Recent content by DesertMedic66

First: as a 30 year medic you really need to get off your high horse with the “I’ve handled high pressure stuff that most medics will never face”. You are not super medic and you are not above any other medic. Second: successfully complete means pass the test. In order to be successful you...

Roc is not a controlled substance as there really isn’t a concern for diversion of it. For my company we keep it separated from our controlled substances but I have heard of some agencies having a “RSI box” where they keep all their meds for an RSI together.

A lot of questions on this one. During your treatment of this patient you thought her blood sugar was low but did absolutely nothing to test it or to treat it? You said she ended up being severely septic at the hospital but then her blood sugar also ended up being 13. Is that 13 in mg/dL where...

Everything released so far only references a small right turn that was followed by a slight left turn and then a steep decent with a max altitude of 1,500 with the flight in the air for less than a minute. A lot of things would have had to go wrong for them to enter a stall

Exactly, med errors can and do happen but this paramedic did not report it to the hospital and more importantly did not take the appropriate steps to correct the issue they caused. There were a cascade of failures that ended with this patient dying. A Paramedic Assisted Death if you may

You shouldn’t need to send anyone an email when needing a medical director sign off for NREMT. As long as Mercy Air/Air Methods is listed as one of your organizations when you reapply for your renewal they automatically get notified. I’ve been through 3 recert cycles and never once had to send...

A refresher is not required. For the EMT level all that is required is a total of 40 hours of CEs in some very broad general topics every 2 years. That is 20 hours a year or maybe 2 hours a month. There are plenty of free locations for CEs hours and they are all online which makes it even...

We use Protean for equipment tracking/PM dates, employee certifications, daily checklists, and a whole smattering of other forms on the program. Overall I am actually a big fan of it.

I think he is saying more along the lines of do a good and proper assessment. Dont just think patient not breathing = narcan but rather run through our differential diagnosis and problem solve. If everything is lining up for an opiate OD then sure you can give it. We have had some cases...

I am not aware of any program that allows carotid massage but who knows, there could be some. Typically in the field we are not looking at converting an A-Fib patient as A-Fib is usually pretty benign in our setting unless it’s the case of A-Fib RVR where we are looking more so to slow the rate...

"Yes, I think you should go to the hospital" and then transport that patient to the hospital.

I think this answer is going to vary greatly depending on how your specific company is set up. My ground agency: our supervisors are mainly administrative and have no additional clinical capabilities. In 14 years I have never asked for a supervisor to respond to a scene. Depending on location...

This. Usually the first promotion is off the ambulance.

Aircraft was only down for 24 hours in which time a spare aircraft was moved to keep the base in service. Unfortunate but for anyone who knows the area, it’s not really surprising. Last time I was up there the helipad had 2 different security systems so the RCA on how this was allowed to...

Imagine having a job where you absolutely hate 90% of what you actually do on a day to day basis