EMTI19

have confidence, think positively, and good luck!!!

Responded to a call for a middle aged male who needs his staples removed. (and he needs an ambulance for this?) You always know the best ones are when the dispatcher pages out "call by phone for more information" It is usually something they can't say outloud without laughing. True story: Couple of yrs ago a female kept calling 911 for a toothache. We would transport her and never get paid. Medicaid was sending the checks to her and she was going around to nearby towns and cashing them for herself. Finally a bank teller caught on (she must have forgot that she already went to that bank) and called our director. Needless to say, the next Medicaid check came directly to us and the female doesn't call 911 anymore. Talk about abuse! Another abuse of the system is when MDs have the nursing home call 911 to have pt seen in ER. When we arrive at the NH, the nurse tells us that the pt needs to go to the ER because the MD wants to see the pt and the MD is at the hopital right now. Is the MDs car broke? :angryfire Now a pt with no income has an ambulance, ER, and physician bill........... "I'm not an ambulance driver." -Steve Berry Check out his books, very funny.

Thank you for all the help. I don't have any answers about exactly what she was doing (giving 2 units, only had one line, etc...) I feel better about the discussion that I overheard. Maybe that bad feeling in my gut was about something else at the time. I have been trying harder to be more in tune with that. I almost feel embarrased that I asked now without all of the necessary information. :imbar I guess that is what I get. Anyway, thanks for all the info and insight :)

I am currently a first year nursing student and in my last class it was highly stressed that the only thing you could give with blood was NS. Yesterday I was working at the hospital as a CNA and heard an RN asking the other RN's about giving lasix through the blood tubing. The other RN's told her to just clamp the blood, flush the tubing with NS, push the lasix, flush the tubing again with NS, and continue the blood. I was just wondering if this is an acceptable practice? I know that I have alot to learn and that will come with more classes and time, but I just didn't have a good "gut" feeling about this. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

Mental Health Counselor (not officially "spouse" yet, but close enough!)

I got an invitation yesterday. I felt honored to be nominated and I feel it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would love to go, but unfortunately won't be able to due to the money and other classes here at home.

"I'm not sure where you work but, in our ER the nurses and those that bring the patients in (paramedics and EMTs) are very different. I would say that the prehospital care is very important, however many times I have had to go back and correct mistakes some paramedics/EMT's have made. For example I had someone bring in a COPD pt. on 4L of O2 because the pt. O2 sats were 90% on RA. I asked the EMT why did they put the pt on 4L as opposed to 2L. They said they were having problems breathing. I asked did you try putting the pt. on 2L to see what his sats were. And they were like, no the pt was having problems breathing. I'm sure it was just this EMT but, I was thinking hello, it's a COPD pt. I understand if they are having difficulty breathing but, they need to be on the lowest O2 as possible, duh, cause they are just going to be retaining CO2. And as it turned out, the pt sats were 100% on 2L NC, so this in my mind improves the pt's outcome. The only difference is that the EMT is out on there own, if there were RN's who worked with them, then the RN's would be in charge." First of all, 2L NC is not in my EMT-I protocol. The fact that COPD pt's retain CO2 is not covered in most EMT-B classes. Second of all, I have RN's that run with me and they are NOT in charge.

"When prepping the client's skin for venipuncture, cleanse the skin with betadine and wait for it to dry. Do not apply alcohol after the skin has been prepped with betadine. If these substances are combined, they form a toxic material that may be absorbed through the skin." -Fundamentals of Nursing, Second Edition, pg 1112

Caught a med mistranscribed onto the MAR at my last clinical. Doctor's hand-written order was for 20 mcg (with decent legible handwriting) and the MAR listed 20 mg. Lesson learned in clinical: ALWAYS check the MAR against the written orders.... note:this was the pt's 3rd day in the hospital and had been receiving this med (can't remember the name of it right now) every day.

OMG I can't believe some of the posts that I have just read on this thread. I am sorry that some of you have to work with people like that. I work as a part time CNA on the medical floor of a small hospital and I would NEVER say no to a nurses request or order. I treat all of my nurses with respect and in turn they treat me the same and even go beyond that to teach me and answer questions I have about nursing school. Since they know I am in school, some will call me in to observe procedures and explain everything if there is time. I love working there and love all the experience that I am getting. I see how hard they work because they allow me to see it and explain why they do things certain ways. It gives me an appreciation for them and I would do anything to help them and the patient. I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to talk myself up. I just can't believe that some of these people are even in health care, AND that some of them are allowed to stay in health care. Very, very sad.

Hello all, Sorry I have not posted in a long time. I just checked back and realized how much I love reading all of the threads. Nursing school is going great. Only one more week of the semester! I barely missed an A in Fundamentals 1 and will get an A in Fundamentals 2. Clinicals are stressful, but very educational. On somewhat of a more serious note, I wanted to report that my boyfriend went back to Iowa City last month for another CT and is still cancer free!!! He is getting his medi-port out on the 23rd of this month. He has been doing extremely well. He even was an assistant high school football coach for an entire season. He has been talking about doing that since we started dating 2 1/2 years ago and finally had the chance. I was so happy for him!!! Thanks again for all the support. I wanted to become a nurse before he got sick and this experience has reinforced my desire. It is so nice to know how many people are out there that can care about someone they don't even know. Before, I was skeptical, but now I believe that prayer CAN heal. Good luck to everyone in everything you are doing and have a happy holiday season!

