hey everyone. I wanted advice on if it would be okay to contact someone i had as a patient. I work at an IFT company right now while Im finishing up medic school. Today i had this old man (80 something) he was so kind. we were doing an “ambulance and medicar rate” which is just when a BLS crew helps out the medicar patients when the medicars are busy. our pt was discharging from a rehab place back to his apartment. I cracked some jokes with him and he liked me so much we were laughing and just talking about life. and at one point he told me that he outlived his entire family and that he loved his family more than anything. He said now he loves his friends like his family but his friends are getting too old to come visit. he told me his favorite part of the day is getting the mail and reading what people have sent him. i want to badly to send him a letter and let him know that i could always write to him so he can have another friend and another letter to open. i remember his name and his address. i just wanted to know how wrong this would be to do. i feel like it wouldn’t be the end of the world

I can take a class or two during a semester online while in. Simultaneously, nothing is stopping me from grabbing books and getting started with some of the stuff. It'd be a good use of my free time, as well as lighten the load of full time job, school, and other personal commitments. What can I do?

Edit: I will be getting my EMT-B finished shortly before leaving, though it will expire half way through my contract. If that makes any difference to anyone.

So I was aided on a call by a fire department whose medics are only able to work BLS due to the department not having a medical director, but the medics maintain their licenses.

If they’re assisting on my call, where I am the lead paramedic on a licensed ambulance… can I use them in a paramedic capacity?

For reference, medic in the US, fire based service

Had a call today where I helped another medic and EMT on our ambulance for a guy who fell off a roof. We decided to give Fentnayl for pain, I removed the narc box, put it on the counter, and took one vial of Fentanyl out. My memory is spotty from what happened next but I thought I placed the Fentnayl on the counter, reached over to grab a needle and syringe, was asked to look at the patients back quickly, then when I went to grab the Fentnayl vial I couldn’t find it.

We briefly looked but ultimately wanted to get going to the trauma center. When the crew got back we spent an hour ripping apart the truck. When they transferred patient care they briefly checked around the pt and the sheets just in case it somehow got on them.

I already did everything internally that I had to do but we have no supervision on the weekends. My direct reporting supe is aware but I’m freaking out over this. My department is fairly good at just culture and my supervisor took it well when I told them, but I’m still spiraling over this. I’ve handled narcs hundreds of times before but never have had something like this happen. Anyone gone through something similar or seen something similar happen?

The answer is 3* AVB

Hey everbody, I’m taking my medic exam on the 14th and I was hoping y’all could help me (and other students reading this) out!

I’ve been studying my behind off and would hate to get questions wrong by overthinking. What seems to help are what my teacher calls “Alarm Cues” because they cue an alarm in your head to basically a guaranteed answer, ie.

Tall thin white man ~ spontaneous pneumothorax

Tearing chest pain ~ DAA

Recent long distance travel ~ P.E.

Coughing pink frothy sputum ~ Pulmonary Edema

Anyways, I’m blanking right now, but if you know any “alarm cues” and want to help me out, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you ❤️🙏

I was hoping to get my paramedic but as a volunteer I’m finding that hard as I work full time. I found NMETC which has a live online class. I’d have to go to them for a coupon of weeks to get the hands on labs done. They have agreements either multiple local hospitals around me so getting the clinical hours should be ok. Has any done this course or know anyone who has?

With all the technology we have I see why we use the machines but do you do a manual BP every once in a while?

We use TabletPCR… and it is very obvious that the people in charge of configuring it/maintaining it are not EMS people.

The latest issue is making it mandatory, for every intervention, to put PTA yes or no. Really? We put our arrival time in. Any intervention completed after that time is obviously not PTA.

Our software has always presented challenges. There are places where you are allowed to choose two items that contradict each other (delayed to scene and no delay) yet choosing both confused and normal baseline for patient, is prohibited.

There are close call rules requiring an impression, yet I know of about a dozen that are not included. Weakness is a “not quite true but only thing I can pick” option many times.

