Richard B the EMT

I do not know the name of the system or brand used by the FDNY EMS, but, basically, you still fill out a paper report, which then gets "scanned in" to the system, asking verifications on all the checked boxes, if the alphanumerics read are correct, and so forth. While the actual writing of the ePCR can be done by some while still in transit to the ER, the scanning in can take up a nice chunk of time for each ePCR. Remember, FDNY EMS is a busy system, where each unit in it's 8 hour tour might generate as many as 12 ePCRs (presuming multiple patients at car accidents, even if they sign the "Refused Medical Assistance" portion on the ePCRs). Yes, the scanning speeds up the billing, but the paperwork is still going into storage somewhere. I do not forsee the FDNY EMS going totally paperless for the forseeable future.

Alex, it sounds like you want us in NY State to follow some of the European and Australian modes of training for EMS personnel. I have the feeling EMT City members in Canada, and across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, support your concept.

I was a colleague of FormerEMSLT297, when both of us were working for the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS, in the "Communications Bureau", as EMD was then known. I was in from June 3, 1985, until the "merger" with FDNY, effected, as mentioned, on March 17, 1996, and then with FDNY EMS Command until October 5, 2010. After 11 years in "CB", I was transferred to EMS Station 41 (later renumbered as Station 47), where FormerEMSLT297 was actually my immediate supervisor, when I fell and tore my left meniscus, necessitating corrective surgery. Following the surgery, I re-injured the knee at least twice, ruined my back a few more times, and am now "pre-arthritis" in the left knee, with pain in the right knee following an emergency surgery for an aneurysm/in-bleed on the right femoral artery entry point for inserting the cardiac stent (basically, the "plug" fell out). Following my last back injury, I worked "inside" at FDNY HQ, in the Bureau of Health Services, on light duty. When all available time for the light duty was exhausted, I couldn't lift without pain in my back or knees, and so I was placed onto "Terminal Leave", to use up all my assorted leave times. I still was, until my last day, looking for a "Reasonable Accommodation" posting, where I wouldn't need to lift, but there were more folks looking for such postings than available postings. (I openly wonder if my overweight condition, my cardiac condition, and/or my age had something to do with me not getting a posting. I lack any proof, so I cannot sue.) After 4 tries in the Lieutenant's promotional exam, I finally passed, placing 194 on the list, but then suffered the last back injury. The Chief who interviewed me, told me they had so many Lieutenants, already in title, looking for an R.A. posting, they didn't want to promote any more lieutenants who would be paid for work they couldn't do (I was already registered with the EEO office as looking for an R.A posting, and was one of at least 12 in this status), and as such were passing me over. In another interview 6 months later, the same Chief told me, as I was not actively in an R.A. posting, I was in a kind of "limbo", and as such, they were, again, passing me over. Hell, I wasn't hurt when I passed the test! So, I am medically retired from the FDNY EMS, after 25 years municipal service. I have 5 years on my most recent EMT recertification, so I might seek out employment in a non city or state EMS agency, just not in the trucks themselves. Overall, including time in service on a Volunteer ambulance, and concurrent with the VAC, time served in 5 Private (proprietary) non 9-1-1 ambulance services, I already have 38 years "in".

Annie, already sent back a PM to you. I presume you're a "rescueman" (non gender specific name, if any?), who does hi angle rope rescue, for the harness and webbing, but what is a "Beaner"?

By current policy, by then it's too late. Ask for the help, and usually there are no repercussions, but get caught and THEN ask?

You must have forgotten this person: Spock

Now that youze guyz mentioned it, we physically broke out some of the tray dividers to hold the supplies we carried in the 747. Ours was intended as a tackle box, and it wasn't until a few years later I even saw a catalog picture of a Medical 747 box.

Tangent for a short comment... Doctor Benjamin Spock wrote baby care books in the late 1950s into the late 1960s, and then tried protecting those babies by protesting the American involvement in the war in Viet Nam. Lieutenant Commander/Commander/Captain/Ambassador Spock (Choose one from references to the original Star Trek series, the movies, ST/The Next Generation, or the time warped newest ST movie) is not a doctor, really proving that you're not a "Trekkie"; furthermore, a "Trekker" is a fan of the various TV series, the movies, the books, or various combinations of them, and a "Trekkie" is a pubescent girl who wants to have Mr Spock's baby! Sorry, Annie, but I am a Trekker. We now resume normal operations ...

I am in the market for a so-called "Mega-Code" style equipment carry bag for personal use. Can anyone using a combination Trauma/Oxygen bag advise of your experiences with such bags, and give both recommendation and disapproval for any and all known brands? I am thinking nothing bigger than a regular D tank size (not a so-called "Super D") as an E would be too big for my purposes.

What follows, here, is a report from the New York City Office of Administrative Trials And Hearings (OATH), concerning an EMT caught using drugs. I post it, with the EMT's name, and associated case numbers, redacted, as a cautionary mention to all with similar issues to seek help! As a mention, I do not know the EMT mentioned in the action quoted.

