BEorP

Discussion in this thread prompted me to ask my question: http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9190 Would you work for minimum wage (or near it) in EMS and if so, why? I understand that EMS may be a career that some look highly upon, but at some point you need to draw the line and be sure you have a wage that allows you to adqeuately support your family. According to this thread the federal minimum wage will be $6.55 in Summer of 2008. I make over twice this teaching first aid and CPR and there are many other examples of how incredibly low that wage would be for a health care provider. Why on earth would anyone work for such little pay? Do you actually love being an EMT that much? Did you come into the occupation blind to the low pay you should have expected?

I'm surprised that they were actually allowed to consume it later and that the policy wasn't just to dump it.

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be dry, but that is pretty bad if you really need to worry about people driving drunk. Anyone involved in the emergency services should be responsible for themselves especially since they are, at times, responsible for others.

I wasn't planning on getting in on this discussion, but are you actually saying that I can't meet my standard of care because I use the O[sub:e5b5116d78]2[/sub:e5b5116d78] wrench that is attached to the tank, that I don't have a multitool, that I keep gloves in my pocket, and that I see no need for a window punch on the vast majority of calls?

What else you need to get certified? Probably just CPR but I'll let an American answer that for sure. What courses should you take? Anatomy and physiology is an excellent start.

We had a patient once with a possible TIA and a history of hypertension but choose not to take his beta blockers anymore because he felt that they took all of his energy away. He was such an intelligent and articulate man that he was able to explain his decision even though initially I could never understand someone taking the risks that he was (i.e. known hypertension but not controlling it with medications). The other thing about this call is that the patient was very active, especially in cycling (like myself) and had a family history of hypertension (like myself), and now appeared to be having a TIA (like my dad did at a relatively young age). At this point I also had a BP that was normally 130/90 to 140/90. This call made me reconsider where I could be headed without doing more than just physical activity to try to control my blood pressure.

For the courses that I teach for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario it is also just a "recommended" refresher every year, but if you are a health professional you will almost definitely need to renew every year (as per your employer). If you are a lay person then you should also renew every year because I doubt you will remember CPR well enough to perform it properly one year and 364 days after your course.

My opinion is that, at least in the service where I did my field placement, over uses priority responses. (Although technically they do not tell you whether or not to use L&S, but if the calls is dispatched at one of the two highest priorities you will be expected to.) As far as I understand, the way that the dispatchers ask if the person is breathing alright is, "are they breathing normally?" Unfortunately this leaves open the option of someone who has the flu and a sore throat or cough, who is really not breathing normally answering "no" to this question. By answering "no" they will then get a response that includes the fire department (not standard on all calls here) and will include an ambulance running L&S. I do not have the road experience to back this up, but I think that a couple more questions could help to identify the need for a priority response in this situation. If the person calls because they are short of breath then sure, make it a priority response. But if the person calls because of feeling generally unwell then I think it needs to be clarified more as to whether or not they (or the person calling for them) would actually say that they are having trouble catching their breath (figure out how best to phrase it so that we can get the appropriate answer as to whether or not someone is truly short of breath). Most likely the reason that this system has not been changed is a CYA thing. Better to make a big deal out of the flu 500 times in one year rather than miss a priority response on a single person who is really short of breath.

Very similar thread here: http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3265

You expect to need to treat a patient who killed one of your family members?

I don't see why you couldn't at least just have your partner attend.

I'd say that's a pretty nice office... you know considering the whole there's a war going on thing. Thanks for the pics!

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070711/K071106AU.html "Lane was driving an SUV fitted with flashing lights when he tried to stop the off-duty New York police detective" Now what are the odds that this guy is a volunteer EMT?

Very good point. Look at Toronto as another example of this. Sure, people may have trouble finding a family physician, but there are a ton of walk-in clinics. And all of these clinics are of course free. Does that stop them from calling an ambulance for a tooth ache or the flu? Not at all. They even need to pay for the ambulance (usually just $45 but sometimes $240) yet they keep calling.

I did a search about Ontario PCP flight stuff and found just this thread: http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4858 What I'm wondering about is if there are certain Northern Ontario flight providers who should be avoided when hunting for a job and if there are some that are better to work for. It seems like there are so many of them so any feedback is much appreciated.

I am wondering about a few more things about this pt: - She was short of breath for eight hours prior, took her puffer two hours ago. What finally happened that made her call 911? Did her condition suddenly worsen in some way? - How bad does her asthma usually get and what usually triggers it? Would the two puffs she took usually fix her right up? Has she ever been hospitalized for an asthma attack before? - How many word dyspnea did she have?

As MedicNorth said, in Canada, EMS varies a lot by province. With the way the job market is now, Ontario would not be a good place to look but from what I have heard out East is better.

I would agree with the OP that at some point, most of us were whackers to some degree. I would surely not exclude myself from this, but I'd much rather focus on what changed it for me. I think the main thing was just realizing that EMS is a job (or profession sometimes). It's a job like any other. It's not a lifestyle, a hobby, a passion, or just a lot of fun. Yes, it may be an enjoyable job but it's still a job. The other thing that I realized is that often the most important part of that job (at least at the BLS level) is being able to take the patient to the hospital. You can be the greatest first responder in Ontario, but you still lack possibly the most important piece of equipment: the ambulance.

And how did the "Listen to our Live Scanner Feed" on the main page do for their points?

To the OP: Yes, my ego is why you are not educated. Do a search and you will find many discussions about this.

Wow. I went to the website and I am amazed at the amount of time someone has put into that.

I know how congested those rural roads get, I totally understand your need for lights.

I'm not too sure what a "private volunteer" ambulance service is, but if its just a volunteer thing then I wouldn't worry too much about having something in your file. What would happen if you were an EMT-P (or even just very experienced and educated EMT- working with a Lt. EMT-B? Who would have the say then? If rank is all that matters in decision making then the service might have some problems of its own to work out.

You make a good point about the many other causes out there, but I think supporting the troops is different because they are serving all Canadians. (Yes, on their current mission you could argue that that is not needed to keep us safe... but the troops who are fighting are not the ones who decided to go there). AIDS, breast cancer, and whatever else are good causes but not every single Canadian is actually affected by that. Every single Canadian has troops who will go fight for us though. And I can understand not supporting the war, but there is no reason to not support the troops.

Ontario does not have EMTs. Shifts for Paramedics vary by service. One common one seems to be two 12 hour days, two 12 hour nights, four days off.