I love Zofran and will use it with anyone who is complaining of nausea and with pain meds that tend to cause nausea. Keep in mind, it is prophylaxis for emesis. The ones that are already puking their guts out when you get there would be better served with Phenergan.
As for IVs...
1. Place the tourniquet and let their arm dangle, but don't put the tk on so tight that it starts to occlude arterial flow as well as venous.
2. Remember that their are plenty of places to look besides AC and hand. Back of forearm, lateral/distal forearm (above radius)...
I'm sure you'll find some very useful tips/tricks of you search around. As for me personally, I can recommend the following:
1. Find a blade you like. With adults, I usually start with a Mac 4 or Wisconsin 3 depending on what's available and change if I need. With kids, I go with the...
http://www.templejc.edu/dept/ems/pages/powerpoint.html
This is a great resource for EMT and Paramedic presentations that I've used to supplement my lectures for people in my classes who prefer a visual presentation. (Just be sure to give credit where credit is due.)
The aneurysms you're thinking of which could cause differential upper extremity blood pressures is Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm or an aneurysm in other thoracic vasculature.
This is key. If you avoid everything in life that someone might sue you for, you'll never leave the house. Instead focus on making your treatment decisions defensible. That is to say, if someone chose to sue you for something, you'd be in a good position to defend your actions in court.
If...
It's easy for me to say, because I don't have any religious beliefs, but you should ALWAYS act in your patient's best interest. If 911 was called, it's because someone needs some sort of help, not a lecture on the wages of sin. If one's religious dogma interferes with their ability to do this...
Just not something I'm willing to go without if things get rough. Example being, thanks to the weather here in the dirty south last weekend, I found myself doing 8 hours of swift water rescue and citizen assists out of the back of the ambulance thanks to the sudden rains. I have never been...
Quoted for emphasis. There is no cardiac concentration or anaphylaxis concentration.
1:1000 for IM/SQ and 1:10,000 for IV. At the EMT-B level you'll likely be giving it IM (Epi-Pen) so the dosage will be 300 mcg IM of 1:1000 (which would be 0.3 mL). If you were administering it IV (in an...
Here's the computer narrative from a run I just did. I tend to be long-winded, but I'd rather over do my documentation (I've been subpoenaed for several calls, mostly DWIs and domestics, that were between 2 and 4 years old). This is essentially CHART. I don't include times in the "Treatment"...
I usually start with "Hi there, what's going on today?" I usually skip the "Hello sir, I'm Paramedic Surge with the Internet County Fire Department" because my name, fire department name, and certification are embroidered in large letters on my shirt. After the initial assessment, I will...
We use it in symptomatic brady after other stuff. We use it earlier in kids with bradycardia. It also has a place in refractory anaphylaxis or bronchospasm.
Then you should certainly be able to complete a report during transport :) I suppose I would describe my working environment as the sub-sub-suburban boonies. You must be in the actual sticks.
Glad your experiences have been nicer than mine, but I've also given Narcan in carefully titrated doses to many opioid comas in my career I've had plenty of them projectile vomit on the nearest wall or come absolutely unglued. The fact is, you can pay attention the other underlying problems and...
Other problem (the obvious have obviously been covered) is that if they don't pack it, they run a great risk of the top tissue healing back and the open space filling back up with all that lovely anaerobic, multimicrobial, cottage cheezy goodness and they're gonna wind up right back where they...
On stable patients, I often finish my report on the trip (granted, averge transport is 30-45 minutes to a community hospital and 45-1:15 the "real" hospitals). It is quite possible to watch a patient, write a report, and carry on a conversation at the same time. Even on critical patients that...
Grab the scalple from the OB kit, a betadine prep, and a 7.0 ETT and go to town :)
The Nu-Trake isn't a bad set-up, but it's expensive given how often it will be used.
Let me start by saying...I really hate Narcan. I don't like dealing with seizing, combative, or puking junkies. That said, if my options are intubating someone (EtOH or no, a GCS of 3 is a candidate) or try Narcan, I'd give the meds a shot before I tubed them.
As to the original question...