The three days I worked over Christmas, I did a lot of vomiting calls. Here’s a question: When you ask how many times have you vomitted, what are you really looking for? The number of times you have vomited or the number of vomitting episodes? I woke up yesterday not feeling too well. Soon in…
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Christmas Eve: Fifteen on the Scale
It’s Christmas eve. We get called to one of the local nursing homes for rib pain. The room number sounds familiar. As we wheel our stretcher through the lobby, “Good King Wencelous” plays through the speakers. Gently shone the moon that night, thou the frost was cruel. When a poor man came in sight, gathering…
Best Day Ever
I haven’t worked since Tuesday. No open shifts, which is rare. I guess a lot of part-timers are home from school and looking to make some Christmas or school money. They get priority on the open shifts. I’ve been spending the week driving my girlfriend’s kids around. I’ve been carrying my pager with me hoping…
The Sealed Envelope
The last post on interfacility transfers sparked quite a number of comments, including several on the “sealed envelope” which plagues us. For those not in EMS, the sealed envelope is what the nurse hands you containing the patient’s medical records. Sometimes “Confidential” is written on it. Sometimes they hand you the sealed envelope “for the…
Interfacility Transfers, DNRs, Choices
I recently recieved an email from Jamie Davis, The Pod Medic, about a dilemna one of his listeners faced on a recent call. Here is the story he recieved: This happened to me last month and I’ve been asking around trying to get other people’s opinions about what they would have done, so let me…
Back
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…
Johnny Tops
I always put a fresh hospital Johnny (gown) on my stretcher along with a clean sheet, bath blanket and towel. If I am going to do a 12-lead ECG, run a bag of fluid or even just do a good torso exam, I like to get the patient out of their tee-shirt, button down shirt…
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…
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…
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,…
Understand
Understand The call is for a sudden death; mother took her last breaths according to the son, and does not wish to be resuscitated. They send us in a non-emergency mode. I tell my partner we should probably be going lights and sirens until we know what is going on. He radios dispatch and they…
Bagdad
We are sent for a man with lung cancer difficulty breathing. Visiting nurse on scene. We’ve been going to this house a lot recently. Small one story house in a lower middle class neighborhood. The grass in the yard is mostly dead, the driveway cracked. The house needs painting. The stink hits you from the…
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…
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…