FDNY*EMS What If's

[Guest]

My partner and I usually trade day for day, I attend one shift, he drives, then the next day I drive he attends. Obviously if it's my attend day and a true ALS call happens he will attend the call and then after I will resume my attend day , and it really is not very often on my attend days that he has to take a call. That's how every one works with there partners , and it works quite well.Edmonton used to be ALS / BLS now we are all ALS with only a few units having 2 paramedics and that is because most of the EMT's are going back to school to obtain there Paramedic cert and then due to seniority for partner / rig pick , it may work out to 2 medics, plus with the EMT's having I.V. , cardiac monitor , D50W, and a host of other skills it works quite well being with a medic.

[Dustdevil]

I have definitely known some real a-hole paramedics. Guys who want to do ALL the driving and won't attend on any patient that is not ALS. They crap on their partners. That's BS, but it happens.

Some of them aren't quite as bad, but will still make their EMT attend all non-emergency patients and not let them attend any emergencies.

It has always been my policy to alternate after each and every run. If I attend on this run, I drive on the next one and you attend. It's only fair. The medic will still end up getting screwed since he gets not only every other patient, but also every ALS patient. But I refuse to stick my partner with all the crap runs simply because I am the senior medic. And if my partner is a rookie, I am going to try and give him or her every possible opportunity to use his/her skills.

[Richard B the EMT]

Unless someone is a genuine "Ambulance Driver" exclusively, working with a steady partner, one day you drive, and the partner has the patient(s), next tour, "Partner" drives, and you provide the patient(s) care.

[Asysin2leads]

I think if the Mensa Medic thing went through, it would be as a classmate once put it "EMT-D... Driver, EMT-P...Passenger"

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

How many calls do you do that are truely ALS calls?

Its certainly not 50 / 50, but its darn surn not 100% ALS.

According to my #'s most recently, i've doc'd 47% of 632 ALS calls between all services.

So does EMT-D (or B in this era) actually mean driver? Maybe not?

[Asysin2leads]

PRPG, Let me put it this way. The rules are very clear on the EMT/Paramedic relationship, that the paramedic ultimately has responsibility for the care provided for the patient. If the EMT screws up, the paramedic gets burned. That's why unless the patient was completely and utterly 100% stable and I knew the EMT to be 100% competent, I would run it as EMT-Driver/EMT-passenger, whether it was ALS or a BLS call.

[10-52-EDP]

EDP, don't take this the wrong way, but you're a moron

when it comes to the whole ALS vs. BLS thing. First off, as my esteemed colleague from Texas pointed out, a paramedic IS in charge, ALWAYS (in lieu of a physician) when it comes to patient care decisions. If the Mensa medic thing went through, it would be a real case of medic says, EMT does, without question, because if they didn't, it would be disobeying a direct order, which would result in charges, termination, flogging, etc.

Secondly, exactly what is the problem with EMS spending money on ALS equipment? I mean, are you one of the holdouts for flying ambulances? Before you post next time, do a couple of steps, such as taking a deep breath, THINKING, maybe actually reading up on what the hell you are talking about, turning your caps lock off, and THEN trying to put together something that is somewhere near a coherent sentence. Okay?

-Asysin2leads

FUNNY IT SEEMS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS A PROBLEM WITH MY CAPS LOCK I TYPE LIKE THIS SO FELLOW MY MEMBERS CAN SEE IT MORE CLEARLY

- AS FOR THE WHOLE ALS vs. BLS SITUATION THOSE WERE QUESTIONS AND OPINIONS

- I DO TAKE YOUR STATEMENT THE WRONG WAY ITS OFFENSIVE AND ONLY THAT OF AND ASS WOULD SAY SUCH A THING.

- SO NEXT TIME YOU POST SOMETHING THAT A DEEP BREATH, THINK

[Dustdevil]

FUNNY IT SEEMS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS A PROBLEM WITH MY CAPS LOCK I TYPE LIKE THIS SO FELLOW MY MEMBERS CAN SEE IT MORE CLEARLY

Quite obviously, you never bothered to read the forum rules, which clearly prohibit typing in ALL CAPS. What are you, special? :roll:

I hope you are better at following directions in school and on the job.

[Richard B the EMT]

There's a Weapons of Mass Destruction plan that shows the pecking order of EMS when using C-pam, and may have changed after I originally read it.

To paraphrase:

A Firefighter-Certified First Responder will be in charge of 5 patients.

An EMT will be in charge of 5 Firefighter-CFRs.

A Paramedic will be in charge of 5 EMTs.

an MD will be in charge of 5 Paramedics.

( I know that this is for a bio-chem attack, and it's been changed to have the Medical Control/Telemetry Doctor give the citywide order to open the "WMD Kits")

[Dustdevil]

I love that RNs aren't mentioned anywhere in the plan!