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Haven't we had a few threads on this before? 5.11 pants are great. They're $45. I also get along just fine with the pairs of blue Galls uniform pants that I picked up on clearance for $4. Actually, I get along better than fine - they're quite good.

I have to agree here. The tracked stair chair is perhaps the greatest EMS invention since the non-rebreather mask and the Hare traction splint (okay, that's a joke, but it's really, really great). Even if a house is single storey, there are plenty of times I've had to stairchair a patient...

According to the information I got from several reliable sources at the State EMS Convention, including conversations with various people present at the medical directors' meetings, both OEMS and the various medical directors want to see the new National Scope EMT-AEMT-Paramedic model in NJ...

The article doesn't say that it wasn't documented, though obviously they didn't inform the patient. Fortunately, the brief stop didn't have any negative effect on the patient, which makes this all merely a very silly story. Now, if they had stopped at the liquor store, I would have been more...

Funny, I'm half the world away, and we do the same thing. Medics, on the other hand, are currently required by state regulation to call medical control for a mother may I on /every/ call. Even a M&T within their standing orders. And preferably before any interventions (even an IV start). The...

Our local hospitals all have some sort of EMS room with a coffee machine. One puts out some little snacks - chips, peanuts, sandwiches, etc. But usually, the IFT guys sit in there waiting for their patients, so they graze and there's nothing left by the time evening rolls around. ;) But we...

The regulation (I'm assuming that's what it is) doesn't say the need has to be a present or even imminent one. The patient's desire is for treatment of a legitimate condition (pain) that might occur as a result of future, contingent events. Provided the doctor is satisfied, based on his...

This is totally anecdotal, but I have been told that in excess of 90% of patients are short or no-neck collars, and my experience has borne that out. The outliers I've had have been "what's shorter than no-neck" rather than "what did we do with that one tall collar that's been in the rig for...

Maybe we should all be leaving our prejudices at the door here? We don't have any idea what happened, other than a vague claim that a paramedic's judgment was questioned.

No, I don't think it's a problem. Around here, most private services, and even ALS in a pinch, have Type II ambulances (vans). They have to carry at least the state minimum in equipment, same as we do in the box, which means two backboards, stair chair, scoop stretcher, reeves, etc...

Look at the radio. See the little orange button. Push the little orange button. Set off warning flares at dispatch. Hopefully my driver remembered to call out on location. Seriously, I would try to withdraw peacefully and wait for the po-po if I could. I'd call for emergency assistance...

I think Vene hit the nail more or less on the head. Being a medical director isn't their primary job. It's not even a part-time job. It's something they do a few hours a month and collect a check for. I was told, by the way, that medical control physicians, who are full-time ER docs who...

As we are all well aware, a goodly number of people transported by ambulance are quite capable of walking into the ER (indeed, they were probably quite capable of driving themselves to the hospital, or to the doctor's office in the morning). While protocol generally requires us to stretcher, or...

I was going to comment that there is usually some upper limit on the number of people you can have around the patient to move him or her. I've been in hospital rooms where the bed and stretcher barely fit at the same time, and we had to push chairs, the rolling table thingy, and the various...

I believe the .40 caliber round to the head was an emphatic termination of resuscitative efforts by local law enforcement. ;)

If you don't have someone on the far side, the patient may roll right off the sheet. So, while reaching and lifting is supposed to be something we don't do, there's no way to avoid it in this case. My preferred method is one person (or more, depending on the patient size) on each side. The...

Ugh... hit a deer on my way home from the station this morning. A nice, fat "thanks for all you do" from the Big Guy. ;P

The laryngoscope is at least useful in the case of an airway obstruction, when removing the obstruction with Magill forceps is effective definitive care. Though I'm not sure he was carrying the forceps, or would know how to use them. Not like any of it is particularly complicated.

Hrm... I don't have any IV fluids available but let me spike this coconut for you!

So, I took a family member to the neurologist a few days ago. Apparently, if you're an MD, and want to keep costs low, go into neurology. The office could double as a dodgy massage parlor after hours, what with the Staples-issue chairs in the waiting room and nothing but an exam table and some...