madmedic8522

ok, i think that answers your question. now i'll have to agree with Rid!!!! madmedic

2 crew members, and only 1 missing....sounds a little fishy. there are recipes that call for beer, maybe this is what happened. we aren't allowed to bring alcohol either, and does that put a damper on Christmas and st pats day.....lol! oh sorry i was slipping of the subject! talk to the crew before pointing a finger and get a feel for what is truly going on! it may be nothing.... madmedic

hang in there it won't always be that way. my children and family have learned to celebrate holidays on other days, we try to keep it within a week of the actual holiday itself. it works for us, even if people think were strange for getting dressed up on Halloween in early November....LMAO! madmedic

841: respond for a fracture of the.......ummm.......5th extremity! classic "get-a-way"(private), in STL! madmedic

BTW, saramedic good story! that was a stroke with luck, and I'm glad to hear that it worked. this is what I'm looking for. LOL! madmedic

OK, let's try this one. A-shift out of my house responded to a sudden death at 0800 (approx) one morning to find a male who had died in his sleep. The male pt was the father of three small children and was quite young. As the 2 medics were getting the paperwork done with the PD, one of them heard the little daughter say that the tooth fairy had not come. Realizing that the father had died before the tooth fairy had completed rounds, this medic tip-toed in to the little girls room and took care of the problem. As they left the scene the mother was told that indeed the tooth fairy had come, and 8517 returned in service. This medic is not a parent, but as a parent when he told me how much he bought the tooth for...........I was shocked!!!! LOL! He told me the only thing he had on him at the time was a 10 dollar bill.........what a nice surprise for the little girl that must have been, considering. BTW the tooth was returned to the mom as they were leaving. madmedic

OK all, the post asking for the best chief complaint got me thinking a little and i thought this may be a neato idea LOL! What is the coolest thing YOU have ever done on a call. now feel free to share stories of others you may work with as well.......I have one of a co-worker that I'll tell later. this happened yesterday, 14 y/o female with mild retardation has a seizure. get came/ we saw/ we transported. on the way she was talking and talking, first time for her in an ambulance. she let me start an IV....missed, ahem! d-stick yada yada! so i told her i would give her a "picture of her heart" after i called the ER. hooked up the EKG ran a strip, then showed her how to read it.......this little bump is the top part, this little bump is the bottom part, this little bump is everything going ahhhhhhhhhhh. grandma was with us, mom was behind in the car. in the er after all was said and done, i asked her if she showed her picture to her mom, she pulls it out and repeats everything i told her (as noted above) and in the right spots.......she thought that was the coolest thing! this is what I'm looking for, BTW if you did something, I'm asking you to pat yourself on the back and share.........NO Egos please!!!! have fun with it! madmedic

Franklin Co, MO= meth.....number one drug of choice here. we have been seeing the Fentanyl patches getting tucked between cheek and gum for the past couple of years as a "hold me over" which has been problematic, and heroin has been on the up rise for about the same amount of time. we have been having an increase of the Fentanyl/heroin mix within the past few months. a neighboring district (keep in mind we are a rural area) handled 3 of these overdoses 2 weeks ago, 1 resulting in death and the another is still unresponsive after being transferred to a "city" hospital in St. Louis co. as far as any change in protocols, we have not. We have however increased the amount of Narcan carried in our trucks (shhhhh....don't tell the white shirts, we didn't ask first). This issue is one talked about outside the ER amongst the medics, during our "after call smokes". As far as any change....we just lost our Medical Director on Monday from a P.E. Good discussion and hope it continues.....I'll update with any changes we see in my neck of the woods!!!! R.I.P DR. Dumontier.....you will be missed! madmedic

2am tones for a sick case......upon arrival find a 38yo female, who is very upset and scared to the point of not being verbal, finally get her calmed down, and she tells us that she had her thumb nail removed 2 days ago and the bandage was now stuck to the nail bed. we walked her to the kitchen sink, ran water over it until the bandage fell off, then sign a refusal. back in bed by 0220ish!!!!! madmedic

in my situation we (fire/EMS) are 2 different entities, and the way we do things is the pt care is my responsibility and extrication is the fire's responsibility. we work well together in this manner. fire takes care of the "rescue", IC, LZ.....this allows me to focus on my pt(s). if i need something and I'm able to go to IC, I do. If not I have someone else make the request for me. In my district we have 3 fire departments that we work with, and all joking aside (other topics discussed here at the city) we WORK well together to get the job done. Now with the above said, I have minimal training on extrication.....in the official sense, but we do take as much time as possible to train with the FD's to understand better how they see the same scene......this does help, it's not perfect, but it does work for us. madmedic

yeah, i agree AnatomyChick.............. Savoy6,you said a mouth full!!!!! how about that construction on hwy 44? 40? 270? 70? 55? 170? no hijacking intended........LOL! madmedic

