the doctors out, but i know something!

"Shut up! you don't really work! you played borderlands for eight hours!" He spat.  I had complained I was never home.  I wanted him to get off his ass and stop playing games and help me clean up after I had worked 48 hours in three days. I had to bite my tongue.  He wouldn't get it.  He was right in a sense.  I had  spent a whole 8 hours playing borderlands.  Once.  The last 24 hours hadn't been like that.  Had not been like that at all.  The area I cover is fairly quiet most days, most days being a key component in that statement.  My favorite saying at work, to the point I would call it a mantra is "No rest for the wicked".  Assuming I'm a wicked person, it's about as true as they come. Like some dispatcher somewhere was watching me, as soon as I kicked my boots off the tones dropped for another call.  I was running on fumes by the time I got home. I wanted to tell him to go pound sand. I had  worked for the la...

Terrible things happen to good and/or undeserving people.  The drunk driver walks away from heaps of scrapped metal.  Parents do the exact opposite of take care of their children. One persons stupidity leads to another persons demise.  Sometimes people just die because of unintended side effects. I had the misfortune to help with one of these cases the other day.  A young female, no medical history.  Only medication was oral contraceptives (Now I'm hoping as I write this that it doesn't turn into the catholic churches next stand against contraceptives).  Started complaining of not feeling well a few days ago and had fainted earlier on the day I met her.  When I met her she was already intubated and waiting to go to a major hospitals.  She had coded a half dozen times already.  In EMS we have this silly notion of an "EMS code save" which means very little for people we treat.  It just means that we got them to the hospital with a...

The first thing I have to say about a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing(CISD) is that they are like civil fight clubs. They have a very sensitive, confidential nature about them, so like fight club it has 2 rules. You don't talk about the CISD.  You DO NOT talk about the CISD. Jk...

     You're called to residence for an unknown medical.  Short response time to scene.      Once you arrive you gain access by unlocked door and find patient slumped to the right in a kitchen chair and moaning "oh my head, it hurts" over and over.  Patient responds to speech by only continued moans.  Patients medications suggest significant cardiac history.  Patient rapidly moved to stair chair and moved to ambulance.  While moving patient from the house he stops moaning and is no longer responding to voice, only painful stimulus.

     Challenging the NREMT this weekend was both nerve racking and extremely exciting. I went down to Concord, NH for testing. I took a day long prep class on Saturday from Kat and she was amazing. She was extremely through and an awesome instructor. I learned things that I had no idea about that very much explained why I failed my first attempt at the exam! I was incredibly frustrated with the quality of the equipment at my home exam after seeing what these people use.      I took my exam through Becker Training Associates  and it was amazing how well it was put together. Everyone was extremely professional. The people testing you are well trained and do this every month so they know exactly what to look for. Talking to my class instructor after he said that he always suggest people go there if they fail the first time and he has never once heard bad things from people coming back. I wish my local training centers and testing sites would learn a thi...

So I just passed my AEMT class which is good. It was far more intense then my EMT class. I failed my first attempt on my practical exam because I wasn't as prepared as much as I should have been and nervous. (it's 0.4mg of Narcan... NOT 4mg.)   So now I will be driving for 4 hours to go to the nearest ALS practical on 7/21. I have until then to perfect my technique and get my knowledge base up to par. I feel I'm almost there, I just need to fine tune my skills. So here are the things I need to perfect. Medical assessment /medical medications. I can go through the steps. I have to think more about my secondary review (and make sure I use the right Epi dose -.-) Supine immobilization   I'll be bringing my own spider straps to immobilize with. I personally can not make a Pt "flip proof" with 3 straps. IV medication bolus  I spaced on Narcan... never again though. Never. Again. I know every dose I can use as an AEMT. Pedi I/O  I still don't know . I...

I sat in the ER watching the nurses and doctors work when shouts for help were heard from the hall. I jumped up with everyone else and ran to the hall. Down the hall a nurse was pushing a man in a wheelchair. His feet dragging, his head rolled back as he gasped for breath. In what felt like seconds the man was moved from the hall to the trauma room and on to the bed. I watch from the hall as the nurses hurry to start IVs and EKGs. I know I could be a part of that flurry of activity if I knew what do. I could have set up the 12-lead and understood what the ST elevation meant. I could have started that IV he needed for life saving fluids and medication.  As a basic the most valuable thing I've learned and the thing pounded into me by almost every medic I've worked with is that I know almost nothing. I am still a baby in EMS, and I want to grow up. I want to work with a medic and have them be confident that I can do all of the basic life support needs of our patient and then star...

Finally.      After over a year of waiting I'm officially working for an Ambulance service.  I'm now a proud Employee of Delta Ambulance. At least that's what my badge says.      So I've spent the last two full days getting "Oriented" to the new job. Also known as filing out a tree worth of paper, having every Ofiice/Important person introduce themselves, tell us what they do and how you can call them 24/7/365.      It wasn't the most fun thing in the world but it was informational and helpful to meet my fellow N00Bs. I'm also glad to get a chance to talk with some of the EMTs and Medics that have been working for Delta for up to TWENTY years! That's a friggin long time...    I actually start my "Ride Time" or basically a beginner test to see if I'm up to snuff on technique and get me familiar with the area. To be painfully honest... I'm stupid nervous. I know the technical skillz, but half of them I'...

     So one thing to know about Homeschoolers, mainly Un-schoolers like me is we don't take test well. Why? Well in our style of study we don't go to a lecture, write a paper, take a test, and move on. We immerse our self into the subject until we master what we want to know; Life is our test, every day our world challenges the knowledge we absorb. No test, no papers. Now in the "real" world, I think this style of learning is very effective. However, in the academic world... Test are very important, it's what they base who you are off. you're SAT, GPA, MCAT if you want to be a doctor like me. All these test you take to gauge you're knowledge, how quickly you learn, and how well you can take test. Seeing as I want to be a Doctor and I've never had an official test or class until two years ago... yea, now I have to cram... A lot. I signed up for the SAT on May 5th, I've got decent reading and writing skills, but my mathematics is lacking to say...