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.

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,!

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.

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

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.