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[audio:20_MaintainControl.mp3] (38:52) Is the scene safe, Kelly?
This week Ron and Kelly talk about maintaining your own pulse when dealing with a crazy call, what’s the reason to give pain meds, and the difference between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. You’ll learn a new way to remember what part the parasympathetic system has on breeding.
This week Ron started giving IVs to the public at large and got to see a cath lab procedure.
UPDATE: After listening to the show and checking my pharmacology book I’m pretty sure the STEMI patient was not given Haldol. He was given Heprin. Haldol is an antipsychotic. Heprin is an anticoagulant which makes way more sense.
Listener Questions
I am wondering if there are personality types that are more successful than others in EMS? The reason I am asking this is because I have often been told that people can’t see me working on an ambulance or in an emergency department and have often been told that I should be a case worker. – Kim in Colorado
How familiar are EMTs/Paramedics with the Road ID wrist/ankle identification tags? Also, what information would you suggest to have on the tag? Typically it is name, city/state, 2-3 contact numbers, and any medical conditions or allergies. Eric – Las Vegas
Mentions:
House of God
Rogue Medic
Anatomy & Physiology for Emergency Care
Veinlite
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Great episode! The Veinlite guy will be at the TX EMS Conference, I’m sure. If you can, wait until the last day of the show to buy stuff… they do heavy discounting that day. I sold the Veinlite for a bit but we had difficulty selling to EMS because of the ambient lighting situation in the field… you can’t turn off the lights during the day when you are outdoors. They had one in the ER last night and we talked about it… they love the thing. One of the nurses has an extra one she’d be willing to sell at a discount, so let me know if either of you are interested and I will get y’all in touch.
Some things I would love to hear y’all discuss: Intubation on a concious, non-sedated patient. Experienced that this week during clinicals and it was VERY interesting. I can see that this might be necessary in the field at some point… what are your thoughts and experiences?
Prilosec for anaphalaxis. Going along with your discussion on drugs and how/why they work, in the ER, we had a patient come in with a severe reaction to an unknown substance and the protocol was Epi 1:1,000, Benadryl and Prilosec, all IV. The doc told me that the Prilosec is also a histamine blocker that addresses the receptors that Benadryl doesn’t affect. Do y’all have any experience with this and is this something we can expect to be rolled out to EMS at some point?
On a lighter note, sidekick names… Ron can be “white cloud” to Kelly’s “hurricane”? 🙂
Correction… epi 1:1,000 was SQ
Seen that one IV and it was not fun…
Thank you truly for answering my question. I really enjoy the podcast and the perspectives from both a newbie and a sage ;). – Kim
Discussing mnemonics, the use of… err… off color… mnemonics isn’t just limited to public safety and EMS students. For example, one of the major mnemonics for the cranial nerves is so bad that one of my professors basically told us to just Google it instead of including it on her slides. What ever works. However, every student also needs to remember that being able to recite a mnemonic isn’t the same as being able to remember what it means and apply it.
Heh, I’m pretty sure I used that mnemonic in the podcast, but apparently it got edited out.
I’m going to have to develop a more family-friendly schtick. 😉
I am a RoadID user. Always wear it when I cycle and run since I don’t carry any other identification. The standard model has enough room for name, address, phone, and emergency contact. The RoadID elite includes a phone number emergency responders can call for additional information that I have recorded or written into my account. RoadID makes a great gift.