Recent content by JDallas

One specific call On the specific call I mentioned with an HR of 120 and BP 150/100 (I belive, I don't have a perfect memory), maybe I should mention that the patient was an 80 year old inactive man., which is why those vitals concerned me. Also, I do not advocate applying oxygen as a...

When a patient is stressed out (as they likely are during transport, its a very scary thing), their vitals can skyrocket... surely, you're aware of this. When the patient belives that the EMT is actively treating them instead of just kicking back and watching, they calm down and the vitals...

I concur wholeheartedly with the above quote

Do you mind if I take that quote?

Well, since this thread is back from the dead, I'll chime in... Never EVER EVER give a patient unneeded medication (o2, IV, Band-Aid, ANYTHING). I have seen o2 have a beneficial phsyciatric (spell check?) effect. As a healthcare provider, don't we need to attend to ALL aspects of patient...

If you live near San Bernardino County, Look into County Fire's PCF (Paid Call Firefighter) program. Its essentially a volunteer firefighter with an $8.32/hr pay check. PCFs need to get certain fire-related certs within 12 months, but that isn't an issue if you're looking for short term...

I believe Sacramento Metro has single-role and cross-trained medics.

Side note... Sinusitis can cause unexpected things... One of my first patients was my 11 year old sister. Sinus congetion backed up into her ears and threw her equilibrium off. She fainted early one morning and collapsed onto a highchair. My mother insisted it was "just puberty", so I paused...

I guess I'm just unique in the fact that I live in an area where our firefighters aren't required to do medical calls, so I've never experienced this first hand.

Stationed in Trona, CA, in San Bernardino County, approximately 3 feet from Inyo County. Response area includes the Town of Trona (pop. 1800), the road to Death Valley (45 miles and a large gold mine), and the road towards Victorville/ San Bernardino (scattered houses = pop 100, approximately 30...

I live in an area of San Bernardino County that is served by avolunteer BLS ambulance. ALS units from Kern County (Liberty Ambulance- approximately 20-25 minutes away) often come to assist us. Despite that, I personally have limited knowledge of how the protocols differ. The biggest one I'm...

I write books. Maybe someday I'll write a best seller that will pay for paramedic school. :cool:

Throughout this website, I've detected varying levels of contempt between Fire-Based and private EMS. I'm curious what the reasoning behind that is? I understand that some people want to be in strictly one area- Fire or EMS- but many other people (such as myself) are interested in both...

You're familiar with my little desert valley?