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  1. natrab

    Veteran Dies Waiting for Ambulance in VA Hospital

    One of the hospitals where I work has a similar policy. Their cafeteria is part of the same building that the ED is in, however that section of the building is technically owned by a different entity than the one that owns the ED, meaning their rapid response team will not respond to the...
  2. natrab

    CSF Test- has anyone been taugh this?

    It seems to me that if you're concerned of head trauma of that magnitude, you don't need to be pulling out the glucometer to test fluid drainage for a result that can't really hold any weight. The signs and symptoms of a head injury will be your best source of a working diagnosis. Interesting...
  3. natrab

    Driving the Amb. Help.

    Typically your employer should be providing you with an EVOC training (Emegency Vehicle Operations Certification/Course) upon employment. They are usually required to by their insurance company. If they didn't for some reason, I recommend seeking your own training. There is didactic...
  4. natrab

    Disagreeing with a EMT-P

    I think it's fine to ask questions after the call, but during the call you should be there to support the medic when you're in a 1 and 1 situation. The situation described is more of a legality/liability question depending on where you're at. Where I work, our medicine, unfortunately, is...
  5. natrab

    Fruit of my labor

    Nice bike medic9. I've always wanted a bike, but i know my mother would never speak to me again. Be careful with it though, as we've all seen too many (even safe) bikers get creamed on the highway.
  6. natrab

    Fruit of my labor

    After the past 5 years of commuting, working my *** off and commuting some more. I've finally settled in a county I love, with good pay and no more commuting (well still 20 miles for a 24 hour shift but meh). So I decided to treat myself 2009 Jetta TDI (Turbo Diesel - the new clean kind)...
  7. natrab

    Why does EMT job pay so little money?

    Unfortunately there is a cap on what you get paid that is set by how much money your employer takes in. If you're in the public sector, it depends on your taxpayers and union lobbyists. If you're private ambulance, it depends on their need for employees and how much income they are bringing...
  8. natrab

    When does "care" begin?

    The definition of "Patient Contact" can vary with your state legislature. In general, when you are dispatched to a call (i.e. someone requested 911), you now have a duty to act. Once you arrive at the call, the moment you make contact with the patient, you have official "patient contact."...
  9. natrab

    Documentation

    Remember though, you have to make sure your narrative fits your PCR. A lot of new PCRs are now covering findings that used to go in the narrative. It is bad practice to fill out all those options (usually checkboxes or 1-2 line sentences) and then repeat all that information in your narrative...
  10. natrab

    R on T

    Very interesting. I've never seen a strip of that either. Strange that he went into torsades. Did he end up getting mag? What did he do to get his system so off balance? Very strange for someone relatively young.
  11. natrab

    re-cert by testing

    I think it's a nice option, but it kinda defeats the purpose of requiring CEs. It's better to go out and learn more than just retest on what you already know.
  12. natrab

    Taking Vitals in the Rig--Training

    I also find it helps to hold their arm so it's not touching the gurney or gurney rail. When it's touching the vibrations from the rig can make it almost impossible to hear. You can hold your steth to their arm while holding their arm up while you take a bp.
  13. natrab

    Medic Students

    You are right that it should be allowed if the student is in the clinical/internship phase. I'd like to see more systems allow this because it's ridiculous to be allowed to perform procedures on your internship shifts, but not on your EMT shifts when in both cases you are being supervised by a...
  14. natrab

    Medical Instruments

    I only grab my shears on trauma calls. Otherwise if it's a medical we have shears in our bags. Other than that I have a pen, sharpie, my steth and safety glasses. I'm a minimalist, and I hate having a ton of stuff in my pockets. At night I usually add a flashlight to the arsenal (though...
  15. natrab

    The Trendelenburg Debate

    As far as helicopters go, they are crucial to areas that don't have trauma centers. I worked in a large county with a couple urban areas that had no definitive care for trauma. Every trauma was flown out, and if not, they truthfully were screwed. I've had to transport patients from our local...
  16. natrab

    Hot Topics 2008

    What about that Japan study on removing ventilations from CPR? I think it showed higher success rates from doing compressions only as the force of compressing has enough rebound to draw in air to the lungs. I've heard of this being incorporated in EMS by doing 400 compressions before any...
  17. natrab

    The Trendelenburg Debate

    Hm, I haven't heard of this. We use shock position all the time out here. I've seen noted improvement in pts who present with orthostatic hypotension. Most of the time just laying them back and kicking their feet up will make the dizziness and nausea subside. If not, the next step is O2...
  18. natrab

    What kind of paramedic "education" do you have?

    The A&P section in my school was taught by the local community college A&P professor. That portion of class will typically cause 8-10% of the class roster to drop (usually the people who were less serious about becoming medics). Thankfully I had taken A&P from the same professor a couple years...
  19. natrab

    What kind of paramedic "education" do you have?

    I went to a "Training center" type vocational school (where I now work at as a proctor/teacher). As many have said these types of schools can sometimes provide a substandard education. The program I went through took about 1 year (including clinicals and internship) and includes about 1200...
  20. natrab

    Give me your best flashlight recomendation...

    I have a surefire E2D. The main reason I like the surefires is the clip they have. At night I generally wear a cap and I can clip my flashlight to the brim of my hat for a makeshift headlamp - extremely useful on traumas and multi-patient scenarios (or having to start a line in a poorly lit...
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