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Working events, there are almost always law enforcement officers on scene. With a few rare exceptions, they are fantastic. They love having a place to come to rehydrate and get some snacks, and we love having them for security and crowd control. If it is a drugs/EtOH crowd, they will often...

Monocle? ;)

I believe in Alameda County they will send BLS ambulances on the Alpha responses. In more rural parts of the Bay Area, fire first response is BLS (volunteer companies).

Fair enough. I'm slightly skeptical about the accuracy of EMD (but it beats nothing). It does make sense that a person would only require BLS interventions after an assessment.

I didn't realize patients came with designations BLS/ALS. I thought it was just providers. What is considered a BLS patient?

I heard a call dispatched for Fire Department X, mutual aid into remote area Y, for a 78 year old female not behaving right, possible CVA per EMD. The response time is 45 minutes emergent, and the transport time would be 1 hour. This probably sounds routine to some of you who work in rural...

I've been hunting around the internet but I'm somewhat confused. Can somebody explain this to me? As I understand, Diabetes Type I was the inability of the body to produce insulin, so insulin was needed to be injected. Diabetes Type II meant that the cells could not use the insulin to move...

Lufthansa has (or had) a system by which physicians could register before the flight so they could be more discreetly called, and also would be covered by whatever liability insurance arrangement they had.

I don't think it was a smart response but that's what happened.

It is county dependent out here. Some areas run dual medic so there's that. Others allow the downgrade. One used to but no longer does. The EMT was allowed to attend a "stable" patient who went into cardiac arrest, but the EMT didn't notice until they arrived. Now only medics can attend...

The only time I've heard that announcement was before I was even a first responder. We diverted and the paramedics took her. As a rule of thumb I don't drink when flying (I dehydrate enough in the air without the diuretics). I believe very strongly in the ethical duty to act whenever safe to do...

That's a lot of radios. I don't think all the agencies in the 5-county area use that many different technologies.

Both sides... Why do people say "copy, um, say that again?" Either... I copy but just want to hear your voice again (creepy) Or I copied but forgot real fast. Or I didn't really copy!

I have heard of CERT teams being used as the volunteer arm of the fire department, to work first aid stations at special events etc. However this backfired in the one case I heard about so...

We do events almost exclusively. For small events we have our own communications, are hired directly by the event, and use 911 resources if a patient needs to be transported. For big events, we work closely with the fire department (and in one case are technically hired by them) to have...

A team was working a race when a 47 year old female presents with shortness of breath. She just ran the race, indicates chest tightness and arm tingles, and says she forgot her inhaler. As a team that is not directly involved, I respond for manpower, so I don't have the full history, vitals...

Fair enough. I've never had a practical exam without either cyanosis or pale skin and profuse diaphoresis, but I guess YMMV.

I meant on the written test. Sure, for the scenario, but in the scenario the patient is always pale, cool, and wet, has just had his arm cut off and is littered with a bunch of injuries plus possibly a major medical condition just for good measure. Such a clearly shocky patient should get 15L...

The EMT book now at least acknowledges selective Cspine, O2 titration, and supine vs trendelenberg, but instructors (who are full time 911 paramedics) Can be very rooted in those things. Now, NREMT isn't even looking for 15 L except in obvious shock or pt just came out of a smoky building.

Where do you say no? As it stands in many places, if you dial 911 and want to go to the ER, you can. I have no problem with triage at dispatch and in the waiting room at the ED. That's different from saying no. Some progressive systems are working on directing minor calls to local...