Recent content by alphamikefoxtrot

Tested yesterday @ 1300 for the NREMT; test questions went from relatively simple to very difficult pretty quickly. I was suprised to see some of the content related to things I felt we don't have within the scope of practice / standard of care as an EMT - some even bordered on what I would...

I know I am likely preaching to the choir here, but when will people realize that not only is obesity a threat to long term health from a life-expectancy standpoint / short term health from a quality of life standpoint, but can be DEADLY (excepting cardiac arrest) in an emergency scenario re...

Dementia patients are honestly one of my areas of uncertainty / apprehension. I have nothing but respect for elderly people and want to care for them as kindly and professionally as I possibly can. I would expect with this situation (for me) it would depend on a dozen environmental...

If they're over slotted for a training Co at Airborne they set a cutoff line using ASVAB & APFT w the 'real' Airborne minimums. But of course that's not 'official.'

Exactly correct; you'll be taking care of '5th squad' or 'Sick Call Rangers' all day long and likely working at an aid station. Not to discredit anyone serving in those roles whatsoever, but it's likely not what they were picturing when they signed up for that MOS. If possible, build...

If you've not applied the knowledge in some fashion over the time that has lapsed since course completion the knowledge will no doubt be rusty. Are you having problems with test anxiety? It sounds as though there are more factors in play beyond the time gap.

Transferability of military training re Medic (ie. 68W in the Army) is often limited as there are obvious paralells between EMS and Army CLS / Medic training, but there are also great yawning-chasms of difference as well that cause said limitations. That being said, every service has their...

I find it pretty entertaining. It's slightly less than par for the course re explicit / off-color content with Dennis Leary at the helm; I look forward to more episodes / seasons when they really ramp up the dark humor. Rather than criticizing what they 'do' say, I'd like to think it's a good...

I work in a 'square job' (office) FT and am currently in school part time for Basic at a program about 45 minutes away. Makes for 3 exceedingly long days in the week but well worth it :)

I'm in nearly the exact same boat as Bella. Starting my '2nd career' as an EMT to pursue eventual admission to PA school in Michigan, facing the same obstacles. B school starts tomorrow, pretty excited!

It's the blood-sugar spike you're finding yourself craving. A diet that is more rounded in complex carbs will prevent that blood glucose from dropping off precipitously. I train in the evenings and have to manage caloric intake throughout the day to make sure my energy level is constant and...

Managing pain is critically-important to the healing process. At whatever tolerance / level a person becomes distressed as a result of the pain you then begin to sacrifice a great deal of your metabolic capacity dealing with the stress in your body vs alowing your body to heal from the trauma...

Same principle applies. I would like to think the consequences of poor diet / usage of harmful stimulants are all to evident to folks in EMS.

First you have to want to quit. If you don't WANT to quit, you won't. There isn't likely to be a 'magic bullet' method, sadly, that fits every individual. The best motivation I can think of to quit anything harmful is to realize what its doing to to others in your life, and to yourself, and...

Drinking and getting behind the wheel is a bad idea for more reasons than I can count, let alone for the reason that a DUI would make the prospect of future / ongoing employment in EMS unlikely.