Most useless equipment you carry

Nebulized DiHydroOxide.... ;)
 
JJR512 said:
The most useless thing I carry with me is an expired credit card I've never taken out of my wallet.
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Not totally useless can be used to make entry if the lock isn't shielded or makes a great ice scraper if you forgot to put one in your car.
 
Fox800 said:
Carrying a stethoscope is useless? Let me know how you get a manual blood pressure or assess your respiratory patients without it.

Get back to me on that one.
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we have like 50 of them on a truck so i never have one on my person.
 
one size fits all...

MMiz said:
I never used a tall cervical collar.
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LOL! One of the services I work for will not buy the adjustable c-collars. I guess they think we aren't smart enough to use them. Anyway, the result is that every patient gets a SHORT c-collar!
 
We carry ceftriaxone for meningococcal meningitis. If you ever needed it, you really do need it. But they tend to gather dust otherwise.

The second indication is for misc severe sepsis and thanks to (until recently) a lack of emphasis on early sepsis management, this rarely happened. Its getting pushed a bit more now.

What gets used even less is lidocaine. We carry it as a local in the event that you cant get IV access and need to give ceftriaxone IM. Imagine how much that gets used...


Air splints. Used relatively frequently but I hate them. Never seen them do anything but causes more pain and obscure you neurovascular obs.

The anchor points for the ePCR computers...no one ever uses them, which is a shame.
 
Melclin said:
We carry ceftriaxone for meningococcal meningitis. If you ever needed it, you really do need it. But they tend to gather dust otherwise.

The second indication is for misc severe sepsis and thanks to (until recently) a lack of emphasis on early sepsis management, this rarely happened. Its getting pushed a bit more now.

What gets used even less is lidocaine. We carry it as a local in the event that you cant get IV access and need to give ceftriaxone IM. Imagine how much that gets used...


Air splints. Used relatively frequently but I hate them. Never seen them do anything but causes more pain and obscure you neurovascular obs.

The anchor points for the ePCR computers...no one ever uses them, which is a shame.
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They're all fine, well, and good... until you deflate them. I'm a fan of vacuum splints, actually. Those don't cause pain when you remove them and they don't put circumferential pressure on a limb. I might choose an air splint if I need to maintain pressure on a larger wound though...

And there's that ceftriaxone thing again... ;)

Lidocaine for local pain management? Who would have thunk? :wacko:
 
On my person?

Used to have to carry a CPR mask pouch on my belt. Way more useful for stuffing lots of gloves and bandaids in than the mask.

Trauma shears seemed to come in handy often for me - but almost never for anything related to patient care.

As far as useful stuff... I always bring my own personal pharmacy to work. Ibuprofen, Excedrin, Tums, cough drops, and a wide variety of other useful OTCs. I hate feeling like crap at work.
 
I smirk whenever I see someone carrying hemostats. Because it's usually an EMT-B, and they are usually carrying several.

I saw a legit zip-tie set attached to my coworker's ballistic vests...part of me chuckled, and the other part thought it wasn't a horribly bad idea, since we typically wear those vests on shootings and stabbings.
 
Akulahawk said:
They're all fine, well, and good... until you deflate them. I'm a fan of vacuum splints, actually. Those don't cause pain when you remove them and they don't put circumferential pressure on a limb. I might choose an air splint if I need to maintain pressure on a larger wound though...

And there's that ceftriaxone thing again... ;)

Lidocaine for local pain management? Who would have thunk? :wacko:
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Vacuum splints are great. Too expensive though. At some rural branches where they have community social clubs or auxiliaries that raise money, they have much better toys. Like vacuum mattresses for spinal immobilisation.

Even the state's volly first aid organization has those moldable sam splints which are nice.
 
Melclin said:
Vacuum splints are great. Too expensive though. At some rural branches where they have community social clubs or auxiliaries that raise money, they have much better toys. Like vacuum mattresses for spinal immobilisation.

Even the state's volly first aid organization has those moldable sam splints which are nice.
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I enjoy the VC's. Never used a mattress. I was taught on using SAMS though, so I can't complain.
 
Fox800 said:
I smirk whenever I see someone carrying hemostats. Because it's usually an EMT-B, and they are usually carrying several.
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I have one hemostat (Kelly clamp).

I originally got it for two reasons: 1. I thought my EMS pants looked stupid with those slots left empty. I'm talking about the slots on one cargo pocket that are clearly designed to hold things like that. 2. I'd seen lots of other EMS providers with them, so I figured they must be useful for something, so I got them, figuring maybe I'd find a use for them some day. (The other slot I occupied with trauma shears.)

When I started working for a critical care transport company, I got those smirks you were talking about. I got them pretty much everyday, in fact, but nobody ever said anything. Then one day, we had a lot of IV bags to hang, a couple of the hang tabs on the IV pump had broken off, and nobody had any carabiners. My hemostat came in quite handy that day. I never noticed any more smirks after that day.
 
my most usefull thing is a scissor! I wear it on my belt with a snap hook in one of the eyes.
I cut everthing with that scissor... Jeans, motorcycle dress made from leather and once i cut a wedding ring and all the other stuff .... and not only cutting I use it as a ultimate universal tool :-)

with the snap hook u can hang ur infusion in every drapery or use it in 100 other cases.

Like my scissor! I feel naked when i dont have it :-D

Grettings from germany
KD
 
JJR512 said:
I have one hemostat (Kelly clamp).

I originally got it for two reasons: 1. I thought my EMS pants looked stupid with those slots left empty. I'm talking about the slots on one cargo pocket that are clearly designed to hold things like that. 2. I'd seen lots of other EMS providers with them, so I figured they must be useful for something, so I got them, figuring maybe I'd find a use for them some day. (The other slot I occupied with trauma shears.)

When I started working for a critical care transport company, I got those smirks you were talking about. I got them pretty much everyday, in fact, but nobody ever said anything. Then one day, we had a lot of IV bags to hang, a couple of the hang tabs on the IV pump had broken off, and nobody had any carabiners. My hemostat came in quite handy that day. I never noticed any more smirks after that day.
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^^^Lol.

Right now, the most useless thing I have is apparently my EMT-B card....:unsure::sad:
 
Spare pads for defibrillators that we have since upgraded.
 
I think the SIXTH O2 bottle stuffed under the bench seat, in a well-covered county where every point in it is no more than 20 minutes away from the nearest hospital, is a bit of overkill.
 
I work for a transport company. Pretty much all of our pts are seniors.
So the most useless thing on here would be an OB kit. I don't think any bed bound 80 yr old ladies are going to be needing it.
 
The two(!) open top bed pans we carry. I'm cool with helping someone use a urinal, male or female. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna help someone climb onto a bedpan, drop a deuce, wipe for them and then have that sucker riding around uncovered...
 
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