the 100% directionless thread

[9D4]

Sounds good man! Maybe I'll be a proctor too lol. I applied as adjunct proctor for that program

Will that mean I have an easy A?? Haha jk
I was told that their medic program is actually kind of easy. They said the only reason it was hard is because they teach you to the NREMT but only focus on trauma. Not sure what truth there is to that but they are bad asses when it comes to trauma. Definitely.

 

[JPINFV]

Dear local EMS agencies (both the first responders and transporting agency):

1. Don't

.

2. "But we're at the hospital" is not an appropriate excuse for not fixing your

 

[Handsome Robb]

On my phone, so keeping it kind of short.

Normally we have one day with a 2,000 meter fin, one day were we tread for a decent while and then go to underwater 50m/ freestyle 50m laps. one day of leap frogs (you go in the same lane, one guy does a freestyle on top, the second is doing underwaters. Get to the end, guy a does 10 burpees, guy b does 10 flutter kicks/10 sit ups and then swap), normally followed by more freestyles. Day 4 is normally an open water swim at the lake (3,300 meters total. Feels like I've been murdered on those days). He mixes in drown proofing stuff for me too, like buddy breathing, underwater knots, etc...

Those are all the basics, little things mixed in. Doesn't seem bad, but it's rough.

It's all dependent on his mood, though. We had one day where he just made me tread for almost 2 hours.

It sounds like you're in good hands. We used to do a variation of drown proofing when I did open water but it never could compare to what y'all do and that's just from the TV programs and word of mouth I've heard.

Keep up the good work man it sounds like you're doing it physically, a 2k meter fins and a 3.3k meter open water swims is no joke now just keep your head in the game!

 

[Handsome Robb]

I think I might have read sometime back that your main issue was the labrum tear. The surgery quite likely put your labrum back on to the path to good healing, but the scar tissue that's in there will have to be remodeled to provide greatest strength that the scar tissue can provide and it won't be as strong as the tissue was before it tore. Your PT exercises should very much help with that. What you don't want to do for a while is put explosive loads on your healing tissues. That will cause further injury and set you way back.

The reason I'm concentrating on the SITS muscles is because after surgery, the RC isn't needed as much, so they become atrophied from disuse and because your shoulder has been limited in ROM, your body has to relearn how to both move and keep the shoulder stable. Your RC (aka SITS) muscles provide active stability. Part of that is making your body learn where it is in space (proprioception) and teaching your body how to use the SITS muscles again.

Kettle bells might be a way to allow that to happen, but be very careful about the weight and stress that you put on your shoulder with them. Depending upon where you are in your resistance band work, you might be able to replace some of those movements with kettle bells from time to time.

Probably the biggest thing you can do is have a chat with your PT and let it be known that you feel you're ready to begin to be more aggressive with your rehab and you want to be functionally ready to resume work quickly. You'll still need do to rehab work for another year from now as it may take that long for you to be 100%. Functional may be 80% of what you'd normally be capable of.

You'll have to both pay great attention to the PT when they're providing you instruction about what to do, but you'll also have to be willing to do the homework they give you. Athletes tend to be very motivated to play, so they usually do the homework, so their functional recovery tends to be very fast compared to "average" people.

Don't start modifying your exercise routine until after you've had a chance to talk to the PT about changing things up and how to do it safely and as aggressively as your body will allow.

You're definitely right. As much as I want to get after it I need to be cautious. My PT is cool and gives me ideas but it also seems slow, maybe that's the athlete in me though. Outside of the "standard" PT stuff they told me lots of dumbbells and light power lifts since they tend to be purposeful in our job. I'll have to talk to him more than that.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Akulahawk]

You're definitely right. As much as I want to get after it I need to be cautious. My PT is cool and gives me ideas but it also seems slow, maybe that's the athlete in me though. Outside of the "standard" PT stuff they told me lots of dumbbells and light power lifts since they tend to be purposeful in our job. I'll have to talk to him more than that.

Thanks for the advice.

