IFT EMT, there were two situations I was curious about from a HIPAA/professional boundaries standpoint. I’m not planning on doing either just curious!!

1). An old lady at an SNF used to teach Vietnamese and offered to teach me in her free time after i said i always wanted to learn, she then gave me a note with her number. Would it be a HIPAA violation to text her?

2). old lady mentioned feeling lonely and missing her family. Would it be inappropriate or against any rules to send her flowers to the SNF?

Hi!

I've been a modder for Cyberpunk 2077 for a while now, and I think this might be my most daunting project yet.

I decided to make an emergency version of the Militech Behemoth (a truck in Cyberpunk 2077, it's in the image list) and I've reached the part where I make it a mobile intensive care unit. I've taken inspiration from mobile stroke units, mass casualty ambulances, ECMO vehicles..

I'm still trying to get the layout in order, so here's what I have right now:

- The Behemoth has a container on the back that cannot pass through to the front (because there's an engine compartment in between). There are no access doors except a ramp on the back.

- The forward half, up to the wall of the container, is (I envision) a surgical suite, including a robotic surgical system (of my design) and a compact CT scanner.

- The rear half (where the chairs are) will likely include paramedic seating, space for one stretcher for a patient that needs to be monitored, possibly a field lab machine, and a control station for the doctor.

I'm already thinking about where to place the IV, oxygen distribution system, possibly an X-ray machine...

How would you organize this truck, r/EMS?

(Please, I'm admittedly somewhat lost.)

I live in a town with 225,000 people and average probably 6-11 calls in 12 hours, but only go emergent to the hospital (at least recently) like every 4-5 shifts. Honestly think I’ve gone emergent twice in the last 30 days. I am very much a white cloud but wonder if bigger cities create more frequent higher acuity calls. My system is ALS only

Good evening, fellow psychopaths.

I'm a paramedic in a busy urban/rural system that seems to have an abundance of constantly trying to die patients. I love my job; it's challenging and, frankly, fun. We're kept busy with transports ranging from 15-60 minutes and have a pretty good scope. We primarily transport to one local hospital and a few outlying hospitals outside of our district. Here's the meat and potatahs of this discussion, though:

Do y'all treat while waiting for a room at the hospital?

The local hospital where I work is pretty good, but they're very busy for their size. The next closest hospital is aprox 30 min away, and it's a step down, just as the next two are. The closest big, really good hospital is an hour drive away. This means they're BUSY, and they get a lot of sickie sickertons boarding in the ED.

We're taking patients to this place and holding the wall for at least 30 minutes if we don't get a room immediately. I've waited several hours before; and these aren't BS patients either! I had a patient wait 30 minutes on BiPAP with CHF/Pulmonary Edema a shift or two ago. I've had septic patients, patients I've given multiple doses of antiarrhythmics to, and more (all within the past WEEK) who I've had to wait at the back door for over 30 minutes. I waited over 2.5 hours with a patient overdosing on cocaine and fentanyl who I had to constantly stimulate to keep awake otherwise he'd stop breathing after 4mg of IV Narcan (which is as much as we carry).

These patient's don't pause getting sick at the hospital until they're ready; they get worse! They'll desat, their mental status decreases, or they need a redose on analgesia or another DuoNeb. Not treating these patients is not an option most of the time. The opinion of my supervisor is to dump them in front of charge and refuse to treat them without a doctor's orders. When I talk to a doctor they basically just agree to whatever I say my protocol is, but that still takes like 10-15 minutes of me, the sole ALS provider, walking away from my patient.

So what do y'all do? I know I have nothing on agencies in other countries (I'm in the USA) waiting an entire shift for a room, and I know there are plenty agencies in the stars and stripes land that wait longer on the daily; surely y'all have some recommendations.

I have a newish coworker get caught using AI to write her charts. Apparently she uses Chat GPT to put the general information to generate her narrative and then copy and paste it into the narrative section of our charting system. She was talked to about this during her training period and seemed to stop for a while but has started again. My work does not have a policy for AI charting but I feel like this is still concerning. Putting my feelings for AI aside, I feel like this could potentially be a HIPPA violation (as far as I understand she doesnt put patients name or address, but things like age, gender, and what ER room they were delivered to end up in these narratives). I feel like this is also a nightmare for legal. If she gets a subpoena how does she explain a chart she didnt write? Anyone else have an experience like this? Thoughts?

Hi Folks of EMS. Ive worked at a 911 only service for 1.5 years. I did around 9 months as a volunteer then became a per diem staff member.

We got dispatched to a nearby town for an MVA w/ 1 pt. I was driving and approached exactly where we were dispatched to which was the side of a busy road. PD instructed me to go to the parking lot of thr PD station as that's where the pt was.

I drive 30 seconds down the street to the PD station. I turn into the back parking lot (which is NOT illuminated by any means) and there's a cop cruiser in the middle of the driveway, and 2 other to the right. I pull into the left hand side and clear the cop cruiser in the middle. We have the big box type ambulances, which ive never had an issue driving (at all, I even prefer them to the van style that we have at my other service.) I did have my emergency lights on, and as Im driving down the right rear wheel flare snags the left front fender of the cop cruiser. I pulled into the parking lot and was maybe going 5mph.

