So like many of my threads, this one started as a lunch-time conversation.
Strangely enough during a discussion on land navigation devices.
Generally, if you hang around Fire/EMS/Military long enough, you will discover that the more working parts something has, the more it breaks.
Inevitably, when it fails, it always does so at the most inopportune time, and often in a very exciting way.
I am going to pick on EMS, but they are not the only purveyors of another piece of useless junk designed to save the world, make something easy hard, or create 10 lbs of "must have" stuff to fill the 5 lb compartment with.
As a non EMS example, what is the deal with surgical scissors? A scalpel or fovie works just fine, and you don't have to be right handed to make them work. (my vengence in the form of a laryngoscope on all of you right handed :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s.)
But really?
A better backboard. A better suction tip, a better ET tube...
If you can't intubate because of lack of skill, here is your new fiber optic toy. Far cheaper than training you and... That cost is more easily passed from the agency to consumer.
What about stretchers? Some of us old guys remember the old 2 man stretchers that you lifted from the sides. A back-breaker? For sure... But the thing didn't weigh that much. You could carry it through waste deep snow, upstairs, down stairs, and it would fit just about anywhere.
Now it seems the bigger and heavier you can make the stretcher the better it is.
What is wrong with the British idea of putting the stretcher lifting device on the ambulance?
From GPS to electronic PCRs. It is all just battery driven toys. One day the battery will go dead and nobody will know what to do.
Probably right before a thread of EMS workers wanting to go help ventilate people with a BVM in a disaster zone until they can be carted off to a hospital.
Take your pick, from capnography on the nasal cannula to the latest "greatest" heart monitor.
In the future EMS will waste money on unrequired crap, unable to figure out where all the budget money went after they purchase it, be completely useless during extended operations, and then try to get more money to standardize communications.
Bulk purchasing, what a great idea...
In the meanwhile, try not to let your equipment get too wet and your jump bag so heavy it takes 3 men and a boy to carry.
Maybe you could even stop buying this crap and people would quit trying to make and market it.
Strangely enough during a discussion on land navigation devices.
Generally, if you hang around Fire/EMS/Military long enough, you will discover that the more working parts something has, the more it breaks.
Inevitably, when it fails, it always does so at the most inopportune time, and often in a very exciting way.
I am going to pick on EMS, but they are not the only purveyors of another piece of useless junk designed to save the world, make something easy hard, or create 10 lbs of "must have" stuff to fill the 5 lb compartment with.
As a non EMS example, what is the deal with surgical scissors? A scalpel or fovie works just fine, and you don't have to be right handed to make them work. (my vengence in the form of a laryngoscope on all of you right handed :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s.)
But really?
A better backboard. A better suction tip, a better ET tube...
If you can't intubate because of lack of skill, here is your new fiber optic toy. Far cheaper than training you and... That cost is more easily passed from the agency to consumer.
What about stretchers? Some of us old guys remember the old 2 man stretchers that you lifted from the sides. A back-breaker? For sure... But the thing didn't weigh that much. You could carry it through waste deep snow, upstairs, down stairs, and it would fit just about anywhere.
Now it seems the bigger and heavier you can make the stretcher the better it is.
What is wrong with the British idea of putting the stretcher lifting device on the ambulance?
From GPS to electronic PCRs. It is all just battery driven toys. One day the battery will go dead and nobody will know what to do.
Probably right before a thread of EMS workers wanting to go help ventilate people with a BVM in a disaster zone until they can be carted off to a hospital.
Take your pick, from capnography on the nasal cannula to the latest "greatest" heart monitor.
In the future EMS will waste money on unrequired crap, unable to figure out where all the budget money went after they purchase it, be completely useless during extended operations, and then try to get more money to standardize communications.
Bulk purchasing, what a great idea...
In the meanwhile, try not to let your equipment get too wet and your jump bag so heavy it takes 3 men and a boy to carry.
Maybe you could even stop buying this crap and people would quit trying to make and market it.
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