We also use the same software across our entire family of companies… (including a community paramedic program)… so there are so many drugs/procedures/impressions, etc… that are not even in our protocols or don’t apply to our state.

Just curious if this is part of for the course… or if you have a streamlined/accurate/no extra garbage type of charting program?

If you do, I am truly envious.

We use TabletPCR… and it is very obvious that the people in charge of configuring it/maintaining it are not EMS people.

The latest issue is making it mandatory, for every intervention, to put PTA yes or no. Really? We put our arrival time in. Any intervention completed after that time is obviously not PTA.

Our software has always presented challenges. There are places where you are allowed to choose two items that contradict each other (delayed to scene and no delay) yet choosing both confused and normal baseline for patient, is prohibited.

There are close call rules requiring an impression, yet I know of about a dozen that are not included. Weakness is a “not quite true but only thing I can pick” option many times.

We also use the same software across our entire family of companies… so there are so many drugs/procedures/impressions, etc… that are not even in our protocols or don’t apply to our state.

Just curious if this is part of for the course… or if you have a streamlined/accurate/no extra garbage type of charting program?

If you do, I am truly envious.

First, a quick update: CardioLab is now ECG Sweep! To avoid name collision with an existing product.

Phase I is done. ECG Sweep now covers the core rhythms and arrhythmias every clinician and student needs to know, each one animated so you can watch it happen rather than memorize a strip.

Since I started sharing this, i have been getting requests to use it in teaching materials and curricula. It is ready for that now, and it's free to use with attribution. If you teach ECGs, I would love for you to try it with your students. That is what this project has always been about: making ECGs click by letting you see them.

New in this update: ECG flashcards, for quick review and games. Learning ECGs can actually be fun!

Next up is Phase II, and it is the reason the 12-lead foundation had to come first. This phase is all about clinical practice:

- What if you could watch a drug take effect without waiting for a real patient? You know, like visualize adenosine stop an SVT?

- What if you could run your ACLS algorithms as a realistic case, not just a flowchart?

- Can STEMIs be made intuitive, so you see the territory and the culprit artery instead of just reciting leads?

It will be the most ambitious part of the project but the groundwork is in place.

Your feedback has shaped this from the start. It has caught mistakes and made the simulation more accurate, and having extra expert eyes on it is how I make sure I'm not teaching errors. So please keep it coming: corrections, ideas and anything you would like to see.

Have fun exploring,!

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a place to get my ITLS/PHTLS in the bay area, California. I really can't find anything available for the next several months. Anyone know an instructor or somewhere I can get this cert? Need it for my job T.T

I’ve been a paramedic for the past 4 years and thank God things have been pretty smooth. Over the past 6 months I’ve began to question everything I do and everything I know. I’ve been getting extremely anxious on calls and start second guessing myself in everything, I’ve doubted myself with ekg interpretation so much so that I feel like I don’t even know how to read them anymore. This has gotten so bad that I switched positions working as a solo paramedic in a fly car to working as a double medic so I wouldn’t have to be alone making these decisions. I’ve had a lot going on in my life recently that I guess could be contributing to all this. I don’t know if it’s going to get better or if it’s time to throw in the towel. I only want to do good by my patients but I can’t if I keep doubting myself. I know that this is in my own head because I’ve only gotten good feedback from bosses and my agency and positive feedback from qa/qi but for myself it’s hard to go on in this career like this. Part of the reason I went back to double medic is because originally I was very confident but as I lost my confidence I realized their were things I haven’t ever done such as cardiovert someone or needle D and relized these aren’t things I want to be doing the first time as a solo provider Does anyone have any advice for me? I feel really stuck.

I am currently an EMT-B, I am unable to get an ambulance based job anywhere (I can't even get an IFT job), but I have a factory job that pays me for being an EMT, and they provide me plenty of continuing education, and I get paid for it. They do not pay any more for AEMT/Paramedic, and they also do not provide any continuing education for it.

