Recent content by CMHills

I appreciate everyone's replies. To those who wonder why I care what others think, I don't. I just figure that kind of grief gets in the way of getting the job done. As for the boot question, I've just discovered that what I'm used to wearing in a remote/backcountry setting doesn't meet...

Ok, so I've done a lot of searching around and have answered a few of my own questions, but there are still a few things I'm curious about. See, I'm used to functioning in a wilderness setting, so I'm accustomed to doing things a certain way that may or may not be kosher or normal in an urban...

I prefer to carry a backboard, spider straps, and a D-tank in my left anterior superior cargo system. I've also sewn red. white, and amber flashers onto the shoulders of all of my shirts, off and on duty. Can never be too careful.

AOD - Acute Onset Dramatitis Also, for those calls from folks who think there's something wrong when there isn't, we usually suspect a case of Mundane Living Syndrome.

Maybe this is just too obvious to be mentioned, but the one thing I absolutely won't tolerate is carelessness with sharps.

A few I've noticed: - Anything involving what an EMSP should do when they encounter something off duty. - Fire vs. Third-service EMS. - Guns. (I know it's been said, but those get so bad it needed repeating) - "The way it should be..." When we get going about why our EMS system(s)...

Never heard of such a thing... it seems like the only services that could get away with that are ambos running out of hospitals. It's just a hunch, but I have a feeling that any other FD/EMS service would have to do all kinds of paperwork to be allowed to do that - be classified as a different...

Fair enough. Wasn't sure if it was that simple or there was some crazy loophole or something. Thanks for the advice. This should be fun, it's been awhile since I've stared a coup.

I gotcha. So, in light of what you said, why/how do so many employers (especially schools) require certification of their employees? It's still terrifying and I don't like it, but it makes sense. It seems the question has now become how to train everyone without getting sued. "What a...

I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this, so admins, feel free to move me around if it's not. I'm an RA at my small liberal arts college, and have recently been trying to convince the residence life office to let me train all of the RAs in CPR. However, I keep getting fed this exact...

I've never run across a book for acronyms only, but the textbook for your EMT class will (probably) have an appendix for medical terminology and a list of all the acronyms it gives you.

The biggest thing you can do to get acquainted with the basics is to familiarize yourself with the more basic & common terminology EMSers throw around on shift. That, and getting the texts EMT John mentioned will put you in a pretty good place.

While you're moving through everything at what should seem like a painfully slow pace, be sure to verbalize everything you're doing. There are some things you just flat out need to verbalize, but those are few and far between. The biggest reason to talk through everything is to keep your...

In my Basic class, I think my instructor's exact words in response to this question were "To test the gag reflex? Oh you just stick an OPA down there. The pt will let you know if they have a gag reflex." He then proceeded to test the dummy's gag reflex with his middle finger.

I was taught the eyelash thing too, but I've never used it. One of my instructors told me that it's possible (though unlikely) for a pt to have a gag reflex and no twitch reflex in their eyelids. Whatever the specifics are, I just tend to go for the gold with an OPA. It's quicker, and if I were...