What are some things your agency does that you like?

[Fox800]

Lets say some positive things about your work/department, maybe some interesting things others might adopt at their own workplace.

-Tac channels. We have a dedicated channel for dispatch (you are toned out and go responding on this), and four sub-channels that all traffic pertaining to calls. It sucks when you work at an agency with a lot of ambulances and there's dispatching, back-and-forth, and just stupid stuff all going on the same channel that shouldn't be there. You shouldn't be talking about going to post for dinner when comm's trying to dispatch a cardiac arrest.
-Pre-planning for major incidents (vehicle rescues, fireground scenes). Each ambulance knows what they are supposed to do, it's spelled out in a policy.
-ETCO2 nasal cannulas. WHY don't more places have this? It's awesome.
-A well-planned radio duress protocol. I've worked places where whenever someone hit the radio emergency button, comm didn't know what to do. "HAY YOU GUYS HIT YOUR EMERGENCY BUTTON." Thanks for blowing it while this psych patient is holding me a knifepoint. When we hit the button, we get a low-key response from dispatch, then have to respond with a specific code for all-clear. Anything else gets the cavalry (PD, SO, supervisor, next closest ambulance, fire)
-Stat-Packs. They save your back.
-VisiNet MDC's on Panasonic Toughbooks. Great software. Also has turn-by-turn directions.
-Hand tools for forcing entry to buildings. We use these on alarm activations when the patient can't open the door.

 

[MrBrown]

Broad scopes of practice
No online medical control
Sensible, evidence based guidelines
Mandatory Bachelors and Graduate Degree from 2012
Mandatory 40hrs of CCE per year
Stryker stretchers, no more Stollenwerks
No long spine boards or head blocks
Trial of one stretcher only ambulance
Clinical Standards Managers and Clinical Support Officers
Heavy investment in simulation technoloogy

 

[Fox800]

Broad scopes of practice
No online medical control
Sensible, evidence based guidelines
Mandatory Bachelors and Graduate Degree from 2012
Mandatory 40hrs of CCE per year
Stryker stretchers, no more Stollenwerks
No long spine boards or head blocks
Trial of one stretcher only ambulance
Clinical Standards Managers and Clinical Support Officers
Heavy investment in simulation technoloogy

What do you guys do for suspected spinal injuries?

 

[MrBrown]

What do you guys do for suspected spinal injuries?

Scoop and collar

 

[Fox800]

Scoop and collar

Hmm...what are your indications for this? Do you scoop and collar pt.'s complaining of neck pain? Or only with neurologic deficits/deformities/unreliable pt.'s?

 

[lampnyter]

Scoop and collar

what scoops do you use? i find that scoops take longer to use than long boards but maybe thats because we have those all metal scoops from the 80's.

 

[adamjh3]

what scoops do you use? i find that scoops take longer to use than long boards but maybe thats because we have those all metal scoops from the 80's.

Who cares if it takes longer, as long as your patient isn't critical? We get paid by the hour. The scoop is much better for the patient than the hard, flat spine board. An S shaped spine and a flat board is hardly comfortable, let alone "immobilizing." The spine board is an awesome extrication tool, I'm not a fan of it for much else, though.

 

[MMiz]

My service's deal was they would give us 30 freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies in bags with our service's name on it to hand out to hospitals, NH, etc. during our shift. Nothing beats freshly baked cookies for dinner, a midnight snack, and breakfast.

You can have your fancy equipment all you want, I liked the cookies, and the nurses did too. Walking into a hospital ER without a bag of cookies would create an incident.

 

[the_negro_puppy]

Good pay (Compared to our US brothers)
State run service
Drug therapy protocols change as per international research & evidence
Good overtime opportunities
Max 12 hr shifts (read on here some people do 24 hour wtf....)

 

[MrBrown]

Hmm...what are your indications for this? Do you scoop and collar pt.'s complaining of neck pain? Or only with neurologic deficits/deformities/unreliable pt.'s?

The scoop is our primary extrication tool for non ambulatory patients so no we don't scoop everybody!

We have exclusion criteria for a hard collar which is basically no neurological signs and no distracting injury. Anybody else gets a hard collar.

what scoops do you use? i find that scoops take longer to use than long boards but maybe thats because we have those all metal scoops from the 80's.

Yeah man we still have some of those all metal scoops from the eighties. Other than that we have a small supply of the Ferno yellow plastic ones but all are being replaced with the Combi Carrier II.

 

[Melclin]

Broad scopes of practice
No online medical control
Sensible, evidence based guidelines
Mandatory Bachelors and Graduate Degree from 2012
Mandatory 40hrs of CCE per year
Stryker stretchers, no more Stollenwerks
No long spine boards or head blocks
Trial of one stretcher only ambulance
Clinical Standards Managers and Clinical Support Officers
Heavy investment in simulation technoloogy

One stretcher only ambulances? How are your current ambulances laid out? Where do you sit with more than one stretcher?

Good pay (Compared to our US brothers)
State run service
Drug therapy protocols change as per international research & evidence
Good overtime opportunities
Max 12 hr shifts (read on here some people do 24 hour wtf....)

