We’re called to the cemetery for a woman passed out. I have been here so many times before. It is almost always the same story. Beautiful, clear day, green grass, a procession of cars parked along the road, memoriams white-washed on their back windows. “Remember Julio. R.I.P.” And then the gathering of mourners, all dressed…
Moment of Truth
“Do you find fat people repulsive?” “Have you ever inappropriately touched a patient?” “Have you ever falsified a report?” *** These are questions that will be asked an EMT on the Fox show Moment of Truth on Tuesday night. A contestant can win $500,000 by answering twenty-one progressively more difficult questions honestly based on the…
What Happened?
There are many things a paramedic(or EMT) has to do on the scene of a trauma (or sometimes even the scene of a bad medical). Among them is to answer the question “What happened?” Sometimes the patient can tell you. “I went over the handlebars on my bike and hit my head. It hurts, but…
The Accident
After I finally punch out, I drive slowly home through the darkened streets of the town and then out onto a country road. No radio on. After awhile I look at the road and wonder where I am. For a moment I think I am lost, but then I realize it is just misty out….
The Gear (Oops)
I wrote recently about screwups with the gear. Equipment(Brain) Malfunction This just proves there is always a new chapter. I checked out my monitor the other day, doing a quick eyeball, BP cuff, monitor leads before checking the battery, doing the user test, and then opening up the back and top compartments for check for…
Parade
I want to compliment myself because I took a vow quite awhile back that I would stop whining about all the bad things in this job, and I think I have done a pretty good job of it lately. When you start letting things like lengthy triage waits and pompous health care providers (whether hospital,…
Just a Paramedic
Baby Medic asks in his most recent post Routine about the frustrations of the mundane in EMS: I would like to know how those who have been doing this job for a long time are able to withstand the mundane. Do they no longer live for the exciting calls? Are they content to relax in…
The Asshole
I‘ve been called an “Asshole” by a patient two days running now. I guess I have to reluctantly plead guilty in the first instance. The second, I’m not ready to admit it yet. Here’s how the calls went down. *** The first was for a diabetic, altered level of consciousness. 40-year-old man lying in bed…
Trauma Room
I’ve been bringing quite a number of patients to the trauma room lately. You get hurt in a routine motor vehicle accident, you end up in a regular room in the ED or probably even more likely, a bed in the hallway until they can clear your c-spine, get you off the backboard and send…
The Future of Intubation
I recently taught the bougie station at an airway class for ED physicians. While there I got to sit in on an excellent airway lecture and play with some of the other airway devices in the hospital’s difficult airway cart. There was a vendor there from King Systems helping demonstrate a new product of theirs…
The Church Lady and the Ambulance Attendant
The woman heard a pop as (twisting) she tried to help her (stumbling) mother out of her wheelchair and into the church pew. The pop came from the woman’s knee and she crumpled in pain. She screamed again as we tried to pivot her on her good leg onto our stretcher. The entire congregation turned…
Celtics Fan
The Boston Celtics are back in the championship hunt. As a kid, I was a huge Celtics fan. I watched them on our small black and white TV and then I’d go out in the driveway and dribble around and shoot against the hoop my father had nailed over the garage door. I pretended I…
Multi-Leads
I was asked a question about using Lead III in the post below about 3rd degree Heart Block. While the strip says “III,” it is actually something called “S5,” which I neglected to label. “S5” is done by putting the left leg (red) lead in the fifth intercostal space just to the right of the…
3rd Degree Heart Block
I had an interesting strip the other day. We were called to a physician’s office for an abnormal ECG. The EMD dispatch sent us “hot.” But the prearrival instructions indicated no immediate emergency. Patient was alert talking with good color, no pain and no shortness of breath. And as it usually turns out at a…
Ripe Bananas
The old man with Alzheimer’s who used to stand out by the road and watch the traffic go by isn’t there this morning as we pass. He hasn’t been out there for awhile. Ahead there’s a For Sale sign in the yard of the now vacant split-level ranch where for a time we used to…
24s and Snipers
The President was in town the other day. The first I found out about it was seeing a string of police cars and sawhorses by the side of the road. My partner mentioned she’d heard he was coming to speak at one of the local schools. As soon as we passed (headed South into the…
Cutting Clothes
We all carry trauma shears. Of all the tools, a medic has to carry, I would say there are only three — a pen, a stethoscope and trauma shears that are essentials. I wear my stethoscope around my neck, my pen or pens in various shirt and or pants pockets, and I carry my trauma…
Fund for Injured EMTs
I receieved an update on the condition of the EMT who lost her arm in a recent crash, as well as her partner, who also suffered serious injuries. JKosprey writes: “I am a regular partner of both EMTs involved in that horrible accident. Seems to me there wasn’t much that could have been done to…
Comments and Follow Ups
I wanted to thank everyone who has posted comments. I always read them and have learned a lot from many of them. I want to use this post to followup on comments and some recent entries. *** I particularly want to thank the commentator who brought up the tidbit that Nitro spray (NitroLingual) doesn’t have…
Equipment? (Brain) Malfunction
It doesn’t happen often, but every once and while, there we go again. *** Where I work in the contract town, we have three ambulances that all look pretty much the same. Box Type. Red stripe along the side. AMBULANCE written on it. We have four medics (but only one on at a time). Every…