Recent content by SixEightWhiskey

I work for a non-transporting service, 3 trucks during the day (either 1 or 2 at night depending on staffing), providing ALS tiered/dual-response with BLS for several municipalities (a population of roughly 250,000). Full-time paramedics are expected to have between 20-25 intubations per year...

correct me if i missed it, but no one has brought up that narcan is not necessarily a benign drug. Besides withdrawal seizures and untoward affects based on size of the dose given vs. the dose of the opiate still in the system, people can have unknown hypersensitivities to it like any other...

Just out of curiosity for the OP and anyone else who has replied, do most of your employers require a PAT prior to being hired? is this FD or municipal-based or for a private? I've worked for several different private and hospital based EMS agencies in the Northeast and the only pre-hire...

Another important question: are you upset at your partner for ostracizing you for coming up with outlandish scenarios that involve his death?

These rhythms require ALS intervention.

Exactly! it's not indicated for the scenario presented. It's that simple. Also, the OP said something alone the lines of "so they can be shocked before they lose consciousness" as a reason. Typically if someone goes into VT/VF arrest, they're going to lose consciousness because they have just...

That's reasonable. I'd rather have the BLS do the other regular BLS stuff in that scenario though and have a good report ready for whenever they do get ALS, and then the medics can decide whether to put the pads on or not if they need to provide some sort of electrical therapy.

It's not a bad way to see if you like being in a healthcare related job, dealing with patients, etc. You learn a lot on the job about a lot of different facets of healthcare and get to see people in varying stages of health from the perfectly healthy to the critically ill.

In so many communities, calling 911 means you will get an ALS truck with at least 1 paramedic every single time. I am a firm believer that this makes every individual paramedic less proficient at their job (since medics are inherently doing a higher volume of lower acuity calls and individually...

between 12-13 depending where you go if i recall correctly. OT just depends on how well staffed your company is and how many trucks they run. And by getting into a hospital, what job/career field are you referring to?

Trinity is definitely good for BLS 911 experience, Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence has BLS 911 now as well but you need a couple years of experience before coming on. Cataldo is a great starting place, i think the most recent starting rate I heard was 13/hr. Armstrong is much the same...

AED = Automated External Defibrillator Defibrillation and cardioversion are not the same thing. Put the AED on people in cardiac arrest. It's a pretty straight forward concept. Not sure exactly how your system works, but if a person is getting nitro/ASA and has chest pain and has a low SPO2...

You may not be familiar with NYC, the hospital based paramedics there are actually in 911 ALS ambulances and respond as part of the NYC 911 system, along with FDNY EMS.

Ask questions that are pertinent to their current complaint. Especially if it's cardiac, you want to know as many details and associated symptoms as you can. Also consider things that your receiving facility might want to know. Details such as height/weight, do you smoke, etc etc save the nurse...

I also am wondering about the steroid use here. If the provider had determined this is a reactive airway disease issue then that would be appropriate, but if he was treating pulmonary edema primarily I'd be a bit dubious. I was always taught that when you have a dual diagnosis such as...