Taser Barb Removal - ALS or BLS?

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daysleeper47

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I'm curious to know if taser barb removal is an ALS or BLS skill in your jurisdiction and why? Does it depend on other factors which level of care is applied?
 
TransportJockey

TransportJockey

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I don't see how it can be ALS... Hold skin down and pull the barb out. The only time I've not done a field removal was if it was stuck in the face or genitals. Otherwise our basics (and when I was a basic in NM, and I believe CO too) can yank em.
 
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Veneficus

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The skill of removing the barbs is BLS.

Whether a person needs to be assessed by a higher level of care for potential complications is a matter of debate.
 
socalmedic

socalmedic

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here it is an MD skill, no joke, we transport...
 
LucidResq

LucidResq

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Veneficus said:
The skill of removing the barbs is BLS.

Whether a person needs to be assessed by a higher level of care for potential complications is a matter of debate.
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Yup... I'm gonna agree here. If it's just a superficial skin-injury... BLS... clearly.


If there's any kind of sign of potential complications.... clearly better to have ALS assess and transport. We are dealing with... :wacko: electricity!!! Rare, but it happens.
 
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DesertMedic66

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socalmedic said:
here it is an MD skill, no joke, we transport...
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i was told that too. the reason they gave me for that was "it is a penetrating object so we dont remove" i dont know if thats true or not but usually the police will have (accidently) removed the barbs.
 
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nakenyon

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firefite said:
i was told that too. the reason they gave me for that was "it is a penetrating object so we dont remove" i dont know if thats true or not but usually the police will have (accidently) removed the barbs.
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Same here. Used to be a BLS skill, then all of a sudden it became a penetrating object issue at some point and now it's a transport. PD rarely calls us for it anymore and if they do we are generally told to go available when they find out it requires a transport.
 
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Icenine

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LEO's remove them here. They are "specially trained" in the removal, which in most cases equates to a foot to the area and a quick yank.
 
Akulahawk

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Barb removal, whether or not it's via tazer or a fish hook is basically a BLS skill. About the only way to (relatively) painlessly remove them is to do a local anesthetization... or ice. Another method of pain control uses electricity, but I doubt anyone would be all that crazy about getting more electricity applied to them after riding the lightning. If it's in a sensitive area, transport to an ER that can anesthetize the area to allow for a more controlled removal.

Once the barbs are disconnected from their power source, there's no shock danger.

Of course the quickest option is to just simply yank 'em out and deal with the minor penetrating wound.
 
Aidey

Aidey

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BLS for just barb removal.
ALS for barb removal and eval before being carted off to jail to be evaluated by the jail nurse.*
Transport if the barbs are in sensitive places.

*It is well known by all the local LEO, EMS and ED people that the jail nurses are a pain in the arse to deal with, so the LEOs will run busted up patients by us first to see if the jail nurse is going to kick them out or not. If we don't think the jail nurse will take the patient about 3/4 of the time the LEOs end up driving the guy to the ER themselves.
 
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bradford

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socalmedic said:
here it is an MD skill, no joke, we transport...
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This holds true for where I used to work. I only encountered this one time, but we actually transported this patient to a trauma center. I don't remember if it was because of protocol or patient request, though.
 
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daysleeper47

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Thanks for the great comments. It is currently an ALS skill in our area. As a Basic, aside from the electricity that just flew through their body, I wonder why. I'm in the process of discovering that on my end, but wanted some outside perspective.
 
AndyK

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Pretty much BLS here too, treat as per fish-hook with the additional initial step of:

Remove german shepherd from victims arm/leg/posterior*

*Note: this step should be completed by the person that released said german shephard from it's lead and should not by attempted EMS personell!! B)
 
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DesertMedic66

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AndyK said:
Pretty much BLS here too, treat as per fish-hook with the additional initial step of:

Remove german shepherd from victims arm/leg/posterior*

*Note: this step should be completed by the person that released said german shephard from it's lead and should not by attempted EMS personell!! B)
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shucks we cant transport with the dog still clamped down? sucks for that guy if its real tho: German Shepherd bite, Tazered, lets go for the trifecta with pepper spray haha
 
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