I thought diabetic was a fruity smelling breath.
DKA is.
Hyperosmolar nonketotic coma is not.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I thought diabetic was a fruity smelling breath.
Did the guy crash into a pile of beer cans, or was he carrying around his empties on his bike to recycle later?
DKA is.
Hyperosmolar nonketotic coma is not.
Is that similar to hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma, Im assuming its just adding an extra word? we always use HHNKCon our charts and with nurses...
Well I like to jump to conclusions, so if he looks drunk, acts drunk, smells drunk, then usually their drunk.
Drunks and diabetics in me experience have a completely different smell and it should take you about 20 seconds to determine one from the other.
If the two medics and ten other people on scene are assuming he is drunk them I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and go with he s drunk.
This. Alot of people are getting very upset that the OP stated patient was intoxicated. Not hard to determine really.
What does 10-50 mean?
So we're in class last night when the tones drop and LAS (the agency I'm taking my class thru) gets paged out for a motorcycle 10-50 2 miles west of town. This is only the 4th night of class so none of us were expecting to get to do anything. Right now we're working on checking vitals and pt assessment. Instructor figured it would be a good chance to get hands on in the field. We load up in one rig and 2 medics and 1 intermed go in the first due rig. We get there and rescue 1 with the medics clears the scene and gets access to the pt. We students (theres only 4 of us) pile out and take notes on what's going on. Pt is unresponsive to painful stimuli, severley intoxicated, and laying 100 feet down the road from where the motorcycle is laying in the ditch. Medics get c-spine, board, o2, load and get ready to go. Instructor picked me and 1 other kid to go with them. It was cramped to say the least. Went code 3 to the ER and made the report, cleaned out, stocked up, and headed back. Spent 2 hours talking about the call and discussing what we learned.
Maybe your instructors should spend more time looking at the FEMA and other disaster/mass casualty experiences and recommendations than what they have always done.
We need to better regulate who can be EMS instructors.
I can think of more important qualifications than whether they follow FEMA guidelines on using 10 codes as apart of an EMT class.
I remember my EMS instructor explicitly telling us that we aren't supposed to use 10-codes anymore, or say stupid phrases on the radio like, "Be advised...". I heard both on my first ride-along.
Well I like to jump to conclusions, so if he looks drunk, acts drunk, smells drunk, then usually their drunk.
Drunks and diabetics in me experience have a completely different smell and it should take you about 20 seconds to determine one from the other.
If the two medics and ten other people on scene are assuming he is drunk them I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and go with he s drunk.
What does 10-50 mean?
I can think of more important qualifications than whether they follow FEMA guidelines on using 10 codes as apart of an EMT class.
Don't be quick to make them intoxicated, just because they have a liter of vodka in their pocket!