I love coming on EMTLife for many reasons. One of those reasons is seeing how much worse off we could be here in Australia. There is a great deal of arguing and discontent here in Vic about wages and working conditions. I will never complain now that I've seen how some of you poor buggers in the states cop it, esp pay wise.

Looking at 56k base rate as an intern, potentially 100k with qualification + OT, you really can't complain...getting paid for the time you work (business and IT grads hate me for that), spending the odd quiet morning sitting in the sun with a coffee, or the odd quiet evening watching old re-runs of everybody loves raymond, finishing work and not having a thousand meetings, deadlines and reports do think about, being able to do things like pick up the dry cleaning or take some dvds back, and of course the small matter of doing something worthwhile, something with the potential to be interesting and varied, some that can be fulfilling.

I know I haven't been bruised by some of the crappy realities of the job yet, but hey, throw all the rubbish hours, pay disputes and stress at me you want, it still beats the BS you get in most jobs.

 

[MrBrown]

One stretcher only ambulances? How are your current ambulances laid out? Where do you sit with more than one stretcher?

The current fleet of Sprinters are an American box style which I quite like however they retain the two stretcher model which we have had for decades.

We have one "actual" stretcher which is either a Ferno or a Stollenwerk and another York style trolley which is never used. The top cabinets contain linen on the left and consumables on the right; e.g. oxygen masks, IV kit, bandages, Glad wrap, and some general bits and pieces.

Everything else is kept in a very large green backpack which we can take into a job. This contains the intubation kit, all our drugs, bag mask, diagnostic equipment etc. The scoop, long splints and stair chair are kept in the side locker.,

Interior

Exterior

The new model of Sprinter is a more Australian/European vanbulance type of vehicle. Personally I love the interior but would much perfer the American box style with a modified interior.

Exterior

Interior

We did have a very short lived trial Sprinter which I absolutely LOVED however it is now relegated to being a PTS vehicle (Nana Taxi) and was not introduced mainstream. I am unsure why VanbuSprinter was selected over this one, because it's exactly what I love to bits.

 

[adamjh3]

I love that sprinter, it looks very well laid out.

 

[Stephanie.]

Lets say some positive things about your work/department, maybe some interesting things others might adopt at their own workplace.

-Tac channels. We have a dedicated channel for dispatch (you are toned out and go responding on this), and four sub-channels that all traffic pertaining to calls. It sucks when you work at an agency with a lot of ambulances and there's dispatching, back-and-forth, and just stupid stuff all going on the same channel that shouldn't be there. You shouldn't be talking about going to post for dinner when comm's trying to dispatch a cardiac arrest.

I particularly love having TAC channels!! But, does your service allow dispatch to monitor these channels? Meaning, are they repeated? We assign tactical channels to each units when dispatched to a call. This allows them to contact the first responders and leave our main alarm channel open, for more calls. But our tactical channels aren't repeated so they only reach out about 2-3 miles. This is a downfall because in certain events where maydays occur dispatch cannot hear what is going on, and in most past incidents when maydays occur, dispatch is the one to catch it.

 

[ah2388]

much prefer the box style ambo's vs. the sprinter style as presented by brown.

To be honest my only complaint is that I wish American EMS would get away from being Fire based and would require more education, similar to AUS/NZ/other countries.

If EMS gets away from being fire based, I truly believe it becomes more widely recognizable as a profession and subsequently working conditions improve across the board in the states.

 

[MrBrown]

I love that sprinter, it looks very well laid out.

They are all Sprinters you are going to have to be more specific mate, you mean the second one? (our new model)

 

[Fox800]

I particularly love having TAC channels!! But, does your service allow dispatch to monitor these channels? Meaning, are they repeated? We assign tactical channels to each units when dispatched to a call. This allows them to contact the first responders and leave our main alarm channel open, for more calls. But our tactical channels aren't repeated so they only reach out about 2-3 miles. This is a downfall because in certain events where maydays occur dispatch cannot hear what is going on, and in most past incidents when maydays occur, dispatch is the one to catch it.

Yes they are all repeated. EMS and all first response agencies are on the same tac channel so they can talk to each other, and all channels are also monitored by dispatch.

 

[jjesusfreak01]

Yes they are all repeated. EMS and all first response agencies are on the same tac channel so they can talk to each other, and all channels are also monitored by dispatch.

Can the high end motorolas be programmed to switch to their home channel (dispatch) when the emergency/mayday/10-18 button is pressed? That would seem to be the ideal thing. I don't really want my mayday call going to the local ER if something happens enroute to the hospital (eg, patient becomes combative, etc).

 

[redcrossemt]

Can the high end motorolas be programmed to switch to their home channel (dispatch) when the emergency/mayday/10-18 button is pressed?.

Yes.

 

[Fox800]

Can the high end motorolas be programmed to switch to their home channel (dispatch) when the emergency/mayday/10-18 button is pressed? That would seem to be the ideal thing. I don't really want my mayday call going to the local ER if something happens enroute to the hospital (eg, patient becomes combative, etc).

I'm not sure if they revert to our main/home channel when you hit the button, but it definitely lights up EVERY dispatch console when you hit it (EMS, fire, PD, SO, etc.). It won't stop going off until you turn your radio off, and back on.