I am unsure if this is the answer, but any standard alarm watch with a vibrator function instead of a buzzer, chime or bell might serve your purposes. Ask at your friendly neighborhood jewelers.

Current NYS DoH policies hold as NO weight, such as sandbags or IV bags, but use bulky dressings. My unsubstantiated belief re bulky dressings is not so much for stabilization, but as cushioning and/or protection. AS belief, don't hold to it until and unless your medical control and state/provence DoH agrees, as I could be wrong.

Seems we are mostly in agreement: Let someone else go through the patient's pockets for ID and cell phone ICE listings, we EMSers are going to concentrate on patient care and transport. Actually, if I find a medical alert device that says "see wallet card" with no other specifics, I might ask the LEOs or hospital security to assist or monitor me going into the contents of a patient's pockets, looking for said card.

I don't really know about that. Boards sometimes travel great distances. I have seen boards in the "recovered equipment" closets, where reusable hardware like the LBBs are stored until the service that owns them can pick them up from the ER, after the patient is removed from them, with service labels and lettering from as far away as the midwest (remember that my local ERs are in a somewhat isolated area of NYC).

Check with either or both your local and state Departments of Health as to what is required to be carried. That, or simply stock the box as you see fit. Wow, a 747. My VAC used one over 35 years ago. Soft sider types are a bit easier to carry, as they usually have a shoulder strap. However, as I seem to recall the box (non EMS marked) going for something like $50.00, if the plastic is unbroken, you got quite a bargan.

Cell phones are sometimes used as triggering devices for bombs. I don't know the scenario you found this hypothetical patient in, but I am not playing with something that can trigger an explosion, or be the bomb itself (Paranoia can sometimes pay off). Then, there is the small possibility that the number you think is for In Case of Emergency, is actually programmed in for the actor/rapper "Ice Tea", as I have mentioned both here, and in JEMS.

Seeing that, suggest getting yourself checked for Sleep Apnea, as it was after I had a similar episode, scared me into seeing the doctor. Now on a C-PAP for treatment when I am normally supposed to be asleep. Other clues are heavy duty snoring, seemingly full time sleepiness, and obesity. American Sleep Apnea Association for information on Sleep Apnea.

Just throwing this into the mix, but Hilary Swank was born into a poor white trailer park family. Nature or nurture?

Does the dispatch information give any indication of immediate past, or active violence in progress? That is one deciding factor. Some jurisdictions have preprogrammed information in the computer assisted dispatch system, where a premise history will pop up. We had one location where EMS was on orders to not go in the building until the NYPD precinct cops were on the scene, and NYPD Emergency Services at minimum notified, or responding. The premise history was entered after a frequent flier patient went after a crew with a knife in one hand, and a ball peen hammer in the other. EMS and the cops didn't care that the patient was at least 70, with a diagnosed cardiac condition, which the patient always vehemently denied (I had him once). The crew's safety came first. (For those old timers here from NYC HHC EMS with the knowledge, I'm talking about "Merlin")

The OP on this string has reopened an old discussion. Therefore, I'll repeat myself (actually, the Instructor/Coordinators at the FDNY EMS Command Academy), that the scoop type stretcher does not provide support directly under the spine. Others state that no pressure on the spine is a good idea. I am not into the research end of the biz, so until the medical director, and the NY State DoH tell me otherwise... By the way, I seem to recall that one can transport a patient on a scoop to where they can be placed onto the long spine board, and the combination is allowed, but I'd probably be "writ up" if I left the patient on the scoop only, on top of the wheeled stretcher.

Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty Harry" Callaghan, San Francisco PD, in" Magnum Force" Truer words in our profession and trade have seldom been spoken.

While this is the first I recall hearing that tale, I have a feeling that there's some version in every culture. If there is none, there should be!

In a string concerning a video of a flail chest injury, fakingpatience posted the following:

I'll presume the pun was unintended. I'm re-posting to the Pundemonium string.

A bit more than a decade ago, a local community parade used as a fundraiser benefiting the community's youth athletics group got some unwanted national publicity, when 3 municipal employees, on a float totally unlike what they'd told the parade committee to expect from them, simulated the dragging death of a black man by a lynch mob in Texas some months before the parade. This took place within NYC, and resulted in the 3 municipal employees, with one wearing black face makeup, and admittedly on their own time, being fired from the NYPD and FDNY, for conduct unbecoming their respective jobs, bringing disrepute on their departments, and a couple of other charges. In even numbered years, the parade benefits the athletic club, and in odd years, the local VFD. Even though the year in question was benefiting the AC, the Mayor ordered the FD teletype to the VFD disconnected. After the office of the Mayor had received enough proof that the float's designers and riders had done this without advising the parade committee of what they were up to, the teletype was reconnected. However, there was a protest march against the community, led by Reverend Sharpton, which actually was met by community leaders with a food table set up for the protestors to eat at. Reverend Sharpton and his group left peacefully, after eating, and after it was pointed out that the municipal miscreants didn't even live in the community, and that they had also tricked the parade committee as to their float.