We don't do manual CPR too often with the autopulse but when we do we count to 25 in our head then the last 5 we count out loud.
things you will never live down
- Thread starter c-spine
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We don't do manual CPR too often with the autopulse but when we do we count to 25 in our head then the last 5 we count out loud.
We do the same, count only the last 5 out loud, as a prompt to the person breathing. That is, of course, until the medics get the tube.
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Been there, done that!
mhink3989
Forum Ride Along
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I'm really good friends with a medic who works with my volly service as a fly car unit and who also works for AMR. he intived me to ride along down in the city on the o/n with him and his partner so i could get some real action rather then the bs calls i get up in the valley. we got a few good calls in the night, more then id see up at my service, so i was in all my sparky glory. we got dispatched as a 2nd unit for the mva roll over with ejection. i'd never had a really good accident like that and the scene was just chaos. he went to assist the other ALS car who was treating the pt who was ejected. the other passengers were fine, they were wearing their seatbelts of course....so i went to join him with assisting with the guy who got ejected. he became extremely combative, and started rippin off the collar, spittin blood, it was pretty brutal from what i'm used to seeing so where i was his tail, i kept some distance. he climbed in the back of the ambulance with the other medic and the driver of that car had gotten in the front seat unbeknown to me....so when the guy started screamin the cops o/s closed the ambulance door...with me outside...and next thing in know the ambulance is driving away. i turn around to return to our actual truck and its gone! his partner had transported the other ppl in the truck with an officer o/s so they could be with their friend who was ejected at the hospital. so here i am, left on scene @ 4 am without a clue as to where i am....so i went and hung out with the FD who found this quite hilarious. after about 10 minuets my phone rings and its my friend calling asking "ummmm where are you" and when i told him he left me o/s he started profusley apologizing and spating out how sorry he was....he came back and got me, and i got breakfast out of the deal...but i dont let him live it down lol.
Sasha
Forum Chief
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Recently in class for some reason or another we were talking about the spine, and I had a moment of pure stupidity.
"So.. six cervical vertebrae"
"Wait.. aren't there seven?"
".. No."
"But... are you sure?"
"Uh YEAH! Look. Here's a picture of the spine! That's C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, C-6...And there's C-7... Oh wait.. THATS T-1!" and then he threw a dry erase marker at my head
Then my brain kick started back into action and I can't imagine where I got seven cervical vertebrae, but since that night I've been known as "C-7".
Jerks.
"So.. six cervical vertebrae"
"Wait.. aren't there seven?"
".. No."
"But... are you sure?"
"Uh YEAH! Look. Here's a picture of the spine! That's C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, C-6...And there's C-7... Oh wait.. THATS T-1!" and then he threw a dry erase marker at my head
Then my brain kick started back into action and I can't imagine where I got seven cervical vertebrae, but since that night I've been known as "C-7".
Jerks.
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emtbill
Forum Crew Member
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But...there are seven cervical vertebrae...and 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 4 coccygeal for 33 vertebrae total. Sounds like you need to call your instructor C-6!
Sasha
Forum Chief
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But...there are seven cervical vertebrae...and 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 4 coccygeal for 33 vertebrae total. Sounds like you need to call your instructor C-6!
OH MY GOD.
Oh my freaking god.
There ARE seven cervical vertebrae.
They fought with me so freaking much over it that I conceeded and haven't looked it up since..because.. you know.. I trust someone who has been in EMS longer than I've been ALIVE to know more than I do. But I just DID look it up.. Oh my GOD I'm so angry! >:[ They fought with me, told me to go back to EMT school, made me think I had remembered it wrong, hit me with a dry erase marker, etc. And I was RIGHT!
medic417
The Truth Provider
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Never give up, Never surrender. Right or wrong always fight. And if you find out your wrong don't tell them.
You should find the largest anatomy book you can find and go throw it at them for being wrong. Bet it hurts more than the dry erase marker.
Sasha
Forum Chief
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I've been accused of that many times, actually. I usually never conceed if they can't show me how I'm wrong and have proof of their answer. But man. Been in EMS 24 years and doesn't know how many vertebrae are in the spine!
Arrrgh!
medic417
The Truth Provider
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Maybe evolution created another vertebrea since they got in EMS.
