bullmedic

We have the ability to IO patients if we are unable to gain IV access and the patient needs meds immediately. The LOC matters not.

No we work 12 hour shifts only. 2on, 2off, 3on, 2off, 2on, 3off. And no we are not even close to fully staffed.

You hit someone doing 100mph and you will certainly be held liable. Don't doubt that for a second. How about a personal observation on policy. We had an ambulance accident here several years ago. It went down like this. Our unit was responding to an emergency call with lights and sirens. They had the green light. it was a 4 way intersection with 2 lanes of travel in each direction. There were 2 cars stopped at the light to the crew members right basically blocking both lanes that should enter the intersection. A third vehicle came around the two stopped vehicles and entered the intersection against a red light. Our unit and the offending vehicle met and killed both of the offending vehicles occupants and one of the students riding in our ambulance. We were held partially liable under a "contributory negligence" law because our policy stated that our units could not respond more than 10mph over the speed limit and the ambulance was traveling 16 miles over the posted speed limit. The city paid out a large settlement to the student's family and the family's of the people in the offending vehicle. Don't for a second take your responsibility as the driver of that ambulance lightly.

oh I forgot they will soon be having a paid academy. You will be paid and have benefits while going to class. There is no requirement to work for EBRP after the class, but in addition there is no guarantee for employment.

East Baton Rouge Parish EMS http://brgov.com/dept/hr/getrange.asp?pgrade=1201 EMT - PARAMEDIC $36,561 - $50,609 Annually 16.7404 - 23.1727 Hourly Pay Grade 1201 GENERAL DESCRIPTION Under the general supervision of an EMS Shift Supervisor, performs responsible technical medical work of an advanced paraprofessional nature in the emergency care and treatment of sickness and accident victims. Work is performed under conditions of extreme pressure and duress. Employees may supervise subordinate EMT's engaged in field emergency work. Performs other work as requested. ESSENTIAL WORK TASKS Administers advanced first aid and treatment to sick or injured patients at the scene of the injury or en route to a hospital as needed. Administers advanced life support procedures such as endotracheal and esophageal intubation, drug and intravenous therapy, and cardiac defibrillation. Completes patient run reports whether patient is transported or not; also completes patient billing and insurance forms. Recognizes and interprets vital signs and reports them accurately to a physician to enable the physician to make medical judgments. Administers prescribed treatments performing such activities as application of splints, administration of oxygen or intravenous injections, treatment of wounds and abrasions, and administration of CPR. Extricates accident victims from damaged motor vehicles. Drives an emergency vehicle as required; performs emergency vehicle equipment inventory and maintenance. TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE High school diploma, GED, or equivalent certificate of competency, supplemented by completion of an approved EMT Paramedic course, or any equivalent combination of training and experience. NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Registration as an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, and certification by Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ABILITIES Knowledge of paraprofessional emergency medical practices and techniques of the basic and advanced life support level. Knowledge of the occupational hazards associated with emergency medical work. Ability to remain calm, tactful, and professional while dealing with injured or sick patients and their families. Ability to identify emergency medical situations and administer appropriate medical treatment in order to stabilize the patient's condition. Ability to understand and follow complex oral and written medical instructions. Ability to supervise the work of subordinates in a manner conducive to full performance and high morale. Ability to obtain a Louisiana Commercial driver's license if necessary. EXAMINATION Score derived from application grading. With experience you can start at step 4 which would be $18.2926/hour. 84 hours in 2 week pay period. 12 paid holidays at time and a half.

I currently work for East Baton Rouge Parish EMS. Acadian is our biggest recruiter. People come here to work for them and figure out that it's not as great as their ads and come to us. I can put you in touch with many folks that have worked at Acadian. you can e-mail me if you like.

E-mail me your name and I will see what is up with your application. Where do you currently work? Experience? medickris@yahoo.com Thanks, BULL

Dust, We have no basics on our trucks whatsoever. All units are 2 paramedic units.

