Ed, I think they mass message each other and take turns appearing..............

Tried to update the original post to add: The BLS Unit you are riding today has all the comforts on board of any other BLS unit as well as Nitro, ASA, CPAP capabilities, Combi-tube, ECG monitoring, Fluid resuscitation abilities, etc available at your disposal.

Okay, I agree with that Kiwi~

Patient weighs 103 lbs, or 46.72 kg's

Resp: 35, shallow and labored

HR: 153

BP: 93/62

02 sat: 91% with cyanosis about lips

Patient is now extremely diaphoretic and anxious. Transport unit is a BLS ambulance with AEMT's on board. ALS unit is in route but best scenario for intercept will be upwards of fifteen minutes.

Load and go with patient or stay in place and wait for ALS?

Thoughts?

Questions?

Welcome Alex

You have been paged to a 15 yr old living in your community who is experiencing an allergic reaction.

Upon arrival on scene you find the teenager sitting tripod on the edge of the couch in the living room, audible wheezing can be heard as you enter the living room and the patient looks highly distressed.

Patient's mother states he has Morquio Syndrome IV and is in his third week of Vimizim infusion therapy. She has already assisted patient with Epi-pen Jr. approximately six minutes before you arrived.

Resp rate: 29 and shallow w/diminished lower lung sounds

Heart rate: 144

02 sat: 91%

Blood pressure: 100/64

Thoughts?

Questions?

Apology accepted.

Respect not earned.

Glad that's over.

**Drops in a freshly sharpened pencil with a chewed off eraser**

Jukebox starts playing some damn song about Rainbow Pooping Unicorns.........................................

Thank you for clarifying that. As I said, we are adults here and yes, you will find the occasional threads with disagreements, but 90% of the time, the disagreements themselves are pretty much hashed out with a degree of respect for each other.

Not that I need to defend him, but Island is now retired and has the respect of many of us who are members here. You may have just pissed him off a tad by slamming the inhabitants of EMT City, which in turn led to his reply back to you. But don't let one post from someone you have never met, and from someone whom had only been respectable to you prior to that, allow you to make an uninformed decision as to his character or reputation.

I on the other hand can be a real bitch.

Although I am not able to visit the site as much now as I could in the past, I have always thought of EMT City to be a gathering place of varied individuals who in their own right, have done, or are doing things in their careers that not only further themselves professionally, but they are also very conscientious about the "image of EMS." Many of us are continually striving for higher educational standards and more cohesiveness of learning objectives and training standards across the board for all EMS providers in the United States with training institutes and colleges or technical colleges that are striving to actually 'educate' their students rather than just "turn out more providers". With your fourth or fifth post, I really don't care to re read any of them to find it, you pretty much just tossed everyone into one bowl and threw insults in on top but I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and just consider it to be a rant out of frustration and move on from it.

I apologize if I took your questions and comments in the wrong context, I saw some concerning statements (by the way they were worded) and I called you out on them. Since you said I interpreted them wrong, I will accept that I was the one in error and go on from there. But I will admit that you didn't gain any respect from me by tossing out some pretty vulgar statements and words.....

If you do get into EMS you will find that it can be one of the most rewarding, but most stressful careers you will ever have, regardless of the pay you make......

P.S....I had to check out EMT Life for a bit this evening and found it kind of funny that one of their threads that had a picture of the upper half of a torso in which they were trying to figure out what the holes in it were from had been labeled as if it was the abdomen and thigh.....last time I checked, knee's didn't have armpit hair.....

Dangit Ruffmeister......If I had known that I could buy a paramedic online for $88.99 I would have done it a damn long time ago....

I'm tossing in my hat on this one and going for a beer.............. Just makes me glad that Fire and EMS are still fairly independent of each other here.............

Hey...good idea....I have a few things I can get rid of too

**Drops in a used BVM bag and half full suction canister**

Duncan Sheik~Barely Breathing starts playing..........

Swampmusic,

Please forgive us if we seem to be eating you up right off the bat. Some of us who have worked our entire lives trying to improve and elevate the status of EMS in the public's eye have a very tough time with what appears to be a lackadaisical attitude in regards to entering the field, and we will ‘strongly’ encourage those who are thinking about entering EMS just for the trauma and adrenaline to rethink their position.

In your very first post you stated, “I don't think it matters if I pass the state/national exams,” which possibly threw up some red flags to some of us that read that initial post. It is as if you are going into this with a less than determined attitude, and whether it’s paid or volunteer, no future patient deserves that attitude.

And then you came up with the statement “It won't be that bad if I fail anyways, the course is free of cost to my fire department. Worse comes to worse, i'll just get a big "I told you so" from the others EMTs in my department.” Which in my mind, raised another red flag. I’m sure the Fire Department is paying for the course, or in the least, paying an employee to teach the course. If I was the finance officer for this Fire Department I would have a hard time writing a $1000 check for someone with that attitude. I’m sure there are some equipment needs or pay increase needs that may trump a less than 100% attitude for passing the course.

Red flag #3 “For the meantime I just have to work hard and make it into that 50%.” Really? Why not set the bar a little higher and reach for a goal of making it into the top 90%? I’m not sure I want to work with someone who is satisfied with knowing 50% of what they were taught when it comes to EMS……

“So I am not quite sure where you are getting that attitude from lol.” See above ^^ to understand where we are seeing “that kind of attitude.”

Final red flag, “As I said earlier I will take continuing EMS CEU's. I am just going to firstly attempt and get through the basic program. At least the ones worthwhile taking like multi trauma, burns, shock management, respiratory emergencies, etc... I have an interest in these.” So if Grandma Brown down the street has a cardiac emergency, since medical emergencies fell into the 50% part that you didn’t have any interest in, she doesn’t get the proper treatment and dies enroute to the hospital?

That is why you are getting the feeling that you are being jumped on. At least that is why I am jumping on the bus. I feel like (from interpreting your comments) you are more interested in Fire Fighting, which is fine, I have no problem with that and am glad there are people that are willing to fight fire because I am scared of it!! But don't enter EMS in order to elevate your FIRE position. Go get a degree in Arson Investigation or Wildland firefighting and get a better position or higher pay based on your FIRE qualifications and leave EMS to those of us who care 100% of the time for 100% of the patients.

So if you are thinking about getting an EMT certification, think a little harder as to WHY you are going to get this certification. Think about what this certification requires you to know and do. If you don't want to deal with stubbed toes and 10 out of 10 headache pain at 3 am, then don't get into EMS. Trauma and 'adrenaline' filled calls make up a very, very small portion of the entire picture......

Thanks for listening to a Dinosaur's opinion.......

Tami

Looks like that penguin guy (paramedicmike) and I were almost on the same track at the same time........LOL

Music screeches to a halt.............

What the heck would you even use a 24g for? A chimpmunk?...........

And...um....that was Elvis singing "Nuthin but a hound dog".....damn kids these day..... LOL

Was paged out to a kitten that thought it was frog call once too...........okay....maybe not.......

Well said, blame the facility, not the patient....

Guess I could have just said that............. but it sounded better coming from you