sirduke

Thought I'd resurrect this one for two reasons, first I have experienced several doc's at the local trauma center who are pricks, they get bent all out of shape if you bring in a patient after 1700 hrs when they prefer to be sitting in their lounge watching tv. Secondly, I figured Dust needed something to rant about.

I've worked with a spinner or two, both in the military and and EMS, it isn't fun. If you don't get them under control and quickly, it affects everyone around. My platoon sergeant and later my first preceptor both drilled into my head an important fact, namely, if you let yourself get wound up and out of control you are USELESS to yourself and everyone else. Step back, take a deep breath, THINK, then act. I do think however, that certain type personalities are more prone to being "spinners" than others, but I agree that age and experience do play a large part in reducing the tendency to spin. I remember the first bad call I was responding to, heart at about 150, when my preceptor shouted at me "HEY!" "this is their emergency, not yours so calm the FVCK down". Kinda like being cardioverted, it put my head back in the right place and the call went smoothly. It sounds callous, but there it is. If we/you let yourself get out of control, the patient is screwed. As for the degreed programs vs tech schools, it depends on the student and the instructor.

Perhaps Mr Hapke should have advocated their becoming a paid service long ago, that way they wouldn't have to depend on a volunteer to come from home to the station, get a truck and then respond. People have to realize that if you want prompt service, then you got to pay the price. Maybe one day we will have all paid services and then they will have a legitimate right to bitch.

Focal Seizures?

We have a morgue attached to our station, however it is at the very back of the building, next door to the coroners office. We are occasionally required to transport a body from scene to the morgue, or on occasion, required to deliever one to the crime lab in Atlanta. The morgue, as I stated is remote from the ambulance bays, and requires going completley around the building, so I guess we just don't associate it with the rest of the station. As for being bothered by the bodies there, I'm not, nor have I heard any of my coworkers express any opinion on it either. I don't have any great desire to deal with bodies, but neither do I have any repulsion or fear of dealing with them either. Could be life experience, or just me, don't know, but there it is. The simple fact as I see it, is that death, is an inevidible part of living, and for sure a definite part of our job. I alway treat the body with respect, it was at one time, someone's loved one, and a human being, so in my humble opinion deserving of respect. This does get a bit difficult sometimes, when you are talking about a body that has been decomposing in a house for several days or weeks, but still, the fact remains, it is/was someone's loved one. I guess the point of this rambling is to say that, you will have to learn to accept death and bodies as a natural part of life, and not dwell upon the tragedy. Everyone deals with things in their own way, and we learn to cope with it. Given time, I believe you will as well. Good luck. Oh, by the way Dust, some of us aren't as lucky to have the resources to be able to allow someone else to handle the corpse, so we have to accept that as part of the job or find something else to do. One man's opinion...

to the top of the hill and down past the mall, check out the fat man who crashed his sleigh into a wall...

When out of the overhead speakers there came such a clatter, I sprang to my ambulance to take care of the matter

The Medics were sleeping all warm in their beds.

Does my wife's opinion count???

Spec, I always thought you were a pretty smart fellow, but alas, guess I was wrong. From reading all your postings on this, I've come to the opinion that you are not only anal retentive, but sexually frustrated as well. As for the mechanic bill, a normal person would look under the vehicle and see the tie wrap, oh wait, then they would get run over and killed thus delaying the response to the patient. Oh Shit, I'm an asshole and a accessory to murder... Damn me. Get a life brother. And no, I won't leave EMS, and yes, I am a professional, just because I disagree with you doesn't make me unprofessional, just different.

Jesus talk about a thread hi-jack!!! Sounds like a damn kindergarden class in here. Large plastic tie wrap on someone's drive shaft, not the ambulance, makes a hell of a racket and hurts nothing. if that makes me unprofessional, who gives a rats ass.

Naah, Southwest Georgia Tech in Thomasville, under Missy

Thanks for the congrats. First off, the credit for passing goes to my instructor who made us learn how to be a paramedic, her test were designed to test your knowledge, not your ability to pass a test. As I said, they smoked our brains. Her theory was/is having the knowledge will allow you to pass the test without having the registry type questions pounded in your head. I went into it thinking it would be a fairly easy course, (dumb ass me) and quickly discovered that it would require a ton of effort and lots of study. And, I am glad for every hard test she gave us. I guess thats why I felt the registry questions were easy, because they were not near in depth as what I was used to taking on her test. In fact, it scared the crap out of me because I thought I was overlooking something. As for the title, well, you kinda have to be a southerner to appreciate it, but the entire saying is. Even a blind hog finds an acorn sometimes. Meaning, of course, that even a dumbass like me sometimes catches a break.

Just got the results from my test, and I PASSED IT!!!! It was kind of a letdown, I went in prepared for a rigorous exam covering everything from drug calc to mega code, and instead, the questions were seemingly easy. Guess that shows how well our instructor taught the class, her test had your brain smoking. Thank God for that. She didn't focus on "How to Pass Registry" but rather on how to be a paramedic, and how to treat your patients. So relax Dust. Anyway, in spite of pissing off a few preceptors, my wife, and co-workers, its over and now I am a Green Paramedic. Duke Out

Take it, use it to wash my truck, leave, Paramedic school and all my nasty preceptors, I'm done

It is fun, sometimes boring, but never the same day to day.

I believe the quote is: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." -President Abraham Lincoln. I'm not sure, but perhaps this applies here.. :shock: (Topic??) Once again, there is my opinion....

Nope, have a strict personal policy on that, never get your honey where you get your money. Now if getting screwed over by a lazy partner counts......

Why does Admin have the "Ant Races" as his Avatar?

No, if it contributed to the accident, then yes, but I for one doubt that 5 mph or 10 mph is going to have that much difference in the outcome if someone pulls out 50 feet or so in front of you. And according to what I read in the article, and comments below it, not only did he do so, but apparently ran a red light to do it. I'm sure I will be lambasted by accident reconstruction "experts" who will throw tons of figures about reaction times and impact velocities at me, but get real. A fuggin drunk pulls out in front of someone, and the fumduckers who were riding with him want to blame the person who hit him? Anyway, just one man's opinion.

if it was listed as domestic violence, then it might give you a bit of heartburn, at least here in Ga, otherwise it shouldn't hamper you. I would follow the above advice and remove my email address though.

Still nobody has commented on the question I asked. What about personal responsibility on the part of the fools who chose to ride with a drunk driver? We all have to take responsibility for our actions, be it driving too fast, or getting into a car with a drunk driver, or whatever. That is a major problem with our current society, they don't want to accept responsibility for their own screw-ups, but rather blame all of their problems on others. Wake the Celibate Up America.

I still maintain that in this case, the DRUNK, was at fault, but unfortantly in our current "sue" happy world, it doesn't work that way. In years past, if you were drunk, you were at fault, regardless. However in our "victim" society, this isn't the case. Poor old drunk probably had a bad childhood that caused him to have to drink to forget, etc. etc. I concede the point about speeding, true, it is violating the law, but where does the real blame lie here? Do I speed, yes, and if the rest of you will admit it, you have/do yourselves. Does it make it legal, no, but there it is. And then lets look at this, what about the idiots who climbed into that car with the drunk bastard? What ever happened to personal responsibility?

And exactly how many people can honestly say that they don't routinely drive 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit whether in the ambulance or personal vehicles.

The posted speed limit was 55, he estimated he was doing appx 60, others say 65 to 70. Well within the normal 15 mph over. WTF Charge the damn drunk, and quit friggin with the paramedic. Anyone disagree, Deez Nutz