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Had a call a while ago, 82 year old female, chief complaint: "just not feeling right”. Vital signs: Pulse: 39, bp: 132/78; respiration rate: 18; SpO2: 95% on room air. Scheduled for bladder surgery (cancer) in two days time. As a basic, what to do as treatment while en route to hospital ten...

Pardon my ignorance, what is DLOC? That’s a new one on me.

The light blue lettering of the forum titles on the main page could be a few shades darker to give it more contrast with the white background. Could the words "Discussions" and "Messages" on the home page be changed to a be a column header? Seems a bit busy to have them on the page 21 times...

Thanks for making the change back.

Is the two column format of topic areas on the home page a setting that can be disabled per user? The two columns makes it difficult to scan the page. Thanks.

I’m guessing you don’t bill patients for transports.

Calm down, take a breath. Talk with one of your supervisors or team leaders or officers at your agency. Let them know how you’re feeling. It’s possible they may already know how you’re feeling. Good luck. I hope you get it worked out.

Thanks for the (helpful? interesting?) side-conversation here. The way my agency works is you get your EMT, wonderful. Then to be actually allowed to do stuff not under the immediate on-scene direction of someone else, you have to be cleared to be an AIC. We run calls under the guidance of an...

I’m wondering what other 911 emergency medical service agencies do to prepare and test their EMTs to become an AIC (Attendant in Charge). I’m not finding a lot of relevant info on the wider web or on this site. Thanks.

I don’t think I’d say “just in case.” I’d give a specific reason why you want ALS for that “patient".

How about some more info about your situation? For example: Are you at a busy station, or one that gets two calls per week? How long have you been out of EMT-B classes? Are only certain types of calls causing you problems? Or any call? How many people are on your apparatus? Are the others...

If you have an iPhone, you can turn on location tracking for specific people. Then they’ll at least know where you are. Or at least where your phone is.

I am still struggling with report writing as well. Basically, document what you need to document so that when you’re hauled into court in five years, you’ll be able to explain what you did to and for the patient and why. You will not remember the patient, so the only thing you’ll have to go on...

Expired means expired, can’t be used. Your state’s office of Emergency Services (or whatever it’s called in your state) should have a list of what equipment, medicine and gear are required to be in working order on your apparatus. Print out that official list, and do a complete check off with...

Dave Barry says “The only time you should assume a woman is pregnant is if you see a baby coming out."

It depends on how often you run, how busy your shifts are. My volunteer agency has shifts every six days, some shifts get no calls at all, other shifts are 7-10 calls. I’m becoming more confident, but haven’t yet been certified to run by myself without a preceptor. I earned my EMT-B in late June...

The family “said” the patient had a DNR? Don’t you have to actually see it/have a physical copy in hand before not treating?

PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) can catch anyone off guard at any moment. The trigger can be a smell, how someone or something looks, a sound, anything. The trickiness of it is that what affects me won’t be the same thing that affects you. Definitely talk with someone about it, in real...

Hmmm, a call log book. Interesting idea. What gets logged? Just the basic dispatch info? What is it used for? Training, shift documentation?

Yes, it is. It’s called "Time management," and reading this site can easily turn into a Facebook-like time sink (although this site is infinitely more useful than Facebook). So by reading the blurb in my email, I can see instantly if the reply is something I should reply to immediately, or if...