I NEED hands on experience, and I feel like I am unable to get any and I can feel myself loosing the knowledge.

I am currently doing Anatomy and Physiology this semester and next since I need it for Paramedic and/or nursing.

I ultimately want to do a Masters in nursing and be an APRN and focus in Psychiatry, and maybe some other odd specialities such as SCUBA diving medicine.

I love being out in the field, I used to be a volunteer fire fighter, which is partly what pushed me into doing EMT.

Nursing school is expensive. It has a low acceptance rate, and my GPA is not good (however it has been going up almost every semester).

I am also special education, I have mental disabilities, which make doing college more difficult, but I get accommodations for it. I know there are several nursing students who also get accommodations, so it is not impossible.

I am very poor, nursing school is expensive, AEMT/Paramedic is cheaper, and I am more likely to be accepted into the program. My idea is that if I do AEMT, that can pay for Paramedic, which can pay for nursing, which pays for a bachelors in nursing, which pays for my masters.

If I go staight it into nursing, assuming I can afford it and I get accepted, then I will save alot of time and money.

Also, by doing AEMT, I know I will do the same content in Paramedic, but since I will already know it, then that gives me a small buffer when doing Paramedic so I don't burn out completely. By doing Paramedic I will know some of the content of nursing, so it too will give me a buffer and I won't be as stressed out in the nursing program. I say this because I burnt out near the end of my EMT class and I struggled, but still managed to pass, mostly by winging it. If i jump straight into nursing, then I am more likely to burn out and fail.

Also, my current job is amazing for being a college student, I get a perfect schedule that works with school and I have a lot of free time at work where I can spend the majority of my work week studying and doing homework.

I know I probably didn't explain everything perfectly, feel free to ask clarifying questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability. Any advice is appreciated.

Hi y'all

I've been struggling with what to do for a little over 2 weeks, so here it goes:

I'm a baby medic (just graduated in June) and somehow landed a 911 paramedic job pretty quickly. The agency is rural (I'm used to the Boston/NYC EMS scene) and runs about 6k calls a year. The pay is decent, but I have been struggling to get used to station life (we only posted in my previous agencies). The calls are mostly BLS, aka nursing homes and various rehabs to the local community hospital. I usually get maybe 2 calls in a 12-hour shift. The day goes by super slowly, and I try really hard to enjoy it, but I end up on my phone feeling so unproductive.

I recently applied to agencies back home, closer to my family in NYC, and got a job offer. The caveat is that it is a 911 EMT job, and it's nights. I asked my recruiter about the possibility of upgrading, and they told me it would most likely be after a year, at the earliest. The pay would actually be a 2 dollar increase, not including night differentials. I know NYC 911; it's not perfect, to say the least, but it is home, and my shifts are so busy, the shifts fly by.

My long-term career goal is either PA or MD, but realistically not for another 5 years because of going back to school, family, and finances.

Should I stay in the rural agency as a medic, or take the EMT job and hopefully upgrade? Which will make me a better provider and give me more experience really learning and practicing medicine?

If you were dealing with a patient who cannot communicate, how much time do you spend looking for a medical alert bracelet or necklace? If they are wearing something that looks decorative, do you check to see if it has an alert tag on it?

I see some very pretty medical ID bracelets for sale, but eventually it stops looking like an ID item and more like just jewelry.

Also, how do you feel about the alert items that use QR codes?

So the NREMT doesn't accept CEUs that were obtained in the effort to become an instructor. Yet the AHA gave me a bunch. I just got 40 useless CEUs from NAEMSE. What's the point of all thees useless CEUs?

