Back from vacation. It will be the last one for quite awhile. I sort of overdid it this year with travel. The only reason I went this time was I had some tickets I had to use or they would expire this month. Vacation is great, but there are always difficult decisions to make. Do…
Category: ems-topics
Listening
We get called to a nursing home for abdominal pain and possible kidney or gallstones. We find an 88 year old man, alert and oriented, in no pain. The nurse explains he had an unresponsive episode earlier in the day. They did an ultrasound which revealed he had an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, multiple gallstones and…
Postscript
It’s funny in EMS how you can get talking about something, and then something similar happens. You talk about a bad motorcycle accident or messy GI bleed code and then that’s what you get sent for. Why we were just talking about… It’s really just random chance. How many times do people use the Q-word…
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
My left deltoid is killing me. I can hardly lift my arm up. I got a flu shot last night. Needles don’t bother me. I took the PPD like a pro. The little tuberculin syringe into the right forearm. I hardly felt it. Then the nurse pulled out the flu shot needle. I wasn’t even…
The Edge of the World
It’s a cold rainy evening. We’ve been doing nothing but soaking wet drunks and third floor carry downs of heavy women. Dispatch pages us with a transfer from a local hospital to a town about thirty minutes away. I don’t like transfers except on cold rainy days. They beat doing MVAs in the rain, they…
Medical Priority Dispatch
I have written in the recent past about my frustrations with Medical Priority Dispatch (MPD), as well as the recent research that has been published pointing out its failings. The posts include Troublesome, Unformed Idea, Fair Enough and Dispatchers. Bryan E. Bledsoe, DO, FACEP, who has made a name for himself debunking EMS myths in…
Routine
Routine. Routine. Routine. Twice in just a couple weeks I have been saved by routine. Here’s what happened this time. First, a little background. The first responders in one of the towns I work in have decided they will no longer respond to lift assists without injury. It was argued to the high-ups that well,…
What Harm?
Four more chapters of the novel Mortal Men are posted at the following site: Mortal Men *** It’s been a typical day in the suburbs. A nursing home rectal bleed, an elderly man from home with pneumonia, a lady with hypertension and a nose bleed, and a call from our most frequent flyer — Hazel,…
Too Busy
Writing about the daily life of EMS always creates a tension for me. On one hand I want to write about the nobler aspects of the job, on the other, much of the job is so frustrating you just want to scream. I try to avoid whining so most of the time I ignore it….
Las Vegas
Just a brief post. (Internet access is $7.50 for 15 minutes.) Interesting conference. I just got out of the Capnography class and it was great. I made some notes and will be posting when I return. I was on the EXPO floor yesterday and it was mind-numbing. EMS is such a huge business. So many…
Tickets to the Ball
Yesterday we did a low speed MVA involving a police officer, who we took in for lower back pain. Another officer followed us in his squad car. I don’t know if I am the only one, but I always get paranoid when I am driving to the hospital with a cop on my tail. I…
Dispatchers
I worked yesterday with an EMT with extensive dispatch experience, and as always, it was interesting to hear his perspective on the dispatcher’s job. Sometimes there is a natural antagonism between road crews and dispatchers because the dispatcher is the bear of bad news, but should not neccessarily be shot for it. (Oddly, while working…
Words
Last night I gave my capnography CME. There was about thirty people there. I think it went over okay. It is hard to tell when you are standing up behind a podium and giving a presentation for the first time how well it is being recieved. Our medical control physician thought it was very good…
The Line
You’re a paramedic. You’re on your knees. A naked obese patient lies in front of you, their flaccid head in your hands as you try to position their mouth open. Watery vomit flows from between their lips. The monitor shows flat line. Every time your partner does compressions, more warm vomit spews onto your hands….
Troublesome, Unformed Idea
Since I closed down my daily blog I have been trying to increase the number of posts to Street Watch, which I have always thought of as my weekly blog. I am hoping to post at least three or four times a week. Since I will not always be able to write the type of…
Thoughts on Blogging
Hello Everyone. I hope you are all having great summers. I am writing this entry today because I lack the energy to write well about a funny call I did recently. I have been working quite a lot — 84 hours in seven days this past week –and am finding it hard to keep up…
National Registry Project Trip Report
My relief comes in two hours early so I can get to the airport — I am headed the Ohio to serve on a committee for the National Registry looking into paramedics competencies — whatever that means. I will soon find out. The flight is on time, but the plane is small and rattles when…
Competencies and Components
A couple months ago I recieved the following letter: Dear Mr. Canning, The National Registry of EMTs is forming a committee to help define the essential competencies of paramedic practice. This committee will consist of paramedics from around the country who will participate in a focus group lead by faculty members from The Ohio State…
Dread Life
Spent a week in Jamaica. It was my third time there, but the first time I stayed outside of an all-Inclusive resort. This time I really got to see the country and to “eat the fruit off the tree.” I grew grey-whiskered stubble on my face, listened to reggae music, swam in the ocean and…
Problems Associated with the Determination of Carbon Dioxide by Infrared Absorbtion
I apologize again for the lack of a post for the last two weeks. I have been very busy and have had too much to write, and so haven’t written anything. The title above refers to a study I was trying to find this morning as I researched a question raised to me by a…