Recent content by DisasterMedTech

My experience has been: Vinyl gloves are garbage, and should be left to grade school food service folks. They breach far to easily, tend to stick to your hands and not fit your hands properly as a result. When you have that vinyl webbing between your fingers, its an invitation for a ripped...

Oh...Im sorry. Where did I refer to you as a paramedic? If I misquoted your licensure or certification I apologize. The reference was intended, as I believe is perfectly clear, that paramedics are still emergency medical TECHNICIANS.

And once again, why do paramedics continue to fight what they are? E-M-T. I also reiterate that the terms "medic" and "paramedic" are not interchangeable nor are the various individuals to who these terms apply all at the same skill, education or training level. A Medic is a military medical...

Read the previous post I wrote in response to Rangat. It answers your questions. And when your talking about a mass exposure to a chemical agent, the term to remember is austere care. Its fast, its ugly but it works. It has been proven to work. And the atropine to which you refer is often the...

Speak for yourself. Im on a disaster response team and basics are trained to give atropine for nerve gas exposure plus about 100 other things that ambulance basics dont do. And yes, we can provide airways. Im going to get flamed but its called a Combi-tube and when you have 600 patients on a...

We do have glucometers, its just that a lot of areas dont let EMT-Bs use them. We have them on my service, in fact I carry one on my belt and use it all the time. Im not sure what you mean by "the odd cellulitis" though....

I think its time to go back to school. Simple altered mental status is not a contra-indication for glucose. Check your Brady's. Contras for oral glucose are: loss of consciousness/responsiveness and inability to swallow. The only time that being altered might be a contra for oral glucose is if...

I think this notion also comes from alot of the same folks that assume that all EMT-Bs want to be paramedics. Its like saying all nurses really want to be doctors or all dentists are really frustrated maxillo-facial surgeons. Do I want to eventually become a paramedic. Sure. But maybe 4 or 5...

Here in Illinois we would get spanked big time for not transporting a post-ictal delirium tremens patient. By our protocol's definitions, they are not A/O and hence are transported, even if against their wishes and with the help of LE. There is a patient in our area he who is picked up at least...

The way I was taught, a psych patient doesnt get a GCS unless they are the way they are due to substance use or abuse or attempted suicide in a way that would affect mental status. I sometimes do first aide for a semi-pro baseball team and guys that get beaned with a fastball get a GCS...

One good thing about Tru-Specs is that you can get an XL-Short without getting a pair of pants that are crawling up your back side. I got this size because I have to blouse them into my boots and anything else leaves me with a huge wad of extra material to deal with.

The Army's official list of MOS designations designates a 68W as a Combat Medic and a 68W1 as a Special Operations Combat Medic. I didn't see healthcare specialist listed. Another good reason why "medic" and "paramedic" aren't interchangeable. A 68W (68W=Combat Medic) according to the Army...

R/r- When I did wilderness first responder for a SAR team in New Mexico, the instructor gave us the following statistics: Cardiac arrest survival with no interventions: 0% Cardiac arrest survival with CPR only: between 3% and 7% Cardiac arrest survival with CPR and AED: between 10% and...

I know this is an old thread, but I was re-reading and found what you have said here to be quite confusing. First you say that PCT has been removed from CPR and ACLS curriculum. Then you say a person better have ACLS if they are going to do it. Which is it? Im confused. What good would it do for...

No, I dont think your missing some unimpeachable study that shows that patients are more likely to arrive at hospital "alive and viable" more often or with greater consistency simply because there is an ALS provider on board. Ive dont literature searches in JEMS, the Journal of the American...