What is considered a BLS call in your area

TransportJockey

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honestly tell me what more can you do as a medic during a cardiac arrest than a emt can other than push epi-vaso-intubate.

with out BLS skills and knowledge a cardiac arrest aint worth nothing. only thing that keeps pt alive is compression's. I never have ALS available in my service, I run arrest,stemi,overdose, gun shots, trauma.... I do it all. BVM YOUR PATIENT ALL THE WAY!!!!!!
bvm=cpap(manual)
I can run a full arrest on scene. That right there gives them a better chance at ROSC than loading a working code into an ambulance and running code back to the ED. All you're doing at that point us risking yourself, your partner, and innocent bystanders over a dead body
 

DesertMedic66

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honestly tell me what more can you do as a medic during a cardiac arrest than a emt can other than push epi-vaso-intubate.

with out BLS skills and knowledge a cardiac arrest aint worth nothing. only thing that keeps pt alive is compression's. I never have ALS available in my service, I run arrest,stemi,overdose, gun shots, trauma.... I do it all. BVM YOUR PATIENT ALL THE WAY!!!!!!
bvm=cpap(manual)
Ill bite with a very quick answer to what more a medic can do, tension pneumothorax...
 

SeeNoMore

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I would imagine post ROSC outcomes might differ BLS vs ALS with a long enough transport time. But I don't know if there is any good data on this.
 

johnrsemt

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EVERY CALL IS BLS; depending on time to ED.
I always hated (when I worked in a multi tier department) BLS crews that would wait on scene for ALS to arrive when they could see the ED across the street.
 

chaz90

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EVERY CALL IS BLS; depending on time to ED.
I always hated (when I worked in a multi tier department) BLS crews that would wait on scene for ALS to arrive when they could see the ED across the street.
Sorta depends on the situation doesn't it? There's times where it's appropriate to pick up and go to the ED, and there are times appropriate to wait a couple minutes for ALS. Pain management and chest pain patients if nearest hospital is not PCI capable come to mind. Also, cardiac arrests if ALS is reasonably close.
 

nrfdfreal

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Living in a very rural area, our ambulance is just part of our volunteer fire dept. We provide care at the BLS level only. There is a county Paramedic fly car on 6a-6p everyday but during the night we go BLS. If I feel comfortable going basic I will but if I need ALS for whatever reason (chest pain, pain management, etc..) there are several neighboring ambulance services that staff Paramedics.
 

NomeProvider

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Being probably one of the most rural EMTs in this thread, there's no such thing as an ALS call where I'm at. All volunteer department in Nome, Alaska, and we respond to everything with whomever is on-call that day/night. GSW? Back Pain? Broken Arm? Doesn't matter, we're going with the same crew. We'll do what we can, load, and go. The plus side is that we have very short transport times once we're loaded. The bad side is that our local hospital doesn't even have a real ED and barely qualifies as a "level 4 trauma center". If anything serious happens, once you're stabilized at the hospital, you've got a 2 hour flight to a real medical facility.
 

Calico

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The weird thing is our station is fully capable of being ALS, but we have no medics to staff it so we have to defer to city/metro ALS. ;_; Anything chest pain or shortness of breath is automatically ALS. Everything else including car in the ditch and car vs. deer (low speed impact) is typically BLS. The only problem is that unless it's "quarter after one, I'm all alone and my knee hurts now" we're automatically simul-toned out with ALS. Nice in real emergencies, pain in the butt with small stuff since they have greater authority to transport.
 

Joey DeMartino

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Never have seen a BLS run over here. It usually takes an IC, two engines, one medic unit, two BLS buggies, the county EMS coordinator , a mutual full aid response, water tender, and the standard contingency of LEO assistance to respond to a high school kid with potential separation anxiety. But the bird will remain on stand-by. Ya' just never know....
 

DesertMedic66

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Never have seen a BLS run over here. It usually takes an IC, two engines, one medic unit, two BLS buggies, the county EMS coordinator , a mutual full aid response, water tender, and the standard contingency of LEO assistance to respond to a high school kid with potential separation anxiety. But the bird will remain on stand-by. Ya' just never know....
You must live in a very slow area. That tends to happen in our slower areas. It gives everyone something to do.

And also I think it's about time you guys upgrade from those buggies
 

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Joey DeMartino

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Naw... the horses are pretty bored too.... After all- we gotta' spread the happiness to all of our participating agencies. An' besides... it's good revenue for the alfalfa farmers..... Sure miss Cali.....
 

Joey DeMartino

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You must live in a very slow area. That tends to happen in our slower areas. It gives everyone something to do.

And also I think it's about time you guys upgrade from those buggies
You must live in a very slow area. That tends to happen in our slower areas. It gives everyone something to do.

And also I think it's about time you guys upgrade from those buggies
I see you got a pic of our star medic doin' his morning whiskey update. Damn horses were still hung over.
 

TransportJockey

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