I expected to be the tertiary today, but when the secondary failed to show up and the one who had been on duty needed to leave, I signed in for her. The tertiary is now on his second shift in a row, and I'm taking my first secondary shift! The bag's not that different, just slightly harder to carry, but lighter, somehow. Meetings and class tonight, more updates to come if anything happens.
Well, this is a first for many things. My first secondary call (I really like this whole "chat with the patient, get their info" thing) (also, I may have had it recorded with me as the tertiary, no big deal, but I did write up the call since I stole the shift from another dude). But, more interestingly, this was the first time I've had a really appreciative patient. Not that it's ever what I expect, but when the pt just seems so thankful for the little things, it's nice.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Not entirely jobless!
I still have about a week until I have my interview with presently-unnamed ambulance company (not sure about revealing names on here, we'll wait and see). But as the title states, I'm not entirely jobless at the moment!
After the BU EMT class here finished, I emailed the program director to see how I could go about becoming a paid instructor. I didn't expect it to happen for a while, since I only started assisting this semester. An email from one of the instructors reaffirmed my assumptions. However, I also received an email from the head director, asking when I could come in to sign papers. I made an appointment, went in, and asked what I needed to sign.
"Employment papers!"
I worked their extrication/practical exam prep day on Saturday, and look forward to doing this for the rest of the summer and next year when they're at Brandeis again and even during the fall, if I can get to BU. I'm excited--my summer of EMS is coming together.
After the BU EMT class here finished, I emailed the program director to see how I could go about becoming a paid instructor. I didn't expect it to happen for a while, since I only started assisting this semester. An email from one of the instructors reaffirmed my assumptions. However, I also received an email from the head director, asking when I could come in to sign papers. I made an appointment, went in, and asked what I needed to sign.
"Employment papers!"
I worked their extrication/practical exam prep day on Saturday, and look forward to doing this for the rest of the summer and next year when they're at Brandeis again and even during the fall, if I can get to BU. I'm excited--my summer of EMS is coming together.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Good news so far!
So, I've had a good week recently, and quite of bit of it is EMS-related.
1. I've been promoted to secondary in my EMS organization! Starting in May, I'll be taking down patient information and using the stair chair. I'm also excited to get a second uniform shirt, so I won't have to wash the one that I have all the time.
2. I have a job interview with a local ambulance company in a week! They didn't immediately say no to the idea of me working full time in the summer and per-diem in the school year, so that's a good sign. If anyone has tips on interviewing with ambulance companies, let me know, please.
3. This has nothing to do with EMS, but I was accepted to the performance track of the music major--I'll be giving one recital a year for the next two years. I'm excited.
4. I'm considering going to PA or nursing school after I get my bachelor's degree. I had been planning to go into counseling or clinical psych for a while, but having done some counseling, the passive approach to problem solving just wasn't sitting well with me. I'm not pre-med now, so I'd need to take a few years to get my bio/chem/anatomy/physiology requirements done, but I'm prepared to do that. If anyone has experience as a Physician's Assistant or as an RN and are willing to chat about it, please comment or send me an email (msh2012@brandeis.edu)
That's where I stand right now. Things are changing but I feel good about them.
1. I've been promoted to secondary in my EMS organization! Starting in May, I'll be taking down patient information and using the stair chair. I'm also excited to get a second uniform shirt, so I won't have to wash the one that I have all the time.
2. I have a job interview with a local ambulance company in a week! They didn't immediately say no to the idea of me working full time in the summer and per-diem in the school year, so that's a good sign. If anyone has tips on interviewing with ambulance companies, let me know, please.
3. This has nothing to do with EMS, but I was accepted to the performance track of the music major--I'll be giving one recital a year for the next two years. I'm excited.
