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Thanks for the info guys. I've also been discussing brining in an EMT-I instructor for a small group of us if we can get one to do it. One of the local suburb fire depts did that not very long ago.

I've been trying to find an EMT-I class somewhere in northeast Oklahoma or Northwest Arkansas. Does anyone know of somewhere in that area that still offers it? Thanks!

Just saw this video on break.com. I knew of a few of these, but not all. Thought they were funny. Google search phrases and results: Worst band in the world (Search) - The second section down is 'Creed.' the answer to life the universe and everything (Search) - Gives you the answer 42 (from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book). french military victories (I'm Feeling Lucky) - Asks if you meant 'french military defeats' and returns no results. waffles (Search) - On the first page of results is JohnKerry.com. miserable failure (Search or Feeling Lucky) - The first result is the President of the United States. Also on the first page of the Search results is MichaelMoore.com. Also works with just the word 'failure.' elgoog (I'm Feeling Lucky)- What do you get when you type Google backwards? Google backwards! Note: Make sure to type in your search query backwards or it won't show results correctly.

I also learned when asking patients questions after a MVC, be sure to specify that you want to know what year we are currently in if asking "what year is it?" We ran a motorcycle accident and he answered the first two questions fine, but when we asked "what year is it?" he responded "1995." Turns out he thought we were asking what year the bike was. After clarification, he was A&Ox4.

"First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" -S.R. Hadden, Contact

LEDs. Lower maintainance, longer life, lower power draw, and the newest ones are brighter than any strobe or rotator I've seen during the day and they don't require large size power supplies.

Hehehe One of my co-workers got a call for just a pimple (not bleeding). Pt stated that it was slightly painful.

I bet your arm hurts

"If the patient isn't on fire, get the f*** out of the way" "EMS: When you absolutely, positively cannot afford a taxi" "Save an ambulance, ride an EMT"

True, but in most cases you can make enough time to eat at some point, like during your patient drop at the hospital. Also, some states don't have laws that require employees to get a break during their work period.

I think he was referring to using the restroom at a scene. Most people I know will ask the patient if they can if they have to go that bad (assuming it's a non-life threating emergency)

Very true, and their new wraps and sandwiches are actully decent, but the problem lies when you don't get to a post until 4am and you started your shift at 7pm. The other night my old partner ran the whole 12 hour shift and never got to a post. Our call volume lately has been 150%-180% of normal.

We call it 'third-rider syndrome'

Just have to check with the department of labor. As a general rule, depending on what type of system you work, if you want to make sure you will get something to eat, bring your own lunch with you on the truck and eat whenever you can. Granted it might take you a few hours to get that sandwich and chips, but it's better than nothing. Here, if the system is slow enough, we are allowed a 20-minute "rest break" during our shift where our dispatch tries to give us coverage so we won't have to run a call during that time, but most of the time you get about 10 minutes in and two or three calls come in and you either get one or lose your coverage then have to most posts (as we use SSM).

Excellent point

From what I've heard, that's a common thing to spend six months with an experienced employee. Here, we have a 6-week training academy and then have 2-3 weeks of 'orientation rides' where we are put with a training officer and evaluated. After that we are fully cleared. On the flip side, we have such a high call volume, you learn things real fast since during those 2-3 weeks you'll see at least some of every type of call just about.

I agree with dustdevil on if you can't be there, send someone else. Nothing wrong with friendly competition in this business. Our service might be taking on another suburb because of the mutual aid we have sent them in the past, and they have also run for us as well (this is both 911 and transfers). Also, the biggest investment you can make is offer something that the other services can't. Again, being on time whether it be your service or one you have to call if you are too busy. If it's a BLS service, the whole "Paramedic on every truck" idea doesn't really work, but along those lines. You need to give them a reason to call you over a "Doctor's Ambulance" service that they might have been using for years. Professional appearance and attitude can go a long ways. It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Word of mouth will go further than any paid advertisement.

We we called to a NH one night. C/C of "Shortness of breath, apneic". Generally apneic means not breathing at all, which I guess technically is a form of shortness of breath, or lack there-of. Upon arrival, we asked the staff that let us in the door what was going on with the pt. "He's short of breath and apneic". "Okay, is he or is he not breathing?" "Yes, he's breathing." Turns out their definition of "apneic" was actually sleep apnea. In our area, those a quite different.

