I took my National Registry exam for my EMT-B[asic] license and passed on the first try! So far, and I do call out so far, emergency medical care is coming quickly to me. I accredit some of that to my past life as a high level computer solutions agent for a big mongoloid computer company.
What I mean is that differential "trouble shooting" is a transferable skill. Now computers and people are the same as night and day but the method of find a problem with the two is the same. So maybe that is the reason why it is so easy..... so far.
Anywho! I passed on the first try! Now its on to my counties operational guidelines test so I can become approved by my counties medical director. I am also finishing my fire academy!
Subscribe To HCB
Posts
All Comments
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
UT vs TT
Been slow smoking four racks of ribs for the last six hours, wife made some home made tater' salad, got a big case of shiner in the fridge, daughter is in her little UT cheerleader costume ... bring on the game!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Dooms day scenarios
My instructors at my EMT school called our Thursday class, the stress class. The mentioned that they would place in hard situation and see how we reacted.
The scenarios consisted of
That after noon the instructors decided to give us "the worst of the worst" with yours truly being elected by the class to go first.
When we arrived at the incident location, 4 workers had fallen through the rafters of a housing construction work site. No sooner had I set a staging zone for my crew that they took off in four different directions. As I tried my quickest to triage the patients (2 two red, one yellow, and one green) I was also trying to get them to focus on what I was saying. I would get them collected on a red patient and as soon as I turned my head they would head straight to the patient making the most noise (my green patient, last priority).
To make matters worse, I radioed into our mock medical command asking for and getting approved for a mass causality incident but NO back up resources available except for medivac. No Police, Fire Department, or additional EMS. I'll take what I can get and frankly two choppers would be a big help getting my patients out since I am short a method of transport here.
So there are my people, back on the green patient. I look back to my two reds and notice that they are missing. That's when the instructor tells me they died falling through the roof and are now lying on the bottom of the building. K, screw'em. Can't save a dead person
So I instruct my people to work on our yellow patient. Problem is that they are spending ten minutes just trying to get my last priority patient on a back board. Which is right about the time my yellow patient goes into neurogenic shock. After several commands to get the green patient off the back board and have him walk out (cause he can) my guys are still freaking out and working on the back board. I am holding c-spine on my yellow patient because my crew got tunnel vision and neglected him. Another ten minutes of commands to get the g-d damn back board over to our now red (high priority patient) and the instructor tells me that he is also dead.
Faaaaaawk!. ok. So they still have not put the straps on the now only living patient. I walk over, strap him up and get him out of the rafters all in 30 seconds time. Finally something going somewhat right. I then notice that all of our gear is missing. The instructors are laughing saying that our gear was stolen. F'ers
We get the patient to our ambulance when medical command radio's for medivac arrival. Yes! We get a quick landing zone setup and signal for a landing. We then give the briefing and load the patient onto our make believe chopper.
The pilot asks for an all clear to take-off. I look around for any loose debris and noticed that our medical gear has show back up. I whip around to give a negative on an all clear when I see one of my screw giving a thumbs up. I could only close my eyes as the instructor took a blanket laying on the ground and threw it into the rotors and notified us that the pilot, co-pilot, crew, patient, by-standards, me and my crew had all died in a horrible crash.
my mind was numb
The only good news is that they told me that this scenario is specifically setup to have an 80% causality rate. It's basically a doomsday scenario to see how we handle the stress of something like this. I don't think they have managed to ever see an incident commander manage to get everyone killed though.......... I can still hear them screaming *shutter*
The scenarios consisted of
- An EMT screw with one student as the incident commander, aka head EMT.
- The stages of responding to an incident
- The patient
- Care of the patient
- Packaging and transport
That after noon the instructors decided to give us "the worst of the worst" with yours truly being elected by the class to go first.
When we arrived at the incident location, 4 workers had fallen through the rafters of a housing construction work site. No sooner had I set a staging zone for my crew that they took off in four different directions. As I tried my quickest to triage the patients (2 two red, one yellow, and one green) I was also trying to get them to focus on what I was saying. I would get them collected on a red patient and as soon as I turned my head they would head straight to the patient making the most noise (my green patient, last priority).
To make matters worse, I radioed into our mock medical command asking for and getting approved for a mass causality incident but NO back up resources available except for medivac. No Police, Fire Department, or additional EMS. I'll take what I can get and frankly two choppers would be a big help getting my patients out since I am short a method of transport here.
