Random thoughts...

Well, I have been naughty. More than a month with out a post. That just wont do. Excuse my while I tighten my chalice...

Ok, I'm back and only bleeding slightly... Nothing that will kill me.

So I have the good fortune to be involved with an EMS agency that practices Focused CPR. In my less than a year here, I've seen more CPR saves than the previous 16 years of Paramedicine combined. (I know, I know anecdotal data but still...) But I'm curious, how many other agencies do anything other than AHA, and what's their success rates like? Oh and when I say “saves” I don't just mean 'Hey!! we got ROSC... but no brain function' type saves, but real, honest-to-god discharged from the hospital in a functional capacity type of saves. I know of one case that the patient went from vfib arrest to signing his own admission papers.

Very exciting stuff!!

I'd love to be able to put up a link to a paper but they are still compiling the data for their papers.

I've just recently heard that my old county (somewhere above the Mason-Dixon Line) is starting to experiment with Focused CPR as well. I wonder if they will experience similar save rates or is there something else unique about us here? Hmmmm.

<rant>

I hate that I'm concerned with putting locations with these posts. I would really love to say which county is doing what, but it just isn't worth the hassle. If an employee can't complain about their boss to their friends on Facebook then what might happen to me if I were to use all the locations?

Gawd EMS can be pretty stupid sometimes. We get so small minded about such silly things.

</rant>

A day in the life...

What follows will be a shift log of sorts. I've not worked with this
fellow yet. By all reports he's pretty cool. We'll see I guess. Sadly
he has more time at the agency but much less time as a provider than
I, so he's in charge. Oh boy.

0930ish
Start he day the usual way, checking the truck, and meet my partner du
jur. A grumpy cuss with a whole 8 years of EMS under his salty belt,
bitching up a storm because there weren't any blankets. Blankets. In
late June in North Carolina in the middle of a 90 degree day. Ya.
That's the first thing on my mind. 

And when I say bitching up a storm I mean screaming, shouting, slamming doors, and mother F-ing everybody who has been on the rig this week.
1017.
Check on duty for a 1015 start, bitch because dispatch wants to know
why we're late checking on.
1200.
Hold on for dear life as grumpy drives us at mach 3 to the hospital
with a low priority attention seeker.
Bitch the whole way. Listen to talk radio at a volume slightly below deafening.
1226.
Disappear at the hospital so as to screw a good drop time.
1230.
Return to the truck with food from the cafeteria. I'm fine thanks, I
didn't want anything.
1234
Get a post. Bitch about it.
1255(ish)
Get a call. Bitch about it.
1400
Oh wait! Signs of personality..... Uh. No. Bitching about the nursing
home and staff
1420
My call, he does my assessment for me then doesn't tell me what he
found. When asked uses *that* tone of voice to indicate how much he
disdains me for being new here.
1440

My face melts off from the slipstream this rig is making. So thats
what a sonic boom sounds like... Oh wait, nope, it was just my head
hitting the opposite wall from high G turns and stops. The patient
looks like the kid who doesn't want to be on the roller coaster any
more.
1500
He finds a friendly nurse to chat up. Finally... The aggression is
starting to get better. Maybe.
1610
Now he is giving unsolicited advice on how to survive in this company.
Granted, some of that may come in handy.
1630
Holy moly, some common ground. There may be some hope yet.

1722

Uh... No I won't tell the patient that WE decide which hospital to go to. Oh.... I guess you do make that decision even though its not in the patient's best interest.

1843

I get to drive? Really? Wow.

Oh... I get to drive so you can look at the rig line up and bitch about how everyone else gets better rigs.

1930

Final call. Thank goodness. Moderate trauma, fat man laid his Harley down at 65 MPH. Leather coat's been sanded off, road rash everywhere. Lets take control of the scene, do a very poor job of managing it, then abruptly take the Pt to the ambulance without telling anyone want you are doing. Bitch because no one's helping you load Fat Road Rash Man in to the rig. Spend another ten minutes on scene attempting IV's with the Trauma Canter five minutes away.

2040

End of Shift. Sure I'll wash and mop the truck while you hang out with the guys and bitch about being stuck with a new guy. No... no I don't want any help. (In my mind as he didn't offer)

All this was a few months ago. Sadly its all true.  Thankfully he no longer works in EMS.

Had to re-blog this...

 

The original post on deviantart

Artist: begemott

I found this through stumbleupon. Had to share it! 

Its funny... in the artist's comments, he said it was stupid, but I get a real emotional response to it.

Achievement unlocked: Pooping in public.

My five year old has just proven how much stronger a person he is than
me. He voluntarily went poop in a public bathroom. At five years old.
It took me joining the military to be able to do that. Five. Huh.
Anyway, I seem to have found the source of the local obesity problem.
Golden Corral. I went there to graze (literally) and realized that, at
about 100 pounds overweight, I was one of the small mammals. In fact,
I'm mildly surprised that the earth's axis didn't switch back after
all the Japan business, what with all the mammal biomass located in
that one building. It's got to have extra structural steel to
withstand the load.
And yes, I am aware of the irony of me eating there while writing
about the bison herd that feeds there. The food is yummy and
plentiful. That is all I ask.

Ooopsss....

Well... in the past month I've learned a few, rather important, things.

1. Don't drop the only computer you own if you can't afford to fix it. Even as it left my hand, I could hear the head crash from the hard drive. That little SCReeeeee sound is the sound of $50.00 flying out of my bank account.
2. Don't agree to help your friend move because he said he'd do the same for me. I did, he didn't. So a comparatively small (2 bedroom) apartment move took an entire 3-day weekend instead of less than 1 day that is should have.
3. Don't believe any finical counselor that says you're out of student loan money. EVER. Apparently after that counselor left for maternity I was transferred to a new one who took one look at my account and "found" $5800.00 that was lost. So now I'm going back to school after all. that will be 9 of my last 12 core credits out of the way. Yay!

So a new hard drive, new apartment, and that much closer to a degree. All in all not a bad month. Now that things are settling down, I hope to be updating much more often. (fingers crossed).

Supprise!!!

I get  a summer off. Holy crap! It’s not exactly how I planned it but hey, I'll take it! Apparently my financial aid counselor missed the fact that I don't have enough money to finish my degree. The federal gov't has cut me off. As I was preparing to enter the home stretch (12 more credits to my B.S. from the University of Phoenix) I came up $5000 short. I am slightly pissed, but at the same time it means no studying this summer. SO boo and yay! I suppose I'll be spending the time I'd normally be in school "researching" (read surfing the internet) and looking for scholarships and grants. So any of you who know about any scholarships or grants for 37 year old white males let me know please?

50 Free Internet Tools for Tin-Foil Hat Wearers

50 Free Internet Tools for Tin-Foil Hat Wearers

My first attempt at auto reblogging.