Going to Middle of Nowhere - what to take?

[BedpanCommando]

My company has a form that goes something like this.

Over the Counter (OTC) medication responsibility release...


I acknowledge that by signing this form that:

1. I am solely responsible for the correct usage of this OTC medication. This includes correct dosage, administration and dosing intervals.


2. I have no allergies to this particular OTC medication.


3. I am aware that every medication has the potential to have an adverse reaction and I understand that any adverse reaction is my own responsibility.


4. I agree that (Name of company) and the medical provider assigned to this site have no responsibility for my voluntary use of this OTC medication.



Patient Name (Printed): ___________________________________________


Patient Signature: ___________________________________________


Witness Name (Printed): ___________________________________________


Witness Signature: ____________________________________________

All persons wanting any OTC meds from my stock must read and sign this form before and meds are given out. Simply stating "I'm not responsible" is not enough you must document.

 

[mycrofft]

So, how did it go?

What did you do, meet any nice Sasquatches, get married, or anything?

 

[hippocratical]

Ha! I forgot about this thread.

Well, for posterity and those that might benefit from this experience, here's what I would tell myself:

Bring:
* Don't bother with your crappy laptop, tell you wife that you really do need a 17' Gaming laptop. Bring an inverter that can handle it - Plugging that beast into the cigarette lighter port will pop the fuses, so MacGyver a unit that hangs on the outside of the hood and plugs directly into the battery.
* A multi-terabyte Harddrive stuffed with movies, TV Shows, books, etc. I actually watched hardly any movies but preferred the TV shows
* Play Skyrim and Fallout games. They'll suck away your life, but it's not like you're going anywhere!
* Bring all your textbooks, not just one at a time, as you may get stuck on location longer than expected and zoom through a book leaving you with nothing to study.
* Bring more socks than you need. Like a million.
* A flashlight is a good idea, as the one in the truck is a POS.
* A clip-on desk light is fantastic for night shifts in the truck.

Dont bring:
* Too much cold weather gear. You're in a truck or shack. You need to be prepared to have to stand out in the cold for half an hour doing triage in an emergency, but hiking through the tundra for a day is not on the cards. A couple of decent layers is plenty.
* Dont bother with the boot crampons. Yes they're a good idea, but you'll never use them, and even if you did everyone would make fun of you.

Stuff I learned:

* Medics are treated like scum in the patch. It's not you... well it is, but not personally. If you're female you wont realise this as the workers treat you like a good luck charm with boobs. If you have boy-bits, be prepared to be ignored, derided, scape-goated, and otherwise shat on. Screw 'em, who cares what douchbag rig pigs say.
* As above, do not cause trouble. Many medics get skidded because they argued back. If you're male and a medic it was your fault. Even if you were not there at the time. There's nothing you can do about it.
* If you do get skidded, it doesn't matter. They'll just move you to another site. No harm no foul.
* Your company isn't intentionally leaving you in the dark about what you're supposed to do or where to go - they are simply inept and have no idea what's going on. Same for the oil companies. Everything is massively disorganized and no one has any idea what is happening - it's not a plot to make you feel left out. Ask lots of questions if needed, although be aware that it's knowing which questions to ask is the important thing. Good luck with that.
* Report dangerous activity, but remember you're a medic not a safety officer. It may seem important, but reporting people is a sure-fire way to get skidded fast.
* Nothing ever happens, but be prepared for it to. Always check your gear and re-arrange the backboard and straps in a ready state so that if/when you need stuff it's ready. In an emergency bring all the gear - there's plenty of workers around to carry the skid.
* Watch out for OFAIIIs, they're mental
* Don't worry about OTC drugs. EMRs don't get given them, and there's simple forms for EMTs. Oilfield protocols are different from the ones your learned in class.
* EMRs are for emergency medicine, and the EMTs are for that plus the palliative stuff. Realistically, any chronic issues just get referred away, i.e. send them to a doctor in town.
* Camp or hotel wifi is fine, but crappy for video skype. Just call.

Work Camps are good because:
- You get fed, so you don't waste time preparing all your own meals
- They have gyms that you can work out in. Running every night was fantastic, although be aware that 12 hours of sitting + rig food + running = toxic emissions. Never figured out how to solve that one.
- There's often backup in the form of a paramedic or at least a coworker or two
- Having other medics around to biatch with is very mentally refreshing. Seeing that it's not just you that gets blamed for everything is very relieving.

Hotel gigs are good because:
- You can have a beer after work!
- If you want to buy xyz, there are shops around where you can buy xyz
- the accommodation is nicer
- you get paid more because you'll have a meal stipend and paid to drive to/from site. The bad side is that you'll have zero free time as a result. 12hr days + 3 hours driving + 1 hour preparing meals and organizing for the next day leaves no time for anything else

- - -

I think that's it. I didn't really find myself for wanting anything major, more the social side of things is what surprised me. Hopefully this is my last rotation! Home soon!

 

[mycrofft]

Good luck!!

 

[Steveb]

So I'm off soon to do some oilfield work in the middle-of-nowhere, northern Alberta.

For those of you who have done this sort of thing, any advise on things that I should take with me?

It's 2 or 3 weeks on, sitting in a truck or portable for 12hrs doing bugger all. It'll be great!

As a heads up, I'm not a wilderness noob and have plenty of weather gear. Same for tech stuff - 2.5TB of movies, books, games will come with me. I'll also be bringing my lovely 7kg of EMT books to keep me sharp.

I'm pretty sure I'm prepared, but there's always things that you realize you needed when it's too late.

One friend told me to bring a skipping rope to keep me exercised, but there's no way that I'm going to be using a skipping rope around roughneck riggers - wearing a tutu would be safer ^_^

OOOOOHHHHHH I had a buddy who did that for like a year or 2 he said he didn't get a signal call till the the last 2 weeks and it was, a cut off figure. There they are safety Nazis which I guess is good but be prepared to be bored .
Have fun

 

[BigBird]

use the time to your advantage+

I work in the oilfield part time in security, and do volunteer work with the local ambulance service. One of my friends is the regional director of safety for the energy company. He's 39 and makes in excess of 180,000+ a year. He said he started as an EMT in the rural oilfields up north. He spent all his off duty time hanging around the safety man and taking the Osha 30 certification course. When he got back to Texas, he had his pick of Safety jobs in the oilfield with salaries in the 85-90k range to start.
I just finished the First Responder course and was immediately offered a job doing safety with Schlumberger starting me out at 55k plus benefits. Too bad I'm semi retired