You're very welcome! They're correct in that certain specific exercises are more purposeful for our job... that being deadlifts and squats. Honestly, given that it's your shoulder that is being rehabbed, I'm not all that worried about squat exercises. The deadlift is something to be very careful about because it will put significant stress on your shoulders as it's going to pull on your recently repaired labrum unless your musculature is strong enough. This is something you'll have to very much listen to the advice of your PT as to how much weight you should use.

Dumbells are good for a lot of the exercises you'd want to do. No matter what exercises you're doing, don't do anything explosive that involves your arms or shoulders. You want to take on stress smoothly. Explosively adding stress to your body right now can easily overstress the healing tissues, tearing them and you'll be right back where you were before surgery - broken.

 

[Tigger]

Yup, I really want to take a four hour exit exam from a three week academy for a part time job tomorrow. Me lurv tests.

Seriously, when someone asks about the content of such exams, "everything that could have been conceivably covered" is not an answer. If you don't know what you are testing people on, you just not be giving them a test.

Ok I am done whining.

 

[UnkiEMT]

Yup, I really want to take a four hour exit exam from a three week academy for a part time job tomorrow. Me lurv tests.

Seriously, when someone asks about the content of such exams, "everything that could have been conceivably covered" is not an answer. If you don't know what you are testing people on, you just not be giving them a test.

Ok I am done whining.

I literally can't imagine the perqs a job would have to offer me to make it worth my while to take a 3 week academy followed by a 4 hour exam prior to hiring...as a medic, let alone as an enhanced basic.

 

[Handsome Robb]

I literally can't imagine the perqs a job would have to offer me to make it worth my while to take a 3 week academy followed by a 4 hour exam prior to hiring...as a medic, let alone as an enhanced basic.

We run a week orientation, week "academy" which is basically equipment and protocol familiarization along with a med math and protocol test at the end on the "ops" stuff in our protocols. Then 1 week driving as a third, then 5 weeks attending 100% calls with two more protocol test, adult and peds, then an adult and pediatric clearing scenario. If you fail they were offering EMT-I positions (this is the medic process) but sounds like they're gonna go to "sorry but no thanks, re-apply in 6 months."

That's all hearsay about the change from the EMT-I spot to say so don't quote me on it.

 

[Tigger]

I literally can't imagine the perqs a job would have to offer me to make it worth my while to take a 3 week academy followed by a 4 hour exam prior to hiring...as a medic, let alone as an enhanced basic.

On the bright side, I got paid for my refresher. Oh wait I already did that at my regular place.... I guess I got my medical director approval out the way. Maybe?

I dunno, I live in where this operation is, so it'll be nice to be able to pick up some extra cash on short notice. I don't work for a particularly busy place so it'll be a nice change every now and again I hope. And it gives me the opportunity to prove myself to a wider audience and dispel the myth that the mountain agencies are "retirement agencies."

 

[UnkiEMT]

We run a week orientation, week "academy" which is basically equipment and protocol familiarization along with a med math and protocol test at the end on the "ops" stuff in our protocols. Then 1 week driving as a third, then 5 weeks attending 100% calls with two more protocol test, adult and peds, then an adult and pediatric clearing scenario. If you fail they were offering EMT-I positions (this is the medic process) but sounds like they're gonna go to "sorry but no thanks, re-apply in 6 months."

That's all hearsay about the change from the EMT-I spot to say so don't quote me on it.

Now, I don't mind even a quite extensive FTO period (Not that I wouldn't gripe about it as I was going through it, but I still think it's reasonable), and if you want me to spend even 16 hours learning the protocols backwards, forwards and upside down so I can be sure I can make whatever my patient needs fall under them, that's fine (Even though I've never seen a protocol book I can't make my :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: in less than four hours.). If you want me to do an AVOC refresher/test, sure, Ambulances are expensive, I wouldn't want some new hire crashing one.

That being said, all of that (Less the FTO period) is 4 days. I know who I am, I know what I can do, and I'm willing to put forth some effort to prove that to an employer. It seems like the amount of effort I'm willing to put forth is 4 days (Plus FTO), How much would they have to pay me to make me be willing to put in another 11 days after that?

I dunno, maybe I'm just lucky, I've never really had to look for a job in an area that 'medics aren't in shortage.

