First calls

gnh2276

gnh2276

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about a week and a half ago I went on my first call as a liscenced EMT. I have been on plenty as a driver and lent a hand from time to time having had quite a bit of medical experiance with the military. This paticular call was a code. when I arrived on scene another member was already doing cpr. I jumped in and started compressions for him untill the medics got there. By the time the medics arrived there was nothing we could do for him he had been down too long. One of the medics commented on my compressions and how well they looked on the monitor I said that I only wish they worked.

anyone else have any good first calls.
 
gnh2276 said:
I said that I only wish they worked.
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Unfortunately, cardiac arrest patients can rarely be resuscitated. :sad: It's a sad reality, but not even the greatest EMT on earth can reverse death. I'm glad to hear that your new skills and knowledge proved to be "up to par"! I'm sure that the patient and his family would have been appreciative that you were able to give him whatever chance he had.
 
by the way your not liscenced your certified theres a huge difference.
 
Mercy4Angels said:
by the way your not liscenced your certified theres a huge difference.
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By the way it is spelled licensed... and I am not sure their state, but in mine all EMS personal are licensed not certified and yes you are correct there is a BIG difference.

R/r 911
 
Hmmmmm...I must be missing something then, because the state of Georgia is sending me a LICENSE to practice as an EMT-I......I am NREMT certified, but I need to be licensed to work.
 
gnh2276 said:
about a week and a half ago I went on my first call as a liscenced EMT. I have been on plenty as a driver and lent a hand from time to time having had quite a bit of medical experiance with the military. This paticular call was a code. when I arrived on scene another member was already doing cpr. I jumped in and started compressions for him untill the medics got there. By the time the medics arrived there was nothing we could do for him he had been down too long. One of the medics commented on my compressions and how well they looked on the monitor I said that I only wish they worked.

anyone else have any good first calls.
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My first call as an emt was a MVA w/ injuries w/ bls injuries. Was responding with my Vol fire department so I wasn't actually on a truck. Ambulance service comes and transports both pt's and go on their way. State police begin report writing and then on of the trooper gets struck by another vehicle. Thrown about 30 feet. Luckily his vests prevented major trauma to his torso, but his head and legs took a good beating. I was the only EMT there for a while as other trucks were 15+ minutes out. It was like your training just kicks in and you just know what to do.

Trooper went home to his family the next day.

-Sean
 
Mercy4Angels said:
by the way your not liscenced your certified theres a huge difference.
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License: Permission to engage in a given occupation granted by a government agency. EVERY state issued EMT certificate is a license, regardless of what it says.

Certification: Recognition granted to an individual by a non-governmental agency or association.

The difference between licensure and certification is WHO issues it. There is absolutely no difference in "professional status".

Reference: Spring 2007 NREMT Newsletter.
 
RedZone said:
The difference between licensure and certification is WHO issues it. There is absolutely no difference in "professional status".

Reference: Spring 2007 NREMT Newsletter.
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There are differences in how its maintained. We must 'recertify' which generally involves documentation of our continued edcuation and skill at what we do. A license is generally simply renewed without the accompaning proof of continued competency.
 
Mercy4Angels said:
by the way your not liscenced your certified theres a huge difference.
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That is not true. You are licensed by the state you reside it. You are certified by the system you work in.
 
Mercy4Angels is right about NJ. Here we're certified, not licensed. We operate under the license of our Medical Direction. But as Rid stated, different states do things differently. New Jersey is definitely NOT representative of the majority of states, but that's a different thread (that has been beaten to death already) :-).

edit: Here in jersey it's really just a matter of semantics.
 
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rgnoon said:
Mercy4Angels is right about NJ. Here we're certified, not licensed. We operate under the license of our Medical Direction. But as Rid stated, different states do things differently. New Jersey is definitely NOT representative of the majority of states, but that's a different thread (that has been beaten to death already) :-).
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If you are operating ONLY with an NREMT card in your wallet, you are certified.

If a NJ governmental agency gives you a document, even if that document says the word certification.... it is a license.


The two references I posted clarifies this quite well, and don't be surprised if you see related questions on NREMT exams.
 
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Cool, My only point was that good 'ole jerz doesn't use licensing terms at all in their documentation or education. I'm still debating taking the NREMT (although I most likely will), so thanks for the info.
 
Wasn't my first, but my second call during my field training ride-along was a single rider fatal motorcycle accident. Was riding along with an LA County FD ALS squad, and when we got on-scene, PD already had the rider covered up. He'd been going about 40-50 and hit a center divider and was thrown about 50-60 feet into the oncoming lane. Totally crushed pelvis and nearly amputated leg. The medics hooked him up and found a rhythm, so we worked him up and transported him, but they called him in the ER. Was interesting because one of my classmates was riding along with the AMR crew that we did the transport with...we actually transported with his crew I think 3 times that day.

My first call as a FF was a guy with the flu. I didn't have my radio pager yet (was the night I got sworn on), but did have the text pager. When I got to the scene, I wondered why there were only 4 of us there. Turns out there was a mutual aid fire call a few blocks from my house, but mutual aids only came out over the radio, not on the text. So I missed my first chance at a fire to deal with a flu patient. :rolleyes:
 
One of my first calls was a code on a 5yr. girl. Years later I still remember her little face and how completely helpless I felt when we couldn't save her. I just want to commend you on the obviously great job you did. It's amazing how all our training kicks in when that adrenaline starts flowing. Whenever I'm on a call where we are not able to save someone it's normal to go over what you did or didn't do...it's just part of the processsing.
 
Technically my first call was a let down... cancelled before arrival. However, after that I ran a Priority 1 diabetic, a Priority 1 code, and got my own patient on a car wreck involving 2 priority 3's (Of course, he wasn't really "mine". I had a medic checking up on me to make sure I was taking care of 'em right). Not bad introduction to EMS in my opinion :).
 
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