4. I'm considering going to PA or nursing school after I get my bachelor's degree. I had been planning to go into counseling or clinical psych for a while, but having done some counseling, the passive approach to problem solving just wasn't sitting well with me. I'm not pre-med now, so I'd need to take a few years to get my bio/chem/anatomy/physiology requirements done, but I'm prepared to do that. If anyone has experience as a Physician's Assistant or as an RN and are willing to chat about it, please comment or send me an email (msh2012@brandeis.edu)
That's where I stand right now. Things are changing but I feel good about them.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
A Day in the Life: Take Two
1640: Paul asked me if I would help put the bags back in the truck, since we take them all out when we go out of service.
1644: We cannot find the keys. They are in Dispatch. Paul goes to start the car.
1700: The truck will not start. I stay in the office and sign in and chat with Charlie while Paul, Dan, and the supervisor try to fix it.
1720: The truck works! Something is wrong with the supervisor vehicle, though.
1730: Back in room. Waiting for Matt to call me back about dinner.
1800: Matt should be here soon. Reading a book for class.
1810: Call Matt to see where he is. He tells me that he's leaving now. He's rather slow at getting places.
1830: Went with Matt to Usdan, got burritos.
1854: in the C-store. Pager goes off. I mistake it for the bad music, then, realization dawns, and I go off. Crew splits to a second call. Mine is for a wrist injury, and it looks pretty bad. We treat and the pt is transported. Back to the office for write-up. Paul insists that the truck not starting earlier was a bad omen, and that we're in for a long night.
1959: Back in my room, I receive an e-mail stating that I have exceeded 15 GB of bandwidth. It's ridiculous, because there's no way that it actually happened. All I've done today was stream an episode of Trauma. Maybe the people in charge realize that it's terrible and are determined to keep me from watching it in the future. Highly doubt it, and will continue to watch Trauma in secret.
2133: Still reading "Stone Butch Blues" for class. Thinking of heading down to see how Matt's doing soon.
2150: In Matt's room. I do some readings, he playing video games. We watch "Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers" and I relive my childhood. He's been sick, so we cuddle for a while (mostly upon my request).
0030: We go to Einstein's for food. Mango bar!
1020: Leave Matt's. He's not feeling well at all, and didn't go to work today. =( I stop by the man in charge of the internet here, and he told me that he'll look into why I exceeded bandwidth. Back in my room, I have a hard time getting any wireless. I had a dream last night that I was transported to my home in an ambulance, standing. It was more of an RV than an ambulance.
1200: Went to class.
1318: Back in room, have a smoothie. Bringing lunch down to Matt before my next class. He's still sleeping =/
1700: Back in the office. Hand off to Mike, hang out for a few minutes, decide to go to Stats even though it's boring. Had Chamber Choir in the hot recital hall (it's 87 out and I'm in long pants) and in Theory we listened to atonal music. I don't get it. Not a bad shift, but I feel like such a whacker for craving more. Experience can't come fast enough.
1644: We cannot find the keys. They are in Dispatch. Paul goes to start the car.
1700: The truck will not start. I stay in the office and sign in and chat with Charlie while Paul, Dan, and the supervisor try to fix it.
1720: The truck works! Something is wrong with the supervisor vehicle, though.
1730: Back in room. Waiting for Matt to call me back about dinner.
1800: Matt should be here soon. Reading a book for class.
1810: Call Matt to see where he is. He tells me that he's leaving now. He's rather slow at getting places.
1830: Went with Matt to Usdan, got burritos.
1854: in the C-store. Pager goes off. I mistake it for the bad music, then, realization dawns, and I go off. Crew splits to a second call. Mine is for a wrist injury, and it looks pretty bad. We treat and the pt is transported. Back to the office for write-up. Paul insists that the truck not starting earlier was a bad omen, and that we're in for a long night.
1959: Back in my room, I receive an e-mail stating that I have exceeded 15 GB of bandwidth. It's ridiculous, because there's no way that it actually happened. All I've done today was stream an episode of Trauma. Maybe the people in charge realize that it's terrible and are determined to keep me from watching it in the future. Highly doubt it, and will continue to watch Trauma in secret.
