California EMSA online newsletter: New Paramedic category, bigger scopes of practice

[Jim37F]

So does that mean BLS ambulances will start carrying pulse oximeters? I would also love to be able to use a glucometer as a Basic, considering its in my scope to give oral glucose, it'd be nice to actually test blood sugar levels

 

[Summit]

Good and all that... but welcome to 10 years ago, California!

 

[TheLocalMedic]

With the exception of fentanyl, lorazepam and BiPAP, that's all stuff that's already in use in my area. Maybe other counties are more restrictive? We got mag and pitocin in the last couple of years, and I have yet to hear of anyone actually using it. We carry a couple of drugs like that which seem like a good idea on paper but never actually get broken out. Like nitro paste, we have it, but I've only ever used it once (and that was for an extreme hypertensive crisis to supplement the nitro I was already tossing into the pts mouth by the handful).

There was talk about getting rid of the King tubes and replacing them with LMAs, which I wouldn't be opposed to. Last few times I've used the King it was a real pain and I've resorted to using a laryngoscope to help me get it in place, might as well just go with a regular ETT.