the 100% directionless thread

[mct601]

I can't stand using codes, especially since I am working on my 4th company in three years come next week. Its redundant and useless. Every county/parish down here has their own too. When I was first responding in south MS I constantly had to advise SO dispatch "please use plain english, I didnt copy".

 

[Medic Tim]

Finished my PHTLS refresher. The term BLS before ALS was use at last 11 or 12 times. I was the only paramedic. No rns no mds no pas. The instructor was an advanced EMT .

 

[DesertMedic66]

We follow the ICS system as far as using 10 codes, which is we don't. Everything is plain English.

 

[mct601]

We follow the ICS system as far as using 10 codes, which is we don't. Everything is plain English.

As it should be. The ambulance services down here have codes that typically contradict one another. I know one company has a signal for a psych, while the other uses it for a possible/death. AMR is really the only company that pushes it (they actually give a written exam to the people coming out of orientation on the 10 codes, signals, and posts). Luckily my current full time and part time companies are lax on it. I don't know how my next company will be, but its small so I'd imagine lax as well.

 

[Aprz]

My county has been really interested in all the FEMA stuff, and they mostly want us to use plain English, but they still say some weird things.

I don't know why, but they changed "en route" to "responding". They changed "clear" to "available". I always like to joke by saying "available and ready to run more calls", but I'll release the push to talk button so they don't hear me say "and ready to run more calls".

They say "x-ray" when you are returning to the station to go off duty, but you are still available for calls.

They say "nora" when you are returning to the station to go off duty, but you are no longer available for calls.

I regularly hear "OD" for "off duty", "EOS" for "end of shift", and "ODS" for "on-duty supervisor". I don't see why we made changes to be NIMS compliant, and then we aren't really NIMS compliant in certain areas. :\

 

[Epi-do]

It's official, those clouds up there are as black as can be.

16yo male, unrestrained passenger who took the full impact into a tree. Bleeding from the ears, depressed skull fracture, and blood in his urine. We were about an hour from the closest Level I, and all the birds were grounded due to low cloud ceiling. Forced to go to the local ED with him, and not happy about it. I'm not going to go into all the details, but despite telling them that if someone could get me some extra help to go along for the ride, I was willing to beat feet and get him where he needed to be, and being completely ignored, things just continued to spiral downhill.

An hour and a half after getting to the ED, and watching this kid starting to decompensate, another round of phone calls was made to try and get HEMS. Still no one was flying, so they headed our way via ground. It was somewhere around 3 1/2 hours after I picked the kid up before he was loaded into another truck and taken to the Level I.

At the very best, this kid will be lucky to have made it into surgery 4 1/2-5 hours after the accident. It wouldn't have been ideal, but had I been allowed to head straight to the trauma center, he would of been there a heck of a lot sooner and into surgery, where he needed to be, a lot quicker as well. It's just frustrating when your put into a situation where you know what you need to do, but circumstances dictate it can't be done. Between local policy and politics, my hands were tied when it came to making a decision about where to transport.

Thanks to the delay in transport, the kid is now behind the 8 ball. I really hope he pulls through.

 

[Jim37F]

The only 10 code I hear with any regularity is 10-100 which I've gathered through context (or half the time they just say what it means immediately after saying "10-100") means crew member has stepped off the rig. I've let a 10-4 slip once lol but pretty much any other time the response over the radio is usually "uh, say again?" Lol

 

[Wheel]

So, I took a good look over the protocols for the agency I'll be joining this month, and it looks like there are only a few minor changes, mostly in the drug box.

1. Amio, instead of Lidocaine
2. Glucagon (yay)
3. Nitro paste
4. Fent as primary narc instead of morphine (yay)
5. They don't have therapeutic hypothermia, but it is being looked at as a possibility

Overall I'm happy with those changes. Hopefully they'll add hypothermia. What I'm most surprised with is the pay there. It's a bit more than I expected, all things considered (a nice surprise.)

 

[Achilles]

I can't stand using codes, especially since I am working on my 4th company in three years come next week. Its redundant and useless. Every county/parish down here has their own too. When I was first responding in south MS I constantly had to advise SO dispatch "please use plain english, I didnt copy".