Also; Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Your welcome, hope that helped. The other advantage with a Basic license is you can use it other places than just EMS services. Say your college for example. A lot of colleges will pay you (little, but it's money) to be an 'on-call first responder' for the campus. If there is an accident, they send a page and if you can, you first respond. A lot of casino's here pay extra for security with EMT-B as first responders. There's a lot of industry jobs that also pay extra. So it's not just a EMS only license. There are four standard levels of responders. First Responders - Pretty much trained in CPR and basic skills like how to recognize/treat shock and when it's necessary to manually immobilize c-spine. EMT-B (Basic) - Trained in most non-invasive treatments and allowed use of a couple of "medications" like oral glucose and activated charcoal. This is generally your lowest level you will find giving patient care from an ambulance. EMT-I (Intermediate) - Basic + allowed to start IV's, intubate, and use simple drugs (like cardiac drugs) EMT-P (Paramedic) - Pretty much knows it all, don't ya :wink: Then there are other levels within those like Critical Care Paramedics. This can vary from state-to-state on what levels are available in those EMS systems and what is allowed by each level, but those are generally what you will find around the nation. Just remember, what you learn in school basically allows you do pass a test to get your license. You really don't know jack until you work in the back of a truck... van, golf cart, whatever. You will learn more in the back of a truck in a few weeks than basic class will teach you in a semester. An EMT license is really just a license to learn, it's up to you to make the most of it.

Rush, To answer what I believe you are asking. If you're looking into the field, find a local school (usually community colleges and tech schools have EMT-Basic) and see what classes are offered. We have both semester long and summer long (2-month 'fast-track') classes. I took the fast track class here, which was 10 hours a day, four days a week. We had to do an eight hour ER clinical and two 12-hour ambulance rides. As far as cost: Standard Costs School Books Materials (if any, i.e. stethoscope) Usually some sort of testing fee (i.e. National Registry test) State/City/County license (depends on what state on what all you have to have) Example for me: School ~$400 Books ~$100 Materials ~$30 NREMT License/Test ~$75 (I think) State License ~$100 Granted these numbers can vary greatly from state to state. You might also have to get an endorsement on your license, which in some states might cost. Here in Oklahoma, you don't have to do that. Once you get your EMT-B, then you have to find a servive to work for. Most services have EMT-B positions, but sometimes they aren't very high in demand. You can look for transfer services or 911 services, or services that do both. Then talk to the company about how they operate with Basics. Some BLS services you might be running the call in the back with a patient, some your primary role is driving and assisting a paramedic or intermediate on scene. And example is like here at EMSA, every truck as at least one paramedic. Normally the other crew member is a basic who drives, but as part of EMSA's extra training, we are put through the same academy as paramedics so we are exposed to the ALS side. Granted most services don't go this far, but you can always learn on your own. It all depends on the service itself and the partner(s) you work with. My first partner let me do just about everything I could on run-of-the-mill calls that was within my scope of practice. One bad trauma's, I would take him the cot and backboard and then return to the truck to get everything setup for him so as soon as we got the patient in the back, we were running hot to the hospital and he had everything he needed to rapidly work the patient. On cardiac arrests, I would pretty much hand my partner what I knew he was going to need. By this I mean that I might be a basic, but I'm part of an ALS crew. I'm expected to know what's going on with a patient to where my partner rarely needs to ask/tell me to do something before I'm already doing it. The thing to keep in mind about all of that though is that we run a high call-volume service and will do everything from transfers to traumas to arrests in a single night sometimes. We run 12-hour shifts and during the summer each truck on the street will run in the neighborhood of 8-13 calls per night. When you get to smaller 911 services, a lot of them run 24-hour shifts or a combination of 24- and 12-hour shifts, and you might only get 2-4 calls on average per shift. So all of that said, you pretty much just need to see what services are open in your area, how they operate, and what positions they have and what's expected of you.

Dispatched emergency to an Albertson's parking lot. Not too uncommon. While enroute, our MDT pop's up the call as "Car assaulted by baseball bat". So we think, 'Surely it's a person assaulted that was in the car'. No it wasn't and don't call me Surely. We arrive on scene to PD questioning us why we were called and upon further inspection, dispatch did not lie. The car itself was smashed with a baseball bat but no one in the car was injured at all. For those of you that were wondering, oil pressure was normal, RPM's were slightly tachy, and color was a little rusty.

Our supervisors have an Expedition and our directors have Explorers. I know the Expedition has everything in it they need to work a call besides transporting, along with MCI and ICS stuff in the back. It's roomy enough to hold everything, yet it's not too big like an Excursion. I believe our directors also carry about the same stuff with them in the back of their Explorers, but it's just packed in a little better. Our MMRS (Metro Medical Response) guy has an F-250 with a roll-out bed for MCIs and ICSs because he will usually take over once he relieves the supervisor that has started setting up command. He carries a little extra equipment with him, but he covers the region and not just the city, so he can't just have someone run back and get something he might need.

I don't think I'm gonna comment on that :shock: Speaking of the general public not knowing the difference, that reminds me of a call a buddy of mine had and the patient (who was a psych pt, but we'll leave that out of the story), who was walking along a highway, asked them how he knew they were really with the ambulance... so they pointed at the truck 20 feet behind them with flashy lights all over it and he still didn't believe them, so he waited until the fire department showed up. Granted he flipped out and ended up being taken down by PD, but it's the principal of the story.