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yay! I am all done my 25 starts as of today. I really feel that failed starts are good for experience and learning, while the successful starts are good for confidence.

I'd go with talking them down, and failing that, get out of Dodge. If it is too late for that, call in support and just try to restrain them as best you can. If you can get them in restraints on the stretcher, put a scoop stretcher down over top of them and buckle them up so they can't sit up...

We use them here in BC, Canada, but not all provinces do. Saskatchewan didn't, for example. My protocols say that I precordial thump a witnessed arrest. Logic there is that it may resuscitate the pt since they've only been down a few seconds. Then we move to CPR and defibrillations. An...

More great tips! I think of "Bringing out the Dead" where Nicholas Cage narrates, "Spreading the blame is an essential tool for a paramedic's survival....'the tube wouldn't go in', 'the elevator got stuck', 'a new partner today' " because taking it personally will gut you of your confidence...

Great suggestions everyone. The only reason my hands were shaking is low self-confidence. Every time I failed to get a start, I felt like everyone else in endo was going to look down on me and inevitably the doctors would say "thank you, but you need to go back and study your material some...

That's the thing, I find myself praying a car will crash into the side of the building so that I can do something that will steady my nerves. I'm better when I am in charge than when I am taking direction. Just playing with a catheter I have determined two flaws that I need to correct: first...

Hi, borrowing Terese's account here....I'm her partner, Meph, and I just want to take a dip in the pool of experience available if that is allright. I'm having problems with my IVs. TK is helpful but she isn't having problems, her IV-kungfu is fine! Where's my self-confidence gone? I'm...

go with your protocols... but if they aren't to your satisfaction, then go BLS. I give entonox for pain relief with MI. But do what you are comfortable with... not what it says on paper. I may catch hell for saying that, but better to do what you believe is right than do something wrong that...

well, I meant the Calgary paramedic, but actually an answer for both would be good learning. I've heard people say that they would have put an NRB/simple on the pt to keep them from spitting. I think that's acceptable if monitored. Restraining is a difficult issue. Some of my instructors...

I vaguely recall a media story about a Calgary paramedic that lost his temper with a HCV+ pt that was spitting at everyone, verbally assaulting anyone and behaving violently. What is important is that this pt was restrained to the stretcher (imagine the Exorcist bedroom scenes). Somehow...

I would hold the ER primarily responsible but the dispatchers aren't off the hook either; they have a responsibility to respond to EVERY call. It isn't for the dispatchers to decide which calls to send a response to or not, whether it was the dispatcher or their supervisor that made the...

We may sympathize, but we absolutely can not condone.

Is this man telling the truth? Only he knows or thinks he knows for certain. Does it matter? If they have to beat up a pt it has to be a matter of survival, not for their bread and butter.

I never said I was atheist. To clarify, atheism is a system of beliefs. They have the faith that there is no God or higher Creator. It is not a lack of faith. And the definition of religion is an organization of followers of a faith. It is not the faith itself. Organized Religion is...

You have not offended me. I never actually brought what my belief is to this roundtable. And I absolutely know the difference between faith and religion. If this were a discussion of organized religion's place in healthcare, I suspect there were be fewer people arguing for it and a lot more...

Isn't that really what you are saying too? Know the basics before you try the advanced = basics before advanced? I agree that nobody should be attempting to perform a skill that they do not fully understand. Just because one manual says to hyperventilate a cerebral herniation doesn't mean a...

LMAO! Some people just don't realize that the current methods are in need of improvement too. They just assume that no person should die once in the care of a professional. If it weren't for trying new methods, we'd be practicing medicine in a very primitive fashion. "Well, chief, I...

I want to emphasize that I am only in disagreement, not that I feel what others believe is cut and dry wrong. No disrespect is intended.

Great advice, Firecoins. "Leave it at home". I'm not going to debate which faith is right, beit christianity, muslim, hindu, judaism, zoroastrian or atheism. But I do believe that it doesn't belong in EMS or the ER. We know that it is rude to discuss it at the dinner table with guests...

I LOL'ed. I think this may just be a matter of miscommunication, so let's all just have a pint of D50 and relax.