Our cardiac cath alert statistics

[Flight-LP]

Here is an interesting article covering our latest cath alert stats since the programs origin last year. Very impressive thus far, I don't mind saying myself!!!!!

http://www.jems.com/emsinsider/25-2/278377/

However, as always, I find the grey cloud lurking within the silver lining. This paragraph disturbed me...............

"But we have 2,500 paramedics [and 27 provider agencies] in L.A. County," Rokos said, "And obviously we can't train everyone to read ECGs." So Los Angeles County has paramedics rely on an automated computer ECG interpretation. "All they have to do is read ***Acute MI, and that's their ticket to go," he said.

WTF!?!?!?!?!?!? IS EKG INTERPRETATION NOT PART OF THEIR CIRICULUM???

And one wonders why our EMS education system is in shambles..............

 

[Ridryder911]

"But we have 2,500 paramedics [and 27 provider agencies] in L.A. County," Rokos said, "And obviously we can't train everyone to read ECGs." So Los Angeles County has paramedics rely on an automated computer ECG interpretation. "All they have to do is read ***Acute MI, and that's their ticket to go," he said.

WTF!?!?!?!?!?!? IS EKG INTERPRETATION NOT PART OF THEIR CIRICULUM???

And one wonders why our EMS education system is in shambles..............

You know this is just is embarrassing. Excuses! Know matter how many, where, etc.. if you want to be educated, one can have such.. Thank God Hospitals requires physicians ...They have far more than 2500..What B.S !.. So we have more people, we are allowed to be dumb ?...


Geez... !

Keep up the good work Flight LP .. Congrat's on the good stats !

R/r 911

 

[Jon]

The stats look good.

LA County seems to be suffering from TOO MANY paramedics. Their medics, on average, supposedly get 2 tubes a year.... That is why they instituted their "Airway Paramedic" program- where the first in medic takes responsibility for the airway... JUST airway... they don't do anything else... and they are the ones ventilating the patient. Bob Davis also looked at LA City/LA County and noted that Boston, a city with fewer than 100 medics (at the time, 2003) had a much better code-save rate than LA.

Anyway... it would seem that the FIRST part of a good prehosptial code alert is to train the medics on how to read 12-leads. Just because there are 27 agencies and 2500 medics doesn't mean that they can't be trained... make it a mandate that by the end of the year, or mid 2008, that to function as a paramedic in that county, they must meet X standard for 12-lead interpretation. It can be done, but it takes someone stepping up and requiring it.