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  1. ThadeusJ

    AHA Compressions Only?

    I immediately understood the rationale to make it easier for the lay person to initiate CPR. Back in the day, there was one large international company who taught a lot of CPR, but used rulers to measure compression depth and intimidation to drive their lessons home. Their insistence on...
  2. ThadeusJ

    AHA Compressions Only?

    After many discussions with colleagues in the equipment side of things, it has been said that the initial recommendations for compression only CPR only was very poorly released, as there was a significant amount of confusion within the professionally trained response community. I have...
  3. ThadeusJ

    Clown Car

    THAT would have been a funny scene. Along that thread, when I was doing my RT training and I doing a NICU rotation at a "Big City" hospital, I was paired up with an experienced RT who was assisting a RN with a routine equipment change on a very sick baby. Before we could start, the poor babe...
  4. ThadeusJ

    Head shaker

    Sorry, but unless any of them were of this quality, then they're rank amateurs anyway (sorry its not an original but its an oldie and a goodie)
  5. ThadeusJ

    Gloves...

    I was at a show a couple of years ago and saw (I have no financial stake in this product, nor have any personal/business relationships with those in the company) the Digitcare ApexPro. Its pH balanced so you don't sweat in them and you can pick up a dime while wearing them. I thought they were...
  6. ThadeusJ

    Fentanyl Cross Contamination

    Here's an interesting scenario we were asked about: The recent spate of fentanyl and carfentanil overdoses have been associated with at least two health care providers (here and here) being exposed and treated for opioid toxicity after a response. It has been suggested that first responders...
  7. ThadeusJ

    PTSD and Paramedic Research

    Interesting that this just came up in Canadian news the other day (tragic case all around): http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-paramedic-mother-died-cnesst-workers-compensation-denied-1.4198986
  8. ThadeusJ

    How to get back from feeling targeted

    The advice above is all worth listening to, but please understand that documenting everything is by far the most important. When push comes to shove, assume that they have documented everything on you ("I feel like I'm being targeted. I feel like they are trying to build a case to fire me.")...
  9. ThadeusJ

    EMS-Friendly BiPAP?

    'Tis true, what you say, but I have seen this being used as a substitute to CPAP (but having to create a seal on a non-tubed pt creates more of a hassle than just using a device). Many years ago, there was the philosophy of "physiologic PEEP" that stated that the epiglottis created 2.5-5 cmH2O...
  10. ThadeusJ

    EMS-Friendly BiPAP?

    Although the BVM + PEEP valve would create the pressure differential, one of the advantages of a CPAP device is the constant flow which decreases the inspiratory work of breathing. The lack of that flow when using the BVM method minimizes the expiratory work of breathing as there is nothing to...
  11. ThadeusJ

    Securing a Nasopharyngeal Airway (NPA)

    I used OPA's far more than NPA's and almost (almost) was at the point where I thought that NPA's were just another piece of equipment that was cluttering up the airway bag...until I had a patient with trismus that needed suctioning...thought to myself, "Huh, now where did I put that NPA thingy?"...
  12. ThadeusJ

    Securing a Nasopharyngeal Airway (NPA)

    Actually the questions stem from two separate incidents I have heard about where the NPA was pushed down into the airway and was deemed "lost" only to be discovered some time later when the patient was undergoing intubation (whoops).
  13. ThadeusJ

    Securing a Nasopharyngeal Airway (NPA)

    I was once taught (by a sage wise man...or was it a woman?) that upon placement of a NPA, one should secure it using a safety pin and a piece of tape to the bridge of the nose. I was asked about this and after a 30 minute search on Dr. Google, I was able to find a single reference in a...
  14. ThadeusJ

    Respiratory Calls

    Sorry about the ambiguity...the "pop" was the internal suture breaking as he was playing with the wound. And he may have been discharged a day or so longer than the one day I stated. I believe he had thyroid surgery and was discharged according to practice, but not fully healed. It was quite...
  15. ThadeusJ

    Respiratory Calls

    I experienced this when I was working as a RT (actually I was at the hospital one evening for an educational lecture and was "drawn into" this case). As a former trainer for the advanced paramedic program, I am curious to your thoughts: 17 y/o athletic male, one day post-op from having thyroid...
  16. ThadeusJ

    Coroner’s office to first responders: Throw away your latex gloves

    On a side note, I discovered that the FDA banned powdered gloves outright at the start of the year. Just in case there are services that preferred powdered gloves, they wanted them off the shelves asap. It appears that the risk of inhaling the powder is considered very high. Not sure how...
  17. ThadeusJ

    EMS-Friendly BiPAP?

    Actually the role of Bilevel is to increase the inspiratory support (thus decreasing the inspiratory Work of Breathing, or WOBi) while maintaining the baseline lower pressure which would otherwise be provided in your CPAP setting (recruiting alveoli by increasing the expiratory Work of Breating...
  18. ThadeusJ

    EMS-Friendly BiPAP?

    A non-vent Bilevel (as BiPAP is actually a brand name of a Respironics product) is still in the future (I'm convinced the technology, knowledge and materials are out there,) but there still isn't a small, oxygen conserving device Bilevel on the market. It should also be note that (as far as I...
  19. ThadeusJ

    Working in Qatar

    On June 5th, the surrounding Emirate states cut ties with Qatar (family squabble about supporting terrorism): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/05/saudi-arabia-and-bahrain-break-diplomatic-ties-with-qatar-over-terrorism
  20. ThadeusJ

    Bvm damage

    They are used for the PortO2vent CPAP (yellow box). The product and name/website was sold to a company called Next Life Medical a little while ago (www.eresp.com) so your sales rep may no longer carry them. The masks are great as they are made from a combination of open and closed cell foam...
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