I'm not sure what the argument is about, nobody could honestly believe that the "corporate big-wigs" don't look at the bottom dollar. I've worked in the private sector before, where i come from you almost have to start there. i worked (at the time) for the largest "for-profit ambulance service in MO, it's been some time now, and that statement may be out dated. i remember times that payday would come and go with only a "we can't cut checks until the customers pay....sorry". "by the way if you don't like it, you can quit.....EMTs and Medics are a dime a dozen", then the trucks we had to deal with.........ever seen the Flintstones? we had a choice at shift change, AC/steering/ or brakes. we stayed about 5 years behind the rest of the field with technology as well. we were still using LP5s when the 12s were hitting the market, and still no SAO2.......to this day i can still tell that a pt is SOB, just by looking at them *madmedic says sarcastically*. yes big companies run the hospitals, and make the equipment that we use everyday, but if I'm being asked about private sector EMS, I'll tell you that it sucks, everyday/ all day!!! I'll take my station over sitting in a "safe" parking lot anytime, thank you very much! forget the employment "bennies", it just nice to be able to change something that doesn't work, because i have a "say so" or a "voice", equipment that is up to date...and works, and a true safe place to go between calls, oh and lets not forget the fact that i only work 10 days a month......I'm a happy camper!!! madmedic

we don't really have a protocol about this, other than be off the scene in 20 mins or less. our airway bag has all the basics including first round drug and IV set up, so that and LP12 go in. depending what we have from there dictates what we are going to do, but i like to get off the scene as fast as i can due to our ETA to the hospital. it's more call by call for me and my partner. madmedic

in the area I'm working, we don't have to worry about anything, as far as copters go. we request through command and the rest just happens. our FDs (x3) all take care of getting them in the air and back down on the ground. the biggest problem we run in to is someone being over zealous and dispatching a "bird" without EMS on scene. command will get the closest ETA, let us know, then we decide if we're going to wait or ground transport. that's about it! BTW, we do it this way because we have 3 different dispatch agencies, and it keeps from getting confusing. we had a couple of calls (years ago) that got numerous copters arriving when we only needed 1, because everybody was having them dispatched.......it was kinda funny to see, but a huge waste of resources. madmedic

something else to think about (as i did, reading through this forum), how about starting a "wives/spouses" group, or at least a phone group with the other spouses. i doubt seriously that your the only one feeling this way. It is a difficult field for our spouses to get used to, trust ME! I know! LOL! It sounds as if you have a lot going on, but just to have others that can share similar ideas (or as you said, vent), may help. I'd have to agree with what the others have said as well, good communication, and sacrifices on both sides of the fence are key. good luck, and hang in there!! madmedic

unresponsive, "blue", no pulse and apnea.......sounds like cardiac arrest, what's the quick look??? 11 min response, does anyone know long he has been there? did any of the first responders start CPR? what is skin temp? are his arms straight up in the air or is he still bendable, LOL? madmedic

Gee......can you imagine the amount of people that would be completely offended by the "blood".........oh my god! I'll tell ya what though let roll past that MVC as slow as possible (never mind that ambulance/fire truck/squad car behind us trying to get to the scene) so that we can take in every last visual. that way we tell everybody at the party that we were there............oh my god!!!!!! my 16 y/o is going to watch every last second of these videos, just as a reminder!!!!!!! well done!! madmedic

I'm retaking my rightful spot................on top!!!! madmedic

ok, my turn again................on top! madmedic

Is there more to this discussion that I may be missing? I think it would be just like a Medic and/or EMT that smokes or over drinks the frosty beverages, or dare I say over eat. Really, it should come down to the individual "adult" to make their own decision, Pt's rights! As a smoker I don't lecture my Pt's about smoking, soooo...... Medics or EMTs that have a med alert tag, but don't wear them shouldn't judge their Pt's that don't either.......not that I've ever seen this. At the end of the day, I do look for them and use them if available, but if the pt chooses not to share the info in this manner, your still going to treat as usual, Same with our co-workers. In my situation with my partner (5years now) we know what each others med hx is, and if there becomes a problem we are prepared, but that is a whole different discussion. LOL! Just a humble opinion!! madmedic

Buffalo Girl, man! it's been so long since i have even had to think about it........1yr, 2yr, my suggestion would be to stalk your instructor until they answer your question.....no just kidding! definitely keep trying your instructor or contact the EMS department of the school you attended for some answers. I'm not sure what part of the state your living in, but if you can't get any further info from your school, try other programs. St Louis community college (forest park campus), IHM health studies, East Central community college, or even Sanford Brown in Fenton. the other option of the top of my head would be the MO Bureau of EMS out of Jeff city. Except for MO BEMS all the others listed are in the St. Louis area. also it is NR, and RaceMedic nailed it on the nose, don't let it break you, if at first you don't succeed......try and try again!!!! stay strong! Madmedic

i'm back.........on top that is! madmedic

the best is when a pt tells you that they died one time for about 30mins, and later when the medics showed up , they miraculously woke up and were just fine. there was a guy on the show Miami Ink that made this claim as well..........too funny! madmedic

what????? only 2 pages today.....what happened??? I'm on top!!!!! madmedic

NEWS STORIES that tell of someone dying of cardiac arrest. call me crazy isn't that death? what caused the cardiac arrest? being dispatched for a sudden death, pt has obviously been dead for 12hrs, or 12 days. lmao!!! madmedic