2133: Still reading "Stone Butch Blues" for class. Thinking of heading down to see how Matt's doing soon.
2150: In Matt's room. I do some readings, he playing video games. We watch "Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers" and I relive my childhood. He's been sick, so we cuddle for a while (mostly upon my request).
0030: We go to Einstein's for food. Mango bar!
1020: Leave Matt's. He's not feeling well at all, and didn't go to work today. =( I stop by the man in charge of the internet here, and he told me that he'll look into why I exceeded bandwidth. Back in my room, I have a hard time getting any wireless. I had a dream last night that I was transported to my home in an ambulance, standing. It was more of an RV than an ambulance.
1200: Went to class.
1318: Back in room, have a smoothie. Bringing lunch down to Matt before my next class. He's still sleeping =/
1700: Back in the office. Hand off to Mike, hang out for a few minutes, decide to go to Stats even though it's boring. Had Chamber Choir in the hot recital hall (it's 87 out and I'm in long pants) and in Theory we listened to atonal music. I don't get it. Not a bad shift, but I feel like such a whacker for craving more. Experience can't come fast enough.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Back to High School: EMS Style
1 April, 2010. 1432.
I’m applying to Paramedic school!
Happy April, everyone. Yesterday, I did something kind of fantastic. I talked to a few classrooms of high schoolers about EMS. When I was in high school myself, I took the sports medicine class because I needed another gym credit and didn’t want to play dodgeball for another half-year. In the class, we learned basic anatomy, cranial nerves, GCS, basic treatment of minor injuries (RICES, etc), CPR, splinting, and about electrical stimulation therapy and massage therapy. We also watched a lot of Man vs. Wild and Survivorman and videos of people getting injured on YouTube. While we had a lot of fun, we actually did work—I recall writing a paper about bleeding disorders and sports and reviewing an article about hypothermia as a treatment for spinal injuries.
When I was in EMT school, I found that knowing basic anatomy was really helpful in the first few lessons—I didn’t need to focus on memorizing which was way prone and which was supine and what the anatomical position looked like. I emailed the teacher, Mr. Scott, over the summer to thank him, while I was still training.
The other day, maybe two weeks ago, I had the idea to ask if he would be interested in having me come to talk to his classes about EMS. He thought it was a great idea, I made a powerpoint, prepared a presentation, got props from Dan, and went to the High School yesterday.
For 7:30 and 9:50 in the morning, the students paid attention. The second class even asked me questions—some were about how we don’t transport, many were along the lines of “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?” but it showed that they were paying attention. My wonderful brother and sister, Matt and Rae, went to my presentation, which made me really happy.
I explained how I got into EMS, explained our scope of practice and listed some key BLS skills, talked about the training process, levels of certification and ALS/BLS differences, where EMTs work, and what meds we can give. I talked about BEMCo as well, since that’s where my experience is—how we operate, roles of each member of the crew, showed the inside of the truck and the inside of my jump kit, and then walked through a mock call. The call was for difficulty breathing with urticaria and angioedema. I walked them through the process of responding to a call, importance of BSI, the initial assessment, administration of an Epi-pen, SAMPLE history, vitals, physical assessment, and transfer of care to medics. I felt it was comprehensive but not too detailed. I had a lot of fun writing the presentation, and I realized as I was writing it that I didn’t need to make presentation notes for me to look on with—I knew what I wanted to say for each slide, and there was no way I was reading off of the slides. For props, I had a copy of one of our run sheets, vomit bag, gloves, CPR shield and mask, my scope, and my watch (I realize my watch is not a prop, but I made the point that much of patient assessment can be done by listening to the patient, touching the patient, and getting some basic vitals.)