Hopefully was just a bad day and they don't want to admit they were wrong.
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
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stephenrb81
Forum Lieutenant
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I feel your pain. I got into an argument with our arrhythmia instructor over what I interpreted as a junctional rhythm.
The instructor is a VERY intelligent CCRN, former medic, sits on the regional subcommittee for our OEMS, even most of those in the area who don't know her personally recognize her name through the grapevine..............And then there is me....a simple medic student questioning her when I am positive I see a junctional rhythm.
She will question you nonstop even if you give the right answer so that you can explain your rationale. Problem is that if you are wrong, you look and feel like a HUGE idiot (Hell, the way she questioned you, you felt like an idiot even when you were right).
Long story short, she informed me that I couldn't interpret it as a junctional rhythm because she didn't specify which lead the strip was representing. To which the subject of every one of my counter-arguments was: "You never specified which lead all the ones that were correctly answered as NSR's were so whose to say they were sinus in origin"
Me and her argued for a full 25 mins after the class was *suppose* to end, keeping everyone there late, so I was everyone's 'top guy' that day.
I conceded. I fully understood her point in regards to lead placement and conduction pathways but my point was a real one too. So for every rhythm I was faced with on one of her tests I would mark my answer and then write aftewards "Assuming Lead <II, III, MCL, etc....>"
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Sasha
Forum Chief
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...and you're going to be a medic?
:huh::lol:
just kiddin'.
You betcha. And a great one too :]
Sasha
Forum Chief
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So what was the final verdict? We have had clashes like that before, where all the students and the instructor saw something different, and we usually go find another instructor to give their feedback, if everyone still sees something different we ask the ER doc next time someone is in there.
aussieemt1980
Forum Lieutenant
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This is not prehospital related, but I did two things this week on a med/surg placement for nursing degree that I probably will not live down.
1. A new pt coming over from ED, track down a bed, claim it as mine and have to organise the bedmakers to come over to set it all up. I am tasked to contact the bedmakers. I dial a number, it answered "bed..." and went slightly quiet, so I assumed that I had rang the bedmakers. I give them my details, the ward and the bed number, and comes the reply "I tell you what beds to put the patients in. I dont make them dear."
At that point I realised out loud (to the laughter of other nurses) that I had called the bed allocation manager of the whole hospital....
2. I nearly got booted from a shift handover when I made a comment about a patient. An 80 yr old alzheimers pt had been admitted following a motor vehicle accident and managed to get her car airborne through a roundabout.
Day shift staff knew, I am sure they told arvo shift, but no one told night shift. When we came in the next day, the night shift nurse was told what happened, to which she replied "wow, she must have been flying high" (in reference to the psych issues), I could not help my reply:
"She was, over the top of the roundabout"
1. A new pt coming over from ED, track down a bed, claim it as mine and have to organise the bedmakers to come over to set it all up. I am tasked to contact the bedmakers. I dial a number, it answered "bed..." and went slightly quiet, so I assumed that I had rang the bedmakers. I give them my details, the ward and the bed number, and comes the reply "I tell you what beds to put the patients in. I dont make them dear."
At that point I realised out loud (to the laughter of other nurses) that I had called the bed allocation manager of the whole hospital....
2. I nearly got booted from a shift handover when I made a comment about a patient. An 80 yr old alzheimers pt had been admitted following a motor vehicle accident and managed to get her car airborne through a roundabout.
Day shift staff knew, I am sure they told arvo shift, but no one told night shift. When we came in the next day, the night shift nurse was told what happened, to which she replied "wow, she must have been flying high" (in reference to the psych issues), I could not help my reply:
"She was, over the top of the roundabout"
lightsandsirens5
Forum Deputy Chief
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Yup - we all have those circumstances beyond our control - or the ones that should be under our control but just aren't. Here's a couple of mine...and one I witnessed.
1. I've been running with a paid service for about a year and half (been in EMS for 8 years total). Inevitably if I do something dumb, it will be on shift with one particular medic. He's a great guy and we get along well, but I'm sure he looks at me and just scratches his head. Like while I was precepting...during the morning truck check, I opened the driver's door and placed my 16 oz. hot chocolate (no - I don't like coffee!) on the armrest. I checked what I needed there and proceeded to the rest of the rig. Meanwhile, somebody realized the driver's door was still open and decided to be helpful and shut it. Yup - all over the driver's seat. Now this Medic usually prefers to drive - and I was still precepting (READ AS: supposed to be the third wheel in the back of the rig) - but I got the privilege of chaffuering that day, and had damp pants for the whole shift.
