Does your BLS protocal incl. glucose monitor finger-stick?

A BG level wont really be of any time savings if done by BLS.... all of the ALS providers I have ran with have all said they would do their own BG level check with their services glucometer before administering any treatment. And I agree.
 
ResTech said:
A BG level wont really be of any time savings if done by BLS.... all of the ALS providers I have ran with have all said they would do their own BG level check with their services glucometer before administering any treatment. And I agree.
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This is the same for the ED. As well, emergent glucometer results are checked with a value from the hospital lab.
 
I say let the basics check glucose the old fashioned way.... check the urine.. per taste. :D
 
I tried to teach that to the EMT students, but they would not do it! What's up with the new kids, no real medical skills! hehe
 
Freddy_NYC said:
Does your BLS protocal include glucose monitoring finger-stick? New York City doesn't have one. I'm trying to understand why? If your BLS protocols include glucose finger-sticks do you find it to be necessary and accurate?
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NYC doesn't have one because the triage nurse will do it after the 5 minutes it takes you to transport.
 
like someone said before..in NJ we dont carry them, but we carry oral glucose. indication for oral glucose is diabetic history with altered mental status. contraindication is they are too "out of it" to swallow. lots of times the family is there and knows how to check the BGL with their monitor, I have no issue with letting them do it, but the number doesn't really mean anything to me.
 
daedalus said:
I love it!
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You love it? Tasting urine?

To each his own I guess.

We do carry them and we record a BGL before and after all treatment of diabetic patients CQI.
 
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VDdZ1xD6Yw[/YOUTUBE]

Unfortunately, I can't find the actual clip from Dodgeball.
 
WOW you guys can really hit all the points on this forum! LOL I don't know about invasive though... I do plenty of glucose sticks a day as a CNA on a surgical floor... many more if I am pulled to the ICU. Just my newbie couple cents.
 
JPINFV said:
Wait. You have providers pushing dextrose who aren't allowed to take a BGL?
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Where did I state that?

In New York, we have the following levels;
EMT Basic- vitals, backboard, collar, bleeding control, fracture management, SPO2, Emergency Child Birth, Oxygen, Assist with Patients ASA, NTG, and Epi Pens, Blood Glucose Monitoring after being cleared by Med Control Doctor.

EMT-Intermediate (EMT-I) can do all above plus intubate and start IV.

EMT-Critical Care (EMT-CC) can do all the above plus drugs, ECG reading, Manual defib, cardiovert, pace, needle chest decompression, IO lines. Just cant push Pitocin and do emergency cricothyrotomy (Sorry, spelling is horrible!)

Paramedic- All above plus use of pitocin and cricothyrotomy.

May have missed a few things but thats the basics of what can be done by whom. My question was for the gentleman that asked why an "Advanced EMT" could use the BGL if they couldnt do anything for the pt. Advanced people here CAN by pushing D50 IV.
 
ResTech said:
A BG level wont really be of any time savings if done by BLS.... all of the ALS providers I have ran with have all said they would do their own BG level check with their services glucometer before administering any treatment. And I agree.
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Well thats fine. But with my hospitals in the area I work, they love to get all the info they can from EMS to use as a timeline of the patients condition. Check the progression of events and the severity of the signs and symptoms from the time EMS picked them up to the current time. If we provide BG level, SPO2 readings pre and post O2 administration, lung sounds pre and post O2, all of these diagnostic checks and tools will assist the ED in making an accurate diagnosis, and I have been told this by nurses and ED docs. So I grab the reading all the time. Just the way we do it and I was expressing my opinion.
Stay Safe
 
One county I'm in: no. (But we can use blood if we didn't draw the blood ourselves, oddly enough.) But we can feed them oral glucose if indicated.
Another county: yes.
 
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