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...

From the ME EMS Protocols : A. Preperation - Mix NOREPINephrine 8 mg in 250 ml NS.  B. Dosing - Starting Dose is NOREPINephrine 0.03    μg(mcg)/kg/min. Titrate by 0.03  μg(mcg)/kg/min every 3-5 minutes. Usual dose is 0.03-0.25  μg(mcg)/kg/min. Usual max dose is 0.6  μg(mcg)/kg/min. Absolute max dose is 3  μg(mcg)/kg/min C. Titrate to maintain SBP greater than 90 mm Hg. For 2013 the  Medical Direction and Practice Board decided to move away from Dopamine to  Norepinephrine. I am no doctor (yet) but I'm guessing it has to do with some of these studies  ( 2 , 3 ).   A subgroup analysis showed that dopamine, as compared with norepinephrine, was associated with an increased rate of death at 28 days among the 280 patients with cardiogenic shock but not among the 1044 patients with septic shock or the 263 with hypovolemic shock -   Daniel De Backer, M.D., Ph.D., Patrick Biston, M.D., Jacques Devriendt, M.D....  for...

Forget the NSA. Forget the CIA, FBI, and DEA. Forget LMNO and P! Today we have to address the true monster of America! the USCU. The United states Customary Unit , Also known as the Imperial system. Bah, Imperialism. The very name is oppressive! It’s very nature is to alienate us from the rest of the world! How can you ask your Canadian neighbor for a cup of sugar if we’re the only ones that use ‘A cup’ as a measurement! They’ll give you a full tea cup of sugar! They would be not only stereotyping but ridiculous! Now I know here on the internet we only have content that is clear cut, well thought out, and mostly peer reviewed. I can’t just walk out and start shouting madness and expect you to listen! No! I’m going to give you a very simple reason every american will want to switch to a metric system.   It’s easier! Done, no argument left! What? that’s not enough? What is this the science channel? Discovery? Scishow ? Fine. Rocket science 101- Why we should switch. ...

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'...