the doctors out, but i know something!

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...

Play. That should be the end of this post but I'll elaborate. Ingress is extremely addicting and extremely fun. It's surprisingly satisfying to watch a Buster blow away someones defenses and claim it for the good guys *cough enlightened cough* Here's what I've done for my home town from 01/02 to 01/06. Ingress is a lot of things and has a lot of strategies. Not only are you actively moving to these portals which can be difficult in Maine winters but you have to think ahead about placing links and fields, It's like triangular Tetris. It would be more fun to play in a more portal heavy town like Boston, Paris, or London. I like holding my ground though. I've got 14 portals in my area to hack and link to my hearts content. This winter I'll be driving and running shortly through snow, but when Ingess goes into an open Beta, (I'm guessing this summer) I'll be actually jogging from portal to portal. It's going to be a great way to get ou...

So I've decided I'm not meant to work a 1000-2200 shift. They just end badly. The first one I went off road in a truck, the second I had a close encounter with lice, the third I spent almost 3 hours in the ER when my medic closed AND LATCHED the side ambulance door on her finger... Nether of us could figure out how her finger actually got in the door. I got pictures of the stitches after but not before for her sake. She broke off the joint capsule of her right index (luckily she's left handed) and needed 9 stitches!

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...

So this post is mostly going to be pictures from our Honeymoon/Vacation, We went up to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor for the week. We stayed on the "quiet side" in Southwest Harbor. It was nice to have a solid week away after we've been working so much and planning the wedding. I'm sure I'll post wedding pictures when we get them.  The Cottage we stayed at all week. The car guardian was happy to go to Acadia too! Please don't try to watch the whole park loop now. It's 30 minutes long! but our random commentary is always nice to listen to! Rated PG-13 for language! So we had a great week! We're home now and working on getting our Apartment in living order, Writing thank you cards for the multitude of gifts we got from everyone, and continuing to "get married." Only 79 years and 51 weeks to go!

So myself and a fellow redditor Irunongames  have started working on a mobile electronic Patient care report app, but we want it to be much, much more then that. It works for Pt transfers and Pt charts, the end result is a serious under taking but would be awesome if it worked. So for now give us some feed back! Loading...

So I live in a state fortunate enough to have digital run reports (I'm sure some angry old medics are just waiting to troll me right now.) However, I don't see a point at the moment. I don't see why the local ER's are using EMR ether. I mean it would be really cool if we actually utilized it ... Unfortunately we don't. everyday medic have to print out their report using 2-5 pages of paper, then they fax it to the ER using another  2-5 pages of paper! That doesn't include the 2 page quick report we have to leave the hospital. Then we have cardiac monitors to worry about! those things will spit out 2-3 feet of readings if you don't watch them.  I do a lot of patient transfers at the moment. (It isn't all that fun but it pays the bills and that's good enough for now.) When you do a transfer especially a Phych transfer you always need three things. The Patient, hardest one to forget. However sometimes they don't wanna go and try to run the othe...