Are they ten codes or code colors?

 

[Epi-do]

Apparently, that kid I had that was in the MVC this morning has confirmed spinal, skull, facial, rib, and pelvis fractures. I have no idea about any injury to organs, with the exception of a brain injury.

 

[Handsome Robb]

My county has been really interested in all the FEMA stuff, and they mostly want us to use plain English, but they still say some weird things.

I don't know why, but they changed "en route" to "responding". They changed "clear" to "available". I always like to joke by saying "available and ready to run more calls", but I'll release the push to talk button so they don't hear me say "and ready to run more calls".

They say "x-ray" when you are returning to the station to go off duty, but you are still available for calls.

They say "nora" when you are returning to the station to go off duty, but you are no longer available for calls.

I regularly hear "OD" for "off duty", "EOS" for "end of shift", and "ODS" for "on-duty supervisor". I don't see why we made changes to be NIMS compliant, and then we aren't really NIMS compliant in certain areas. :\

Most of our stuff is plain English. Some 10 codes, usually just 10-4, 10-8 or 10-78. Then status 5 is either time to go home or timed out at the hospital and technically available in the system. Status 6 means pending 911s, usually has a number after it (status 6x2 for 2 calls pending), status 99 is holding the wall, code 50 is a death.


There are a few others that I don't remember off the top of my head

 

[TransportJockey]

Another PHI Training... Lol gotta love paid training days...


The seat I want lol (I'm in the blue)

 

[Aprz]

Nice pictures! I am surprised they landed or lifted off so close to buildings and trees. I attended an airway class, and they landed in front of the station where they were training at, but the station was out in the middle of no wheres.

 

[JPINFV]

The only 10 code I hear with any regularity is 10-100 which I've gathered through context (or half the time they just say what it means immediately after saying "10-100") means crew member has stepped off the rig. I've let a 10-4 slip once lol but pretty much any other time the response over the radio is usually "uh, say again?" Lol

Generally a 10-100 has a very specific reason on why the crew is out of the ambulance.

 

[chaz90]

Hmm, just managed to avoid a call for "cardiac problems" that dispatch managed to assign as an Alpha priority. That kind of fortune can't last long...

 

[CritterNurse]

I don't know why, but they changed "en route" to "responding". They changed "clear" to "available". I always like to joke by saying "available and ready to run more calls", but I'll release the push to talk button so they don't hear me say "and ready to run more calls".

In my area 'en route' and 'responding' mean two different things. En route means you are on the road towards your destination. Responding means you're getting ready to hit the road, but haven't left your current location yet. Its used to let people know you have heard the tone and plan on assisting, but will have a small delay.

 

[RocketMedic]

At Target earlier, and there's a man who appears to be an "urban outdoorsman" sitting on the bench outside the store. He asked a passer-by for some water, so I went back to my car and raided my stash of water and snacks I keep in the trunk. When I gave them to him, I asked if he needed anything else. He said no, he was just waiting for the ambulance. I asked if anyone had called for an ambulance, and when he said no, offered to call myself. I tried to call 411 (information) on my phone, but its a pre-paid, and it wouldn't let me. I tried to look up the number of local PD to get an ambo sent non-emergency, but that didn't work either (stupid pre-paid!!), so I went inside Target to ask them to call for a non-emergency transport. I was informed that the guy was not homeless, and seems to be a regular visitor. Target employee said he'd call the man's caretaker. I finished my shopping and on my way out, there was an AMR rig with one medic talking to the patient, and the other medic talking to PD who'd just arrived on-scene. I'm just glad I'm not the one who called 911.

You got sucked in.

 

[JPINFV]

Over 40,000 posts in this thread...

 

[VFlutter]

Just found out one of our Electrophysiologists drives a Tesla Roadster. Giggidty

 

[Jim37F]

Generally a 10-100 has a very specific reason on why the crew is out of the ambulance.

Generally at my company used when someone's in the bathroom or waiting in line for food. We're a non emergency inter facility transport company with no 911 contracts and street corner posting (excuse me- SSM) all shift so generally speaking as long as your not delayed more than a couple minutes it's no big deal.

En route and responding are used interchangeably as well as clear and available