EMS related acronyms

ochacon80 said:
I apologize for any confusion, I meant abbreviations and mnemonics. I am trying to get a job here in L.A. County and seems like some of the test are focusing a lot on those two items.
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You might look up the abbreviations specific to L.A. County. Like many other things in California EMS, each county must find some way to be unique. However, many of these abbreviations are nationally accepted.

I could only find Sacramento, NorCal and El Dorado. Daedalus or JPNIFV might be able to help you out with LA.

http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/ems/pdf/Documentation/4_Abbreviations.pdf
 
Here's a MS Word document my instructor supplied me containing abbreviations we commonly use in Edmonton.

EMTlife wasn't letting me add it as an attachment, so if you have any issues with the link just let me know.

common_abbreviations.doc
 
VentMedic said:
Let me give you a little information incase you decide to join the real world again.



This is an assumption.
We have had documentation and standardized abbreviation requirements in most health care facilities for many years. The "short hand" crap will no longer fly in the professional world if it is a made up term used only by you and YOUR doctor. Even doctors are now held to this standard which makes me thing even you as a nurse would be also.

Proper documentation is not an option. It is now a standard to be a professional. If doesn't matter where you are an EMT-B, RN or MD. It really isn't a difficult concept.
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I have heard this from my mother. The RNs now will not hesitate to call the MD and demand they come re-write their chart/order. This would not have been the case 10 or even 5 years ago.

That said, I have read some pretty crapppy H&Ps

HEENT: normal
CV: sounds present
GI: not examined
etc etc

Sounds almost like the mythical "orthopedic surgeon auscultation spot", where this bozo can place his stethoscope just inferior to the apex and hear lung, heart, and bowel sounds in the same place to see if they are grossly intact. Hehehe.

Seriously, do not become this guy.
 
FYI: NREMT does not allow abbreviations and mnemonics on their tests. Since it can be a regional issue and not standard.

Ironically, the term APGAR will no longer be required to be taught in the new scope (2011) as the term is not as important as the assessment and intervention that should follow.

R/r 911
 
Ridryder911 said:
Ironically, the term APGAR will no longer be required to be taught in the new scope (2011) as the term is not as important as the assessment and intervention that should follow.

R/r 911
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It is still very important if you work in L&D. We still consider it a vital assessment and may determine prognosis by it.

Of course it is impractical for a Paramedic to keep track of time when some can't when running an ACLS protocol.
 
VentMedic said:
It is still very important if you work in L&D. We still consider it a vital assessment and may determine prognosis by it.

Of course it is impractical for a Paramedic to keep track of time when some can't when running an ACLS protocol.
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I agree, I did not make those changes, just was aware as we were attempting to make a question in regards to the APGAR scale and found it was no where in the new curriculum/scope for the EMT level.

I agree with the time issue as well, but I can say most L & D's have more than one person being responsible for taking care of mother & baby too.

R/r911
 
Ridryder911 said:
I agree with the time issue as well, but I can say most L & D's have more than one person being responsible for taking care of mother & baby too.

R/r911
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Correct. There are usually at least 1-2 staff members for each if the baby is in trouble. Although that seems greatly understaffed when compared to 4 - 6 Paramedics on scene for one patient in some parts of this country.
 
but 4-6 isn't that many. You need 1 to watch the truck, 1 to "supervise," a 'go-for,' 1 to play with the radio, 1 to write the report, 1 to assess, and 1 to treat.

See, 6 is understaffed. Some just don't understand the harsh strenous environment that paramedics work in.

/sarcasm.
 
JPINFV said:
but 4-6 isn't that many. You need 1 to watch the truck, 1 to "supervise," a 'go-for,' 1 to play with the radio, 1 to write the report, 1 to assess, and 1 to treat.

See, 6 is understaffed. Some just don't understand the harsh strenous environment that paramedics work in.

/sarcasm.
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That is why we sometimes run a Rescue truck with the ALS engine so we can have 8 Paramedics instead of just 6.
 
VentMedic said:
That is why we sometimes run a Rescue truck with the ALS engine so we can have 8 Paramedics instead of just 6.
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If it got real tough at granny's house, the patrol could roll on scene in addition to the ambulance, squad, and engine. La county fire....

2+2+2+4= 10
 
daedalus said:
If it got real tough at granny's house, the patrol could roll on scene in addition to the ambulance, squad, and engine. La county fire....

2+2+2+4= 10
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Hahahaha, I've seen that....

For a near syncopal trip/fall, pt ambulatory and stable on arrival of all 4 apparatus. Squad rode just in case.
 
Dcap-btls

Anyone here actually use DCAP-BTLS?

I'll be the first to tell you my experience is extremely limited. I got my NREMT Basic cert last week. Have all the paperwork sent into the state and though I checked on the money order and they cashed the processing fee, they of course haven't gotten anywhere close to ready to send it back yet. :rolleyes:

I've done somewhere in the range of 10-15 ride-alongs ranging from 6-16 hours, with the regular 12 hr shift being the norm.

So far, I've never used DCAP-BTLS, never seen it actually used, and can't think of why it would be used.

If somebody complains of twisting their ankle, I'm going to inspect it for anything abnormal. I'm not going to waste their time or mine by going "Hmm.. Do I see any Deformitites? No, Contusions? No....." I'm going to look at it and go hmmm, it's their normal skin color, it's not hanging off at a weird angle, and it's not swollen to the size of a softball. Cool. *Palpate* That hurt? No? Cool. And take 'em to the hospital to cover my ***.

On a side note, I just took the NREMT Basic exam about two weeks ago and though it is different for everyone, I didn't recieve a single question on abbreviations OR acronyms. ;)
 
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The only time I've ever seen DCAP-BTLS was on the transfer sheet at my water park job. Technically speaking (I say "techically" because I don't see this request being denied), the first aid "incident reports" (read: PCR) were not to leave the part, including when handing patients over to paramedics or basics for transfer to definitive care. Now two things to note: In general, the reports weren't anywhere close to being filled out in the 10 minutes or so between patient contact and handover anyways (simply too much to do between assessment, treatment, and if possible, movement to employee entrance to meet EMS). What had been made up, though, was a half page quick report form that was approved to be handed over. On that, the secondary exam information was presented by region with DCAP-BTLS preprinted so that the provider only had to circle it if present.
 
JPINFV said:
...secondary exam information was presented by region with DCAP-BTLS preprinted so that the provider only had to circle it if present.
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Hmmm. It makes sense on a run report. It was in my book as an actual in-field memory aid. In that sense, it would be a waste of time IMO.

But as far as a run report goes, I wouldn't mind circling D,C,T,S and writing "suspected fracture" to help me remember what to log into the comp. later.
 
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