 

[chaz90]

We have to spend a week in various class/orientation time before we even got on a truck for FTO time here. Honestly, I didn't mind it. It's fully paid at your regular wage, and it helps to show the employer is committed to quality and the new hire gets a set of baseline "county specific" knowledge. Everything operations wise here is 180 degrees different from how I used to do things, so I was grateful for the gradual transition period they put us through.

 

[lissa304]

I didn't really get what this thread was about so I clicked on it and creeped a bit. LITERALLY 100% directionless. hahah Some random talks goin on in here!

 

[lissa304]

Following the Snake River from Utah all the way into Montana -- especially this time of year -- is one of the most gorgeous and fun (watch them turns Ninja!) Routes in the U.S.! Go to Glacier following Flathead Lake and make sure to get some of their cherries!

Montana is completely beautiful! I was up in that area about 8 months ago! GORGEOUS!

 

[lissa304]

Well since you got all the bad luck today hopefully my flights are without delay tomorrow! :rofl:

Good luck on your flights!

 

[PotatoMedic]

Looks like AMR Seattle is on its last leg for contract negotiations. National mediator flying in for a one day negotiation and if no contract, then strike.

 

[Fire51]

I just finished my one week orientation which was boring, the only fun part was EVOC then the rest was " this is what we expect from you and this is how our company is ran". Now we go on to do a 3/4 4/3 internship for 10 shifts which will add up to about 3-4 weeks for our internship process.

 

[Emergency Metaphysics]

First "code 3" call

Had my first "code 3" call the other day. I work at a children's hospital and we had a 2-year-old patient who needed a kidney. I had just left work when I got a call that said, "Matt, come back to work, she got her kidney." I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and floored it back to work, threw the kid in a car seat, and was getting ready to rush her to the hospital for the waiting flight crew to take her to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Then, the flight crew rolls up in an ambulance. Way to kill my adrenaline rush. Way to plan. Oh well, she gets a kidney, and I now know I can do 70 mph down the street to work and apparently no one cares. I should have hanged my head out of the window and made siren sounds.

M.

 

[chaz90]

Had my first "code 3" call the other day. I work at a children's hospital and we had a 2-year-old patient who needed a kidney. I had just left work when I got a call that said, "Matt, come back to work, she got her kidney." I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and floored it back to work, threw the kid in a car seat, and was getting ready to rush her to the hospital for the waiting flight crew to take her to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Then, the flight crew rolls up in an ambulance. Way to kill my adrenaline rush. Way to plan. Oh well, she gets a kidney, and I now know I can do 70 mph down the street to work and apparently no one cares. I should have hanged my head out of the window and made siren sounds.

M.

Huh? What is your job that they somehow called you back to inform you someone needed transport rather than calling an ambulance service or waiting for the flight crew? I'm quite confused by this scenario. Everywhere I've seen has brought even fixed wing flight crews to the hospital in an ambulance to transfer care.

As a side note, you'll get a lot of recommendations to slow down and take your time here. Flipping a U-Turn in the middle of the street and driving 70 MPH is never worth it, whether in an ambulance or not. The time savings just aren't worth it.

Glad to hear the kid matched for a kidney though!

 

[Medic Tim]

Had my first "code 3" call the other day. I work at a children's hospital and we had a 2-year-old patient who needed a kidney. I had just left work when I got a call that said, "Matt, come back to work, she got her kidney." I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and floored it back to work, threw the kid in a car seat, and was getting ready to rush her to the hospital for the waiting flight crew to take her to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Then, the flight crew rolls up in an ambulance. Way to kill my adrenaline rush. Way to plan. Oh well, she gets a kidney, and I now know I can do 70 mph down the street to work and apparently no one cares. I should have hanged my head out of the window and made siren sounds.

M.

Glad the kid got a kidney..... Besides that I hope you don't kill yourself or others by being an idiot.
Facepalm

 

[Chewy20]

There is nothing like sitting on the airway tarmac for an extra two hours added on to your two hour layover for a normally 30 minute flight. Pilot had the audacity to inform us we could use our phones on the plane while waiting. At least it was a brand new jet with touch screen tv's. I'll stop whining now.