Recent content by ExpatMedic

Nice, good job! It's always neat to be able to witness changes real time in the field. Keep us updated.

Which leads were required or used to notice those T waves?

In that specific case, yes. But, I believe my response was to a scenario that involved chest pain, not a 'silent MI'. Valliant effort, though. With that said, the common "silent MI" is often accompanied with some, and/or all of the following: difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting...

In the case of the elderly, diabetic, female who is feeling 'down and out', I would obviously hope that my monitor shows me a STEMI. That is, assuming she is experiencing an MI. I already had that on my list of examples, but you do bring up a good possible use. Thanks.

The chest pain is present, as well as the risk factor, as such, I would be hauling booty and following a chest pain protocol, regardless of what my monitor suggested. "Treat the patient, not the monitor." EDIT - With that said, in the presence of a STEMI, does your system allow you to bypass...

Yup, thats a decent start. The kind of answer I was looking for. :) Not so much with the 'are you kidding me' or 'To diagnose an MI!' responses. For the MI responses... Assuming you have ruled out other possible causes, such as SVT, would your treatment have changed with no STEMI...

Everyone loves telling war stories, so with that said, I'd like to hear some calls you've ran where a 12-lead actually made any difference in your patient care. If you have the actual strip to post, that'd be great.

I'll be here in Iraq to at the very least August 31st of 2010, my NR and state certs expire March of 2011. With that said, perhaps you all can help me figure out the best way(s) to obtain CE's while abroad. I know there are online courses, but I believe that all of your CE's can not be...

Perhaps that is true. I went to P-school in the beginning of 2008 and they were still going through a civilian (6 month) paramedic program. Perhaps it has changed. Then again, the AF has shown a lot of trouble in keeping the contracts with the schools they send their PJ's to.

Any G-shock watch. I have the G-shock 3031 Mudresist/Mudman watch. I have a few gshocks and it's my favorite. The Gshock line also has a few analog versions with a digital second hand. I like gshocks due to the abuse they can take, along with the fact that you can scrub the heck out of them...

A better argument would be to state that you don't need experience with patients before attending medical school, or nursing school, for that matter. Although I had approx 4-5 years in fire/ems before I went to medic school, I see no problem with schools not requiring experience before...

Yea, it's actually quite nice right now. Not so much during the first 2-3 months I was here. 130 and above was common, with 120's being the norm.

I may be wrong, so please don't quote me. As far as I know, the only people who actually go through a civilian based NREMT-Paramedic program are the PJ's in the AF. With that said, the PJ's were trained at the same college I wen't to for Paramedic school (easter NM univ). I believe they now...

Have I used it in place of other medications for allergic reactions? No, our protocols are not written in a way that allows us to. However, like others have mentioned, it apparently does work.

Been lurking for some time now, figured I would pop in and introduce myself. I'm currently working as an expat for a Medevac/ambulance company in Iraq, but I started my career in the fire/ems service a little over 7 years ago. Before coming to Iraq in June, I was working for a municipal dept...