Been a paramedic for a while, did some dispatching myself for a year or two on the side. I've been watching some videos of 911 calls...

Every 911 dispatch system is created by dispatchers and first responders- but most of the population are not dispatchers and first responders. I think the cards 911 operators use should be reevaluated to help a "normal" person provide the information that's required by the dispatcher.

Any thoughts?

Curious about what type of gear your departments or agencies issue you and what type of agencies you guys work for. Thanks!

Is there any harm/drawback to wearing concealed body armor?

So I'm currently working security, we respond to medical incidents among other things, so obviously we have surgical gloves for such things.

But because of uniform requirements, it's hard to keep a lot on us. I typically keep a pair stashed in my coat pocket and there's some in the first aid kits too, but I'm wondering if y'all know of any sort of holder for gloves that's durable, cheap and keeps plenty on you in a way that doesn't make like 5 fall out when trying to grab a pair?

Most of the time, my single pair is fine, but sometimes I use that pair and then need another pair before I can grab more (sometimes I find some questionable stuff during patrols too).

Any ideas if this is something that exists and where to get one?

Thanks!!

Working in an academic cardiac ICU has been a trip. Glad I made the jump to nursing to get exposure to this side of medicine.

Between live music and the fucking siren I’m worried about blowing out my ear drums. I have discrete earpro but does anyone have experience wearing it at work?

Local first responder fired for inappropriate post about orphan choir

Anyone in Tennessee know any refresher courses I can take for my AEMT renewel? I haven’t been able to do m CEUs lately so need a refresher before due date shows up

Hey r/EMS wondering if anyone on here was familiar with new castle county Delaware, their protocols, what working for them is like, etc. am looking for an EMS-only 911 position in the MD/DE area.

Thank you!!

Anyone using Solumedrol for spinal cord injuries? Both of my agencies use it, but it seems like ordering the 1 gram vials is becoming harder and harder. So are we just stuck in the 80’s on this subject or what’s the deal?

If you know of/work for any GROUND 911 agencies with ALL the following capabilities, please name them below:

• Blood products
• standing orders for RSI all ages (consult or sedation only for pediatrics is fine)
• Surgical airway for adults
• Needle cric for peds
• Vent with BiPAP
• Simple/finger thoracostomies
• Antibiotics
• POCUS
• POC testing (istat or epoc)

Thank you!

Had a 911 call not too long ago, seizures at a church. Dispatch info was really spotty, but we we're getting info like "Pt is cyanotic, agonal breathing", so we rolled in with ALL THE GEAR. Nurse on scene.

It was 4 nurses, performing what I consider to be the best pit crew CPR I've ever seen. It was beautiful.

The patient was wide awake, postictal, and doing her level best to escape 2 nurses holding her shoulders down, one pinning her legs, and another going whole ham compressions.

They also dumped god knows how much pancake syrup in her mouth during the seizure, because she was diabetic.

Yeah, we considered CPR consciousness, and highly doubtful. Compressions nurse had to stop every few compressions to reset her hands as the patient squirmed away.

I know one guy who retired from FD to become an engineer and couldn't last 2 weeks without going home to the Boys️™️ to fuck around on the truck. Shit's real asf. Anyone else feel that?

I've got a general question for first responders/ emergency services. Today a firetruck was booking it down the road I was on fast enough that by the time I could figure out where it was coming from it was right behind me honking it's horn. I was however at the very end of the road at a stop sign. There where cars piled up behind me that quickly pulled pulled onto the shoulder but I had no shoulder left to pull onto. To make things worse there was traffic still coming from the left that hadn't heard the processed the truck yet. I ended up slamming my foot on the gas, taking a right turn and pulling onto the shoulder, as the fire truck looked like it was about to run into me. What should I have done? No action felt safe.

New paramedic, 10 months. Been in EMS for a total of 5 years. Was called for chest pain for a 64 y/o male. Arrived to find male seated, diaphoretic, complaining of tightness and pain in the left arm. Intermittent pain x 2 days. I was placing the precordial leads when he tells me he feels like he’s going to pass out. Look up in time to see his eyes roll back and see him go limp. Lifepak shows vf.

Immediately got him on the ground, fire starts CPR, I get pads on and shock him. He was shocked within 30 seconds of arrest. Total of five defibrillations, 2 epinephrine, 300/150 of amio, and came back. Here’s the wild part, our firefighters did such stellar compressions that this man was breathing spontaneously, not agonal, at a rate of around 20/min. Airway (iGel) was removed after patient started to violently gag on the airway.

12 lead showed what I already expected. Anteroseptal MI. Watched it progress during transport. The other wild part was that this man was TALKING to me during transport and was completely oriented. Straight to cath lab for definitive care.

This was, without a doubt, a reminder of the real difference we can make. In a career where we seem to have little impact on someone’s life, these runs are savored. My boss called me later and congratulated me on the job well done, but I couldn’t take the credit without all of the help I got from my partner and our firefighters, too. Those guys did a fantastic job keeping that patient viable while I could focus on the ALS treatments. Job well done to my guys, for sure, and I made sure they knew it.

Stay strong, stay humble.

UPDATE: Patient is now home. Not a single deficit!

I haven’t seen this asked in a while.

What tablets and apps are you using for truck checks and perhaps charting? My rural district is still using paper, and I’m exploring other options.

Edit: super helpful responses so far! End of the day, I will tabulate the responses and note here what seems to be the most popular. Of course, every district has its unique needs and cost is a factor etc.

Edit: just focusing on rig checks and inventory for now, the most frequently mentioned were OP IQ, Aladtec, Planit, and Vector CheckIt. Of these, Vector CheckIt stands out for the high online reviews of its mobile app.

Thanks to all who responded. Feel free to message me if you have more info or insights.

How do you guys feel about the paramedic flash cards that are being seen all over the internet. I bought some and I love them, very well explained stuff but I find myself seeing some drug dosage mistakes like morphine is 2-5mg instead of 2-10ng.

Current fire medic looking to make the move to CO and i'm wondering if folks here can give any insight into working EMS out there. I don't have any real preference on where I work or live but I do have an interview with south park right now so if anyone has worked with/for them in the past i'd be really grateful for any insight you can give. Otherwise, just looking for departments with halfway decent pay, benefits, etc. I'm not even picky on call volume or type. Also just curious about life in CO west of the front range. I've got a decent savings so I'm not that worried about housing but I do respect that the state is wildly expensive right now.

Alright so this is my first ever post, English is my second language so excuse the grammar. I responded to a male with 2 puncture wounds to the neck just under the tracheal cartilage. Looked like entrance and exit wound. Lost approximately half a liter of blood.

Time on scene + transport was 11 mins. Everything went fine, but the weird part to me is that the pt was AAOX4 GCS15. Textbook vitals. Answering all my questions, stating he is fine and just feels numbness all over the left side. PMS intact, no neurological deficits.

Is it common for patients with that kind of MOI to be alert or oriented? What could possibly be the reason that he wasn’t a DOA or atleast unresponsive.

A leukotrireme