Recent content by ksEMTbabe

Age.... is a number. Period, end of story. There are some young medics out there I'd trust to save my family, some older ones I'd rather wait for a truck from another state to come rescue me. The reverse is also true - there are quite a few brand new EMTs I've come across that I'd like to see...

Typically around here medical pts get an 18g or 20g, subject to the state of the vein situation and significant trauma pts get 16g. Basically we keep a couple long 14's around for chest decompression should the need arise, otherwise we don't really use them, although I've done it once on a...

Yeah, we're seeing more and more confirmed MRSA cases here. The sad thing is, apparently once hospitals diagnose it, they're not doing a very good job educating people on how to manage it. My favorite though is when we find out a pt has it and has known about it for a while but didn't think to...

FISDAP is an online reporting, scheduling, and tracking software some medic programs use to keep track of hours a student has scheduled and has completed in clinicals and FI. It also is a way of tallying the students skills like IV starts, trauma contacts, medical contacts, intubations, med...

LOL I'd like to have gone to Medic school where you are. We had to do about 270 hours in the hospital and 504 on an ambulance.

I work full time for one service and part time for another - at my full time, we only carry Solu-Medrol, and carry both Decadron and Solu-Medrol at my part time. When both are available, the Decadron is used almost exclusively for head injuries and the Solu-Medrol for everything else, including...

My first thought with the temp regulation problem coupled with the pinpoint pupils was that she has some sort of neurologic dysfunction - possibly related to her hypothalamus? That would explain the hypothermia and since the hypothalamus also controls some autonomic functions it could have an...

Physical agility testing... that's tantamount to a dirty word around here. When I tested for hiring here, my captain thought it would be a "fun" idea to use the LAFD's quarterly fitness test. A circuit training kind of thing w/ pushups, pullups, sit-ups and the kicker... a step test. We had...

I've got several scenario sheets and other field diagnosis worksheets I'd be glad to e-mail you or whatever Phridae... I knew being a pack rat with all my class materials would pay off someday! :)

Well at least you're a glass-half-full kind of guy Chimpie!

We're allowed to nap during the day if all the chores and all that are done. The problem with that is we dispatch for the PD so of course they're on the radio all day long. But at midnoc they switch to county for dispatch so we get to go to bed after that.

I hope you have wheels on your super kit TTLWHKR....and a little backup beeper. It's a good thing we don't carry that much stuff in one kit - I'd be knocking things over left and right trying to get into a house.

I just quit my first full-time EMS job after 7 days... It was like moving in next door to the Beverly Hillibillies (not the house in California, but the neighborhood they left). My boss (who was also my partner) was the biggest male cheauvinist I've ever met in my life...we ran about 12 calls...

Awwww! Congrats!

We don't have any concrete policy for facial hair and things of that sort other than just using common sense. Body jewelry is actually becoming more prevalent on trucks around here. As long as it doesn't compromise pt care, it isn't a big deal