2. Same medic - different day. He takes care of some of the vehicle maintainence and I had to inform him that Ambulance 1 needed some repair work. I had taken a call to the local old folks home and had backed into a metal pole. It hadn't looked too bad at the time, until I got out to open the back doors at the hospital - the back step bumper was falling off. My partner and I taped it back on and drove to the station (33 miles). The medic and I went and got the needed parts and as I was putting things back together - I ended up as a picture on his phone, so every time I call him...
Last one (cuz this is longer than I thought)...
3. In 2001, I took the First Responder course to begin my volunteer time in EMS. During our practical time learning to take blood pressure readings, we had one student practicing by palp. Said student had the cuff on his arm and was having trouble locating a radial pulse. He finally shrugged, and said, "No problem, I know I can find this one" and proceeded to palpate the carotid artery while pumping up the cuff. Everyone else began laughing and I finally had to explain to him where the cuff would have to go in order to get a palpated BP using that artery.
1. I've been running with a paid service for about a year and half (been in EMS for 8 years total). Inevitably if I do something dumb, it will be on shift with one particular medic. He's a great guy and we get along well, but I'm sure he looks at me and just scratches his head. Like while I was precepting...during the morning truck check, I opened the driver's door and placed my 16 oz. hot chocolate (no - I don't like coffee!) on the armrest. I checked what I needed there and proceeded to the rest of the rig. Meanwhile, somebody realized the driver's door was still open and decided to be helpful and shut it. Yup - all over the driver's seat. Now this Medic usually prefers to drive - and I was still precepting (READ AS: supposed to be the third wheel in the back of the rig) - but I got the privilege of chaffuering that day, and had damp pants for the whole shift.
2. Same medic - different day. He takes care of some of the vehicle maintainence and I had to inform him that Ambulance 1 needed some repair work. I had taken a call to the local old folks home and had backed into a metal pole. It hadn't looked too bad at the time, until I got out to open the back doors at the hospital - the back step bumper was falling off. My partner and I taped it back on and drove to the station (33 miles). The medic and I went and got the needed parts and as I was putting things back together - I ended up as a picture on his phone, so every time I call him...
Last one (cuz this is longer than I thought)...
3. In 2001, I took the First Responder course to begin my volunteer time in EMS. During our practical time learning to take blood pressure readings, we had one student practicing by palp. Said student had the cuff on his arm and was having trouble locating a radial pulse. He finally shrugged, and said, "No problem, I know I can find this one" and proceeded to palpate the carotid artery while pumping up the cuff. Everyone else began laughing and I finally had to explain to him where the cuff would have to go in order to get a palpated BP using that artery.
new emt never gonna live down...
1. Telling pt "I'm gonna get you off now" and "It's gonna be a bit bumpy getting you off"
2. Telling pt "We're gonna drop you now" (just warning them....)
3. Telling pt to "Enjoy your stay" at hospice facility
4. Calling in to dispatch "Please be advised we have an on-scene delay. Our patient is ill and unable to walk" (....we were waiting for a w/c at psych facility)
1. Telling pt "I'm gonna get you off now" and "It's gonna be a bit bumpy getting you off"
2. Telling pt "We're gonna drop you now" (just warning them....)
3. Telling pt to "Enjoy your stay" at hospice facility
4. Calling in to dispatch "Please be advised we have an on-scene delay. Our patient is ill and unable to walk" (....we were waiting for a w/c at psych facility)
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Although this is not my story, a well respected medic in our service once told us about one of his first calls in his younger years.
They were doing a standby at a gymnastics tournament when they encountered with pain in her legs. The pt. informed him that she had shin-splints. He proceeded to ask the pt., "Well..if you have shin-splints...why aren't you wearing them?"
They were doing a standby at a gymnastics tournament when they encountered with pain in her legs. The pt. informed him that she had shin-splints. He proceeded to ask the pt., "Well..if you have shin-splints...why aren't you wearing them?"