Typical percentage of calls by type?

[sinus]

Hi. I'm a EMT-B student, I do pretty well with the book stuff. I do read ahead sometimes about ALS interventions, and find them fascinating. However, I heard someone say that an average medic might do 5 inutubations a year.

Which led me to thinking. How often is an "ALS intervention" performed?

Something like:

I give narcotic pain relief on X% of calls
I have to intubate on X% of calls
I have to chemically restraint X%

and so on...

Just as a baseline....Any thoughts?

 

[TechMedic]

I ride as a basic but our paramedic will ride in with us on maybe 5% of our calls. 80% is usually bs

 

[DesertMedic66]

It's going to depend on the system that people work in.

For my area 1 medic may intubate 10 people a year while another medic may not intubate at all that year.

Pain relieve is a lot more common than intubation but once again it varies greatly.

The only chemical restraint we can do is for excited delirium. That is very rare for us to have to do.

 

[wowmulewow]

Like the others said, its all dependent on your location, geographic density, etc. There is really no way of knowing what type of ALS (if any) may occur in any period of time. Most calls in EMS are BLS level calls. One thing you could do, is get your statistics from the state. Most states break down procedures and call types over a period of years. Call types mainly pertain to the Emergency Management side of the house, but can help determine where ALS type calls may occur more frequently in one area, rather than another.

 

[TransportJockey]

I give pain management for approx 25% of my calls. ALS (including ILS skills) account for probably 1/3 or a little more. But I'm an aggressive medic and will happily give out the candy if they need it.
Before I went PRN, however, I did have three full 24 hour shifts with about 10 calls a piece that everyone got at least a line and a monitor, with some narcotics given here and there, Zofran given a lot more, and buckets of duoneb, albuterol, dex, and mag given out.

 

[sinus]

Thanks for the answers. What about % of calls where an ALS medication is administered? Or more specifically, a controlled substance?

I was a CPhT before this, and I blurt out medic drug interventions all the time in a basic class. Need to switch gears.

 

[TransportJockey]

Thanks for the answers. What about % of calls where an ALS medication is administered? Or more specifically, a controlled substance?

I was a CPhT before this, and I blurt out medic drug interventions all the time in a basic class. Need to switch gears.

Controlled? Depends... for me as much as 40% or so require benzos or narcs. As for ALS... I know we give out Zofran like candy (we use ODT so it's not unheard of for an Intermediate or medic to give them zofran and turf them to their basic partner to attend). ALS is a broad term since in some places almost every drug is a medic drug, others (like NM) basics have a broad scope, and we also rely heavily on intermediates.

 

[unleashedfury]

%'s will vary from state to state and provider to provider.

You have providers like Transport Jockey who is an aggressive provider so his percentages may be quite the bit higher than other paramedics.

I have met an old school medic who once said to me Morphine I have is for MI's Benzo's I have is for Seizure patients. All others can kiss it.

Intubations also a hit or miss depending on locale. If your in a region with a higher level of elderly patients with various respiratory diseases you are more likely to intubate vs. a area where most individuals are healthy and have ages of 20 to 50. Also note that prehospital intubation has significantly decreased since the inception of CPAP to prehospital providers.