Recent content by upstateemt

Yup, lots of experience with inter facility transfers and wheel chair gigs.

Sorry, I fail to follow your logic. You are saying I would be more "professional" if I were a paid EMT and a volunteer RN? I happen to make about twice the going local salary of a Paramedic as an RN. I also have about twice the education, well actually more than twice since I'll be...

Thank you. I'm heading back to my mostly lurking status. It's threads like this that make me wonder why I bother reading this forum at all. It should, perhaps be renamed "Paid" EMTLIFE. Interesting to note that very seldom does a volunteer start a thread "what's wrong with paid EMT's"...

seriously. perhaps I should add the caveot, "and not gotten paid for it".

Yes, I would and I do. I volunteer my Nursing services with a local Hospice. Your question makes no sense however since like most people I need a paid profession in order to live. No one is faulting paid EMT's for using that skill to make a living we are simply saying don't call us...

WHAT THE H#LL??????????????????????? I don't know what state YOU practice in but in my state and in the states I am familiar with the education and testing are the SAME regardless of whether you are paid or not. In NYS the EMT B is a TWO SEMESTER COURSE followed by the same testing for all...

The analogy that because a person is a volunteer they treat EMS as a hobby is totally absured and faulty logic. Your attitude is what a previous poster was talking about when they discussed Ego issues in EMS. You get a pay check, big deal. I take the refresher classes right along side...

Volunteers save lives. Not every community is large enough to provide paid services, to expect them to do so is to place an unfair financial hardship on them. As a volunteer with a small town agency I maintain the same educational requirements expected of the paid service 30 miles down...

Well, the poster invited ALS comment. All BLS could do is care for the patient response and transport.

Since the only way on knowing if it was the unit malfunctioning or the patient actually having VT of VF is to put them on a monitor it would have to be an ALS call. If only BLS were available there would be little that could be done except to monitor ABC's and transport quickly.

The magnet does not "shut off" a PPM, it simply reverts the settings to "factory" settings, usually a rat of 60-70. Battery end of life can be determined by a "magnet test" as can thresholds and impedence. Think about it, if a magnet shut off a PPM, there would be a world of opportunity in...

In this day and age where new protocols for Cardiac Patients have ICD's being implanted almost as frequently as PPM's and in many Cardiac Centers they are routinely implanted in any person who has a STEMI and and EF <30% the magnets should be on all ALS units and their use included in protocols...

In atrial fib the ventricular complex is most often narrow, indicating that it is a conducted beat or at the least coming from the upper junctional area. A PVC, a wide ventricular complex may indeed be a "ectopic" ventricular complex: but I am not sure it is incorrect to also call it a PVC.

I am a Critical Care EMT and an Electrophysiology Nurse. Sensing in an ICD can be turned of using a specially designed donut magnet (not just a simple pocket magnet). The donut magnet taped over the device will open a reed switch and prevent sensing and thus preventing discharge. In...

Old dead is much easier than young dead. But, dead is dead and as much a part of life as living and breathing. After a certain amount of time (different for everyone) dead becomes easier to do. Feeling some emotion is not a bad thing, it keeps you empathetic. If you are totally immune to...