My presentation lasted about an hour, which was perfect, as it left 5 minutes for questions, which was just enough time to keep them interested. If I could have done anything differently, I would have taken a moment to stress that it is not all lights and sirens, that it’s not all about being the hero—I talked about working transfer, but I wish I had emphasized that even if we’re not doing intense treatment with CPR or Epi-pens or using the LSB, we’re still helping someone to feel better.
I really like teaching—it’s a challenge and it reminds me of what I know. I wasn’t asked any technical questions, but I felt that any question that a student could ask me, I would be able to answer. That’s a good feeling. When the teacher asked at the end of my presentation what I want to do when I graduate, though—I have no idea. I didn’t plan on falling in love with EMS.
If anyone wants to see the powerpoint I made and used, let me know and I can send it your way.
I’m applying to Paramedic school!
Happy April, everyone. Yesterday, I did something kind of fantastic. I talked to a few classrooms of high schoolers about EMS. When I was in high school myself, I took the sports medicine class because I needed another gym credit and didn’t want to play dodgeball for another half-year. In the class, we learned basic anatomy, cranial nerves, GCS, basic treatment of minor injuries (RICES, etc), CPR, splinting, and about electrical stimulation therapy and massage therapy. We also watched a lot of Man vs. Wild and Survivorman and videos of people getting injured on YouTube. While we had a lot of fun, we actually did work—I recall writing a paper about bleeding disorders and sports and reviewing an article about hypothermia as a treatment for spinal injuries.
When I was in EMT school, I found that knowing basic anatomy was really helpful in the first few lessons—I didn’t need to focus on memorizing which was way prone and which was supine and what the anatomical position looked like. I emailed the teacher, Mr. Scott, over the summer to thank him, while I was still training.
The other day, maybe two weeks ago, I had the idea to ask if he would be interested in having me come to talk to his classes about EMS. He thought it was a great idea, I made a powerpoint, prepared a presentation, got props from Dan, and went to the High School yesterday.
For 7:30 and 9:50 in the morning, the students paid attention. The second class even asked me questions—some were about how we don’t transport, many were along the lines of “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?” but it showed that they were paying attention. My wonderful brother and sister, Matt and Rae, went to my presentation, which made me really happy.
I explained how I got into EMS, explained our scope of practice and listed some key BLS skills, talked about the training process, levels of certification and ALS/BLS differences, where EMTs work, and what meds we can give. I talked about BEMCo as well, since that’s where my experience is—how we operate, roles of each member of the crew, showed the inside of the truck and the inside of my jump kit, and then walked through a mock call. The call was for difficulty breathing with urticaria and angioedema. I walked them through the process of responding to a call, importance of BSI, the initial assessment, administration of an Epi-pen, SAMPLE history, vitals, physical assessment, and transfer of care to medics. I felt it was comprehensive but not too detailed. I had a lot of fun writing the presentation, and I realized as I was writing it that I didn’t need to make presentation notes for me to look on with—I knew what I wanted to say for each slide, and there was no way I was reading off of the slides. For props, I had a copy of one of our run sheets, vomit bag, gloves, CPR shield and mask, my scope, and my watch (I realize my watch is not a prop, but I made the point that much of patient assessment can be done by listening to the patient, touching the patient, and getting some basic vitals.)
My presentation lasted about an hour, which was perfect, as it left 5 minutes for questions, which was just enough time to keep them interested. If I could have done anything differently, I would have taken a moment to stress that it is not all lights and sirens, that it’s not all about being the hero—I talked about working transfer, but I wish I had emphasized that even if we’re not doing intense treatment with CPR or Epi-pens or using the LSB, we’re still helping someone to feel better.
I really like teaching—it’s a challenge and it reminds me of what I know. I wasn’t asked any technical questions, but I felt that any question that a student could ask me, I would be able to answer. That’s a good feeling. When the teacher asked at the end of my presentation what I want to do when I graduate, though—I have no idea. I didn’t plan on falling in love with EMS.
If anyone wants to see the powerpoint I made and used, let me know and I can send it your way.
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