Acadian has done similar things in Louisiana. If not completely pulling out they simply hold the parish hostage by using threats of leaving. This is the best way to bilk more money out of the local governments. "If you don't give us some financial assistance we will have to leave." This is of course not the fault of the medics. There are some good medics that work for Acadian. This is simply the corporate model for profits. You have to protect your investments and if you are not profitable you close shop. EMS as a whole should not be a venture that is purely fueled by profits. If we relied on profits to make police departments profitable where would we be? Zuschlag has worked his way into every political niche he can and has even made a $5000 contribution to Jefferson's defense fund. What will Orange do if Acadian comes to them 5 years from now and says hey we aren't profitable pay up or we are out of here? Just hope the tax payers in Orange realize there ambulance bills are going to be a lot more than they have been in the past.

We have 6 hospitals in our parish(county). We generally go to hospital of choice unless they are on "divert". This happens pretty often here and the patients has to chose another facility. Basicaly the only exceptions are patients that have to be transported to the hospital that handles a specialty. We only have one hospital that can handle burns, one that handles true head injuries, and 2 that handle true pediatric emergencies. If you fall into one of those categories you go to that facility despite the divert status. If four hospitals are on divert you go to the "closest most appropriate facility". We had to come up with some way to get stretchers cleared and trucks back in service. When we ignored divert statuses our units would be held up in ED's for hours, literally. If we get 4 of our 8 units tied up in ED's we are sunk. So it is in our best interest to observe the divert status. It also works out to be in the patients best interest because they get seen quicker. I think the bigger issue here is that too many people use the ED as their PCP and that causes huge delays in the ED's. Something has to give and I know we are having huge problems trying to figure out a solution.

We have 6 hospitals in our parish(county). We generally go to hospital of choice unless they are on "divert". This happens pretty often here and the patients has to chose another facility. Basicaly the only exceptions are patients that have to be transported to the hospital that handles a specialty. We only have one hospital that can handle burns, one that handles true head injuries, and 2 that handle true pediatric emergencies. If you fall into one of those categories you go to that facility despite the divert status. If four hospitals are on divert you go to the "closest most appropriate facility". We had to come up with some way to get stretchers cleared and trucks back in service. When we ignored divert statuses our units would be held up in ED's for hours, literally. If we get 4 of our 8 units tied up in ED's we are sunk. So it is in our best interest to observe the divert status. It also works out to be in the patients best interest because they get seen quicker. I think the bigger issue here is that too many people use the ED as their PCP and that causes huge delays in the ED's. Something has to give and I know we are having huge problems trying to figure out a solution.

We have morphine, versed and valium. Those are carried on our person all the time. We do not carry any other drugs to a scene. Anything past traum interventions will be handled in the unit.

If it was not reported here you certainly would be reprimanded. No suspension but surely a reprimand. All of the medics that did not notice it before, if that could be substantiated, would get a letter too. We are required to put our unit out of service for that type of problem or contact the supervisor during the call if that is when it is discovered. How bad would you have felt if your next call was the one that the defib was needed and it was not functional? How would you handle that? Would you then tell on yourself and say hey I noticed that on the last call but it just slipped my mind? Or would you realize the trouble you might be in and say hey it looked good to me when I checked it this am? When I am wrong I am wrong. Easier to take the hit and go on than to try to fight a losing battle. Of course we do not have a union so that is not even a consideration. Just chalk it up to a learning experience and be more vigilant in the future.

Wow. None of you have ever seen a screen broken on a LP-12. We have had them broken. The Zolls with the smaller screens and the screen covers have not been broken. We have the protective cases on our monitors and they can take an extreme amount of abuse. We had a demo Phillips for several months and many had concerns about the screen and the fact that it was exposed. Would we break them? I am not sure but I have had monitors hit the ground from time to time. Our Zolls are tougher than our LP-12s were.

We tried both of them here and we decided on the Stryker. The Ferno had several problems especially the angle of the handles at the foot. Very awkward and not easy to lift with. Why are you guys trying to lift the stretcher up stairs? Stair chairs are for that. We are also going to purchase a new stair chair. We have not decided on whether it will be the Stryker or the Ferno but I think both are excellent. With the roller mechanisms on them you can roll down the stairs unassisted. The cost of the cots is high but we have had several medics go out this year with back injuries. If we prevent one of those surgeries we probable pay for all of our cots.