Sorry guys. This is typically why I don't participate in online forums. I get misconstrued or someone misconstrues me. Then someone gets butt hurt and this time it was me.
Let's make this about nitpicking me. Not the issue at hand. I have a particular stance, presented it and you would rather hit my lack of experience and obviously less education in EMS. Calling me young and dumb is not a discussion.
I'm out.
Not so much that I've only seen one patient that would benefit. I can think of one particular case that sticks out in my mind in which a patient was on the verge of being unresponsive but never quite there and I knew I would not be able to go any farther without RSI. He needed it right at that...
The second is your alive but dying patient. Pill overdoses with unresponsive patients you've got a good chance of vomiting. It's not easy to manage a large patient in the back of an ambulance that is vomiting all over, aspirating and compounding their already significant problems. It is easy to...
Bustin my balls here vent. The skill in itself is no more difficult than any others we perform. My medic instructor apparently used to bring in his grade school daughter and show that she could intubate. He hounded us on WHEN to intubate not how to.
Speaking on certain situations and barring...
I agree that this debate will never be over. I think some of the things I said were taken the wrong way and I'm not going to write out more clarification. I think it's a skill that's needed. I agree there are some out there that are not behaving as clinicians and are also terrible at the skill...
If ego driven hogwash was how it came across I'm sorry that was not how it was meant. I was offering my opinion and gave an example. I don't do anything because it is sexy. If an ET tube was nothing but sexy then why do doctors do them? When are you allowed to step it up then? If someone is on...
I personally believe intubation is a skill needed by all medics. Maybe we do need more training in the skill and when to use it. The idea of only letting a small group of more trained EMS providers have that skill is detrimental. What happens when a "regular" medic comes across an overdose and...
I am also a fairly new medic and I agree it is difficult to determine sometimes. I used to work in a system like you described. Aging population, lots of CHF/COPD patients, and long transports. One of the things that is a big caution is the quick application of Albuterol. As an EMT I've seen...
I have used Haldol/Versed a few times. Most notably on a young guy that had just dropped acid his first time. He was extremely agitated and violent. When I go there a pile of people were holding him down. 5/5 and about 10 minutes later he started to have increasingly long "moments of clarity"...
I don't believe in just throwing meds at things in a "blanket" sense. I don't know who lurks in these forums so I can at the post rather timidly. I've been hit in QA and by doctors. Without breaking down entire calls. QA for a TCA overdose. Reason is that person gives Narcan for every pill...
I like the idea. However, in large, busy systems where the hospital is 5-10 minutes away from your vehicle rollover you're just adding one more thing to get distracted by when you could have used the 5+ minutes to stabilize and drive. I also agree with monkey arrow above.
I've been working in the field as a medic for about 11 months now. I just wanted to get a feel for how others operate. How many other providers give Narcan routinely to unresponsive/altered patients regardless of s/s of opiate use? I personally have had a few instances where I come across an...
I heard about the heart lac third hand through my boss. They seemed to be making a big deal about the heart lac but listing it as contributing. I did not get an answer on the major cause.
3am CPR in progress goes out. We arrive less than 5 minutes from our tones. Mid 60's male, was complaining of heartburn then slid out of chair and onto floor. Only has history of hypertension. My partner and I are first on scene. A male family member is doing what appears to be effective...