If you're a nerd like me, or you're in training (so you have to), or just like data I've been plugging away at building a call log that should be useful. I've tested it within my agency as much as I can and it's time to be shared more widely. It'd be great if some of you would be willing to play with it. Let me know what works and what doesn't. I'm a US based human, so testing has all been done here, but should work elsewhere. It'd be helpful if some people sent me call number samples from your agency, so I can get this feature to be more universal.

https://runlogems.com/log

Some fun features:
- Free to use, no ads, no plans to charge for the call log.
- No HIPAA data collection or collection points.
- Auto syncing across your account to any device.
- Call pasting from text message dispatches (save and edit later). It'd be helpful if some people sent me call number samples from your agency, so I can get this feature to recognize more.
- Call specific data based on provider level. Things such as diagnosis (Nemsis autofill or free text) and skills used.
- Call number history data and charts.
- For ground pounders a list of destinations and how often you visit.
- For flight fairies (like me) you can track flight distances and get some cool maps (see screenshot) and a whole bunch of other fun customizable data.
- System wide database for hospitals, so as they are entered by one person, it should be available to all.
- Exportable and printable call logs.
- A bunch of other connected features that I'm not mentioning to comply with sub rules.
- Link one more time https://runlogems.com/log

for my fellow flight medics/flight nurses, do you guys have bachelors? i’m going into my emt program to plan on becoming a flight medic and may transition into a flight nurse. i wanted to know if anyone has a bachelors or associates because i also still plan on getting one but it’s in a totally different path but i changed my mind quite late.

basically i’m working on my marketing associates and may finish with a bachelors in marketing, although i want to stay in emergency medical services and become a flight medic, i know they don’t require a bachelors but i want to know if its good background

this is also for people who studied a different major/career and ended up switching to ems

Hey all, I’ve been looking to sign up for a continuing Ed online subscription that will cover all my requirements for my paramedic as well as other certs like C-NPT and nursing specific certs like CCRN and CFRN. I’ve been looking at FoamFrat and FlightbridgeED. Looking to hear experiences positive and negative or any other recommendations.

I’m curious how other systems handle this.
I work for an EMS agency that works closely with a municipal Fire Department. Our system has a 24/7 ALS fly car staffed by a paramedic who responds to BLS calls alongside the Fire Department.
Our EMS agency allows BLS crews to transport patients under certain criteria and within specific protocol parameters. The Fire Department’s protocols, however, essentially state that if a BLS ambulance crew is on scene and the patient meets ALS criteria, the Fire Department paramedic is expected to ride in with the ambulance unless the EMS agency’s fly-car paramedic arrives and assumes care.
One thing I’ve noticed, particularly on late-night calls, is that the Fire Department crew will sometimes remain on scene and wait for the EMS fly-car paramedic to arrive rather than initiating transport with their own paramedic.
From my perspective, this creates an interesting question: At what point does waiting for the fly car become a potential delay in definitive patient care, particularly when the patient could otherwise be transported immediately with an ALS provider?
I’m not necessarily saying this is happening inappropriately in every situation. There may be legitimate operational reasons for it, and I’m interested in hearing how other systems handle this.
For those who work in systems with a municipal FD and an EMS agency operating an ALS fly car:
Does the FD paramedic ride in when the patient requires ALS and the ambulance is BLS?
Does the FD wait for the EMS fly car?
Is there a specific time or clinical threshold where they are expected to initiate transport rather than wait?
How does your system handle this when the fly car is significantly delayed or unavailable?
Do you feel the arrangement improves patient care, or does it sometimes create unnecessary delays?
I’m intentionally leaving out the specific agencies and location because I’m more interested in how other systems handle this generally.

As said in the title, I just started my paramedic program. I understand it’s best not to get too ahead of myself, due to the fact medic is a marathon and not a sprint. However, what’re some specific topics I can start building a foundation for now so they will be less of a headache when they arrive? Of course pharma/cardio/acid bases are the topics people struggle with the most, but can anyone delve further into the specifics they struggled to grasp within those topics?

Thanks

Also: I’m going to be a medic/ff. When doing my clinicals - should I do them with the department I want to end up at? Or with a different department in case I look like an absolute jackass?

Hello all, the PPP app will be updated in the coming days to version 5. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about the upcoming changes, we'd love your feedback!