So there are my people, back on the green patient. I look back to my two reds and notice that they are missing. That's when the instructor tells me they died falling through the roof and are now lying on the bottom of the building. K, screw'em. Can't save a dead person
So I instruct my people to work on our yellow patient. Problem is that they are spending ten minutes just trying to get my last priority patient on a back board. Which is right about the time my yellow patient goes into neurogenic shock. After several commands to get the green patient off the back board and have him walk out (cause he can) my guys are still freaking out and working on the back board. I am holding c-spine on my yellow patient because my crew got tunnel vision and neglected him. Another ten minutes of commands to get the g-d damn back board over to our now red (high priority patient) and the instructor tells me that he is also dead.
Faaaaaawk!. ok. So they still have not put the straps on the now only living patient. I walk over, strap him up and get him out of the rafters all in 30 seconds time. Finally something going somewhat right. I then notice that all of our gear is missing. The instructors are laughing saying that our gear was stolen. F'ers
We get the patient to our ambulance when medical command radio's for medivac arrival. Yes! We get a quick landing zone setup and signal for a landing. We then give the briefing and load the patient onto our make believe chopper.
The pilot asks for an all clear to take-off. I look around for any loose debris and noticed that our medical gear has show back up. I whip around to give a negative on an all clear when I see one of my screw giving a thumbs up. I could only close my eyes as the instructor took a blanket laying on the ground and threw it into the rotors and notified us that the pilot, co-pilot, crew, patient, by-standards, me and my crew had all died in a horrible crash.
my mind was numb
The only good news is that they told me that this scenario is specifically setup to have an 80% causality rate. It's basically a doomsday scenario to see how we handle the stress of something like this. I don't think they have managed to ever see an incident commander manage to get everyone killed though.......... I can still hear them screaming *shutter*
Friday, September 11, 2009
9/11
I just got back from Dallas (see last post) but I did make time, like I had to had my arm twisted or something, to visit my fire family.
Its a normal day for fire fighters. A normal day to remember our pledge and a normal day to remember the standard of bravery set by those eight years ago.
Every fire fighter was at work, just like normal. We are there rain or shine, ready to save your life by risking ours.
I hear some law makers declared this a state holiday for fire fighters. They say we can legitimately take off. I think everyone can appreciate that, its a nice sentiment. I guess if they knew us better they would know that we would never dream of taking off.
Its a normal day for fire fighters. A normal day to remember our pledge and a normal day to remember the standard of bravery set by those eight years ago.
Every fire fighter was at work, just like normal. We are there rain or shine, ready to save your life by risking ours.
I hear some law makers declared this a state holiday for fire fighters. They say we can legitimately take off. I think everyone can appreciate that, its a nice sentiment. I guess if they knew us better they would know that we would never dream of taking off.
Back!
Hey everyone! I am back from EMT school! I went to go get my EMT-B, aka Basic.
A basic EMT, here in Texas, is trained to aid in basic type rescue stuff. Things like eye injuries, open wounds, partial to full avulsion, evisceration, giving birth, special needs patients, CPR, and other stuff. I make it sound kind of easy, and it is, but the topics are not so generalized and of course they are more detailed.
I went to a school called Training Division. Its basically an on-line school with a one week "boot camp". I normally loath such "easy routes" in the fire service. Do keep in mind that I have been "doing" the job for six months now. Most of this stuff I learned in the field and up close and personal. Other wise I would strongly recommend that an individual attend a traditional education center for their EMT-B.
So anywho this fits my needs to just pass the damn national test and get on with my life. Its jumping through hoops and any FF can understand that.
So did I pass my school? G-d damn right I did! Now I just need to take my national exam on Monday, wait until they tell me I passed, then give the State of Texas their blood money to get my Texas certification, and then study and pass my counties S.O.G.'s
I'll be done long before September ends.
Anyways, I'm back!
A basic EMT, here in Texas, is trained to aid in basic type rescue stuff. Things like eye injuries, open wounds, partial to full avulsion, evisceration, giving birth, special needs patients, CPR, and other stuff. I make it sound kind of easy, and it is, but the topics are not so generalized and of course they are more detailed.
I went to a school called Training Division. Its basically an on-line school with a one week "boot camp". I normally loath such "easy routes" in the fire service. Do keep in mind that I have been "doing" the job for six months now. Most of this stuff I learned in the field and up close and personal. Other wise I would strongly recommend that an individual attend a traditional education center for their EMT-B.
So anywho this fits my needs to just pass the damn national test and get on with my life. Its jumping through hoops and any FF can understand that.
So did I pass my school? G-d damn right I did! Now I just need to take my national exam on Monday, wait until they tell me I passed, then give the State of Texas their blood money to get my Texas certification, and then study and pass my counties S.O.G.'s
I'll be done long before September ends.
Anyways, I'm back!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)