Recently my college handed out a memo that from now on all students must take the same exam format that the teacher hands out (computer or written). A student in my class told my sister-in-law (also in my class) that the person who is getting 100% all the time will probably flunk out now. My sister-in-law just smiled at her and said "that would person would be my sister-in-law, she sits in the second row" (me). :rotfl: I didn't even know that you could request another format! Guess I spend too much time studying to research something like that. Also, why do people get so bothered about others doing well? Someone has to be at the top right?

Hello everyone. Things have been kind of hectic lately. We moved into a new house and Matt finished his last round of chemo. We also got a new kitty that we named Rio. On the 18th we went back to Iowa City for another CT and the doctor said that Matt is cancer free!!! We go back in Aug. and Nov. for check ups and Matt goes back to work next month. I am so happy to finally give an update with some good news. Getting ready to start nursing school in August!

LOL - little old lady FLB - when you are having a hard time interpreting the cardiac monitor - funny little beat FF - frequent flyer

I work 24 on and 48 off. In EMS you never know how much sleep you are going to get. I work 6a to 6a and am not allowed to have "down time" until 5pm. There are plenty of things to keep us busy at the station for 11hrs. But, there are days when we are slammed and I don't get an ounce of sleep until I get home and then I have to go to school in the morning. So 48 hrs off feels like 24. I would never recommend working 2 24's or even 2 18's a week for a nurse when you know you will be busy for the whole shift. It sounds great that you are working only 2 days a week, but the day after your shift usually disappears (at least for me it does.)

I haven't posted in what feels like a long time. While reading back through all of your replies, tears came to my eyes. It is so comforting knowing all of you are praying. I haven't realized what a long ordeal this has been, almost 6 months now. My boyfriend is now in his second round of chemo and is doing wonderfully. I cried when his hair fell out even though I knew it was a possibility. I just can't wait for this to be over. It has been very hard to stay strong for him. Luckily we have many family and friends that are strong for us. I myself was recently diagnosed with hypertension. Go figure! :) I am trying to work on my stress levels, diet, and exercise, and am taking Lisinopril. Hopefully I can manage to get myself healthy again and be taken off the med. I am sorry that I haven't written in a while and will try to check in more often. I almost forgot another important announcement: I was accepted into my nursing program and start in Aug.!!!

He came home on the 7th. and went back to have all 60 staples removed on the 17th. The official diagnosis is synovial sarcoma. He has to go back tomorrow to see an oncologist about possible radiation treatments. He is walking without any assistance and his incision is healing nicely. He is eating well without vomiting and the fevers are gone! He has gained back 10lbs. I am so proud of him for being such a good pt and following all orders so that he can be healthy again. I am not familiar with synovial sarcoma and while trying to look it up I became a little frustrated. Most information was either not as detailed as I wanted or intended for doctors and researchers. Some articles showed a 5 year (is it success rate or life expectancy?) of less than 50%. Very depressing, but of course I didn't share this information with my boyfriend. Any ideas of where to look for some good information? I just like to be educated, especially when it comes time to ask the doctor questions. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and feedback!

The surgery went smoothly with no complications. The tumor was 6 lbs! Dr. said it was clearly defined and is sure that it is all out. Now we have to wait on the pathologists again. But now we can start working on gettting better. He is still at University of Iowa, but he is doing so well that he was up and walking around today. The incision is from his grion to his knee and his leg will be concave, but that doesn't matter to me as long as he is healthy. I am so excited that everything is going so well. I believe that all of your prayers and support have truly helped. THANK YOU! I will update as he progresses.

I work for an ambulance service that recently hired a new director. We used to work an 18 hr shift and then a 24 hr shift for a total of 42 hrs/week. The new director changed the schedule to 2 24 hr shifts for a total of 48hrs/week. We were all looking forward to the change, especially the extra overtime. Then when the 1st paycheck came after working the new schedule we were all appalled to find out that the new director cut all of our hourly wages! Mine was cut by almost $2/hr and others were cut more than that. Now we are working 6 more hrs a week more than before and not making any more money and in some cases less money than before. Does anyone know if this is legal? Where can I look up Illinois labor laws? Thank you in advance for any information. BTW, I immediately went searching for a new job!

The big surgery (removing the whole mass) is scheduled for Feb. 4th.

Talked with Dr. today and they are unsure if it is sarcoma or lymphoma. The tumor is coming out next week. I don't know if I could have waited any longer. Now the question is whether anything has spread or not. This is all being done at University of Iowa. He has such a positive attitude that I hate to be negative at all in front of him. It truly helps me to just type this out. Until next week.....

Dr. called on Sat. and said that they still don't know what it is. The pathologists can't agree whether it is malignant or benign. They are having a conference on Thurs. with expert pathologists and oncologists and his Dr. is going to present his case. This is just unbelievable.... Thanks for all of your support:D

Still no new news. Kind of expected to wait long since pathologists don't work weekends or holidays. The best news would be that it's not a sarcoma and just a benign tumor. The second best would be that nothing has spread. Maybe we will find out Mon.? Still waiting, and running low on percocet.....

small update: He is getting around well with a cane and is holding down all food and liquids! Still waiting to hear from the Dr............. Thanks for all your support and advise:)

Thank you everyone. The surgery went smoothly. He has a sarcoma close to his femur with surrounding cysts. Several samples were taken and we are waiting on the pathologists now which will take a while considering the holidays. Plan is to remove the mass soon after New Years. Will keep posting and praying. Hope everyone enjoys their holidays!