Watches & Calculators (?)

[CWATT]

I know when it comes to first responders, watches are a solid point of debate. I've sat around the crew table before with each person sharing their watch and the reasons they like it.

Right now I have an analog watch with a silicone wrist-band for easy-cleaning and a colour contrasting second hand. I like it for my initial vitals check but I'm working toward my EMT-P and know I'll need something with a digital display to accuratly record drug/intervention intervals. (Right now the 'event' button on our LP-15s is enough).

I'm curious what other EMT-P responders use. Also curious if you carry a mini-calculator for infusion calculations.


Cheers.

 

[TransportJockey]

I carry a cell phone and a smart watch (Fossil Q Marshall). That's enough for me. And right now the event buttons on my Zoll X are more than enough to record interventions too. I don't use my watch to time interventions at all unless it's just as a stop watch during a code.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Cell phone and I have a wide range of watches (Apple Watch, FitBit Blaze, G-shock, and some $20 watch). Haven't needed anything more

 

[NomadicMedic]

You don't need anything more than your phone for any drug calculation and a watch with a sweep second hand.

 

[Gurby]

Watch doesn't need a sweeping second hand, digital is fine. Take note of what time you start counting at, add 6 or 10 or 30 or whatever method you like, and then stop counting when the clock reaches that high... I use the lap timer on my watch constantly so I can give precise times that I did/gave things.

For calculator app, I looove this one. Allows very quick and easy access to more advanced functions, use parentheses, lets you move around a cursor inside the equation so if you mistype something you can fix it, etc: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.solovyev.android.calculator&hl=en

 

[Handsome Robb]

I use my analog watch....and occasionally my phone for it's calculator.

During an arrest or if we're RSI/DSIing someone we either use event markers on the MRx or someone is delegated to selecting quick treatments and time stamping them in our ePCR.


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[EpiEMS]

Analog watch and a phone...
Not that I have much occasion to calculate anything (maybe a MAP).

 

[StCEMT]

Lost my watch, so I don't even have one. I can usually get pretty close to what the pulse is without. When I did have one, it was a cheap $20 casio. No debate. It tells time. Every phone has a built in calculator and so does my computer, so if I need it I will use those.

 

[Jim37F]

I second the cheap Timex digital (though mine was $30, not as cheap as @StCEMT lol), never needed anything more as a Basic

 

[VentMonkey]

 

[CWATT]

Aren't you guys worried about the optics of 'being on your phone'? Also, what about the flight medics in the group? Do you use your phones in the air?

 

[StCEMT]

I second the cheap Timex digital (though mine was $30, not as cheap as @StCEMT lol), never needed anything more as a Basic

A non California Walmart.

Aren't you guys worried about the optics of 'being on your phone'? Also, what about the flight medics in the group? Do you use your phones in the air?

The optics of being on my phone?

 

[TransportJockey]

Aren't you guys worried about the optics of 'being on your phone'? Also, what about the flight medics in the group? Do you use your phones in the air?

In airplane mode my phone works just fine in the aircraft. And if in calculating drugs it's usually with either a sick kid or with a patient who really isn't responsive. So my body language and activity tends to show that I'm not just surfing YouTube while I'm working on my patient. If a parent asks (which happens) then I just show them the screen. Besides I use the wall of my unit as a white board so it's pretty obvious what I'm doing.

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[VentMonkey]

Also, what about the flight medics in the group? Do you use your phones in the air?

We aren't supposed to have any electronic devices on in flight, that being said you do what you gotta do.

I will throw this out there. In flight it is noisy, loud, and full of vibrations. Hardly the perfect environment for counting off a pulse on a patient whose head (carotid) is, at best, you're most accurate option depending on the aircraft you're in, and it's configuration.

We're often taught/ encouraged to grab these sort of things (breath sounds are a primary great example) on scene of the call, as typically in flight we're relying more so on other diagnostic tools (cardiac/ hemodynamic monitoring, SPO2, ETCO2, pressure alarms on the vent, etc.) for any trends.

TBCH, op, I stop worrying about the counting so long as I am not finding remarkable irregularities in either their presentation, pulse rate, the providers hand-off report, or anything of that nature.

I am not saying I still don't grab the radial, or feel for a pulse, I am just saying as time passes you learn where to put emphasis in regards to each patients vital signs and their specific complaint at hand.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Aren't you guys worried about the optics of 'being on your phone'? Also, what about the flight medics in the group? Do you use your phones in the air?

My phone comes out of my pocket to call the ED or look something up. And my ringer/text sounds are ALWAYS turned off. (Nothing more unprofessional as a medic's pocket making that bottle cap text sound every 30 seconds.)
If the patient ever looked up at me while I was looking up something on the phone, I'd explain what I'm doing. (Or explain to the mom that I'm looking up a drug dose for her kid)
Usually the patients are pretty busy with the process of attempting to die... so it's not usually an issue.

 

[CALEMT]

Calculator watch. Problem solved...

 

[DesertMedic66]

Calculator watch. Problem solved...

I can confirm that @CALEMT does in fact wear a calculator watch

 

[Fry14MN]

I wear a G Shock watch. I've had no issues with it. Several other officers I work with wear that brand too. It holds up nicely if I get into a situation with a patient.

 

[CALEMT]

I can confirm that @CALEMT does in fact wear a calculator watch

You are so full of crap your breath smells. If its relevant I wear a G Shock. I got tired of breaking $20 watches from Walmart when I was a wildland firefighter. Its safe to say that I've beaten mine up to the point where it should've broke. I figured for the OP he could get the best of both worlds and why do I get the feeling that @DesertMedic66 still has a calculator watch that he rocked in elementary school?

 

[VentMonkey]

I don't wear a Casio (though John Candy is still awesome), I do have a G-Shock watch that I carry more around the strap on my backpack than my wrist itself. I am, admittedly, a FitBit-er. I have a Garmin Vizio I wear, and it's usually used as such, and as a watch. There's no second hand or way for me to count a pulse aside from my own on it.

For those thinking, "Wow, what a lazy medic.", I offer this:

What kind of lazy paramedic allows their EMT the luxury of telling them what the pulse feels like, what the count is, and the like?

The answer is...drum roll please...this efficiently lazy paramedic.

Seriously though, I am more concerned with not being able to feel one, or a mega-bounding pulse in the face of an extreme cardiac or neurological emergency.