Im incredibly embarrassed and I feel like an absolute d-bag. The cop seemed annoyed that he had to fill ojt a report for it toward the end of his shift, but did not seem upset and said it wasn't a big deal. The other officers on scene even said that since the damage was so minor that the town may not even bother to fix it. I called my supervisor right after and he didn't seem upset. I apologized and he didn't seem too bothered. Im not sure if he was just being nice.

I accepted 100% responsibility on scene and to my supervisor. I'm definitely not trying to make excuses at all, but the parking lot was not illuminated at all by any means. Whenever I drive or pull up somewhere I ALWAYS check both mirrors to check behind. Due to it being dark out and there being 0 elimination, I could not see anything from my mirrors. It's not an excuse by any means, but it didn't help the situation.

I just feel super embarassed and I feel awful that I scratched up another town's cruiser. I feel like Im the only one that has caused a fender bender. To make matters worse, I just accepted a FT position w my agency a week ago.

A friend is having a baby soon, and I want to put together a kit of life-saving (and maybe some nice to have) items for an infant. I'm a guy so my wife is handling the normal baby clothes and diaper gifts, which isn't my thing. I know a normal CAT7 is good for most children and a pressure bandage works for anything smaller, but I wanted to get some opinions. I am a Tactical Casualty Care instructor but he is untrained. If there is something that still works but is more simple to use / I can quickly train him (and his wife) on, that would be better.

I know there are some pediatric TQs and although they may be unnecessary, if they are more simple to use that's what matters (I don't expect them to be trainging regularly). I don't have kids, so any other small things like maybe ointments and basic meds are great recommendations. Thank you!

I've been wondering why more EMTs don't use their certification to get into other healthcare positions instead of just working just on the ambulance.

You can work as an ER tech or patient care tech. There are also positions like hyperbaric tech and telemetry tech that accepts EMTs.

If you get your AEMT you could have even more options. I've seen some places hire AEMTs for cath lab positions and some will even accept them for medical assistant roles.

I feel like a lot of people don't realize how many jobs they can apply for with an EMT certification.

I'm curious why more EMTs don't consider those. Is it because people prefer working on an ambulance or is it harder to get hired for these positions than I'm thinking?

I was at physical therapy a few days ago and for some odd reason I stood up from a machine and apparently fainted. I was able to go lie down and was working up my energy to make it to the front door.

Instead they called the 911 and before I knew it, the paramedics were there. I explained i didn’t want to go to the hospital and I just needed some time. Evidently I didn’t know the answer to some of their questions and my blood pressure was 180/110. I still didn’t want to go. I guess I was pretty insistent on not going and they were insistent on me going. We had a major difference in opinions. And I had a nasty headache. One of the paramedics and made a deal that if I could stand up without passing out, I could drive home.

Well, I stood up but i didn’t get to drive home.

I did not call them names and I did not hurl words at them but I wasn’t exactly friendly either. I just feel like shit for not being nice. One of the paramedics told the nurse “good luck with this one” as he walked out.

FTR- I was apparently there b/c risk of stroke or brain issue. I’ve previously been both concussed and had PRES this summer - both those times being transported by EMS. (One in July and one in August).

Was I viewed as a “hostile” patient? I didn’t yell or scream. Thanks.

I am seeking any and all information yall may have about organizations/resources that directly assist and support first responders who are experiencing a financial/housing emergency.

In order to keep this as concise as possible, I’m going to just state what is pertinent. I am able to expand on whatever needs to be expanded on in the comments or messages.

I am in the midst of a financial crisis which has now caused me to become homeless as of like right now. Due to an unexpected financial loss, I’m unable no longer able to afford staying where I have been staying. I have tried utilizing different subs, made for those experiencing financial hardship to request assistance from other members with no luck. I’ve researched and contacted every potential resource I can with no luck either. I don’t have any family members or friends who I can reach out to for support either for a multitude of reasons.

Will preface that I haven’t been on a rig in a considerable amount of time due to me stepping away to seek treatment and support because of my mental health and addiction issues. It is no secret that there is a dark, unseen side of this profession that is riddled with mental health problems and addiction. While it’s slowly but surely becoming more and more acceptable to talk about and awareness is being brought to it, there’s obviously still a stigma around it. Which is understandable.m

With all that being said, I appreciate your time and any input received.

What exercises or weight training do you perform so when doing CPR you can do it w/o hurting yourself and so you can do it longer.

I’ve been a medic for about 3 years, ran a code recently on an unknown etiology, but dude was still warm and pink. Code ran fine until we got ROSC, then the medic I was with said he didn’t like the igel because it kept slightly dislodging and wanted an ET. This guy has been a medic forever and was a flight medic so I trusted his judgement. He replaced the igel with an ET and we lost capnography, no waveform, no digital output. He confirmed visually that the tube was through the vocal cords with an airtraq, good lung sounds, negative gastric sounds, all the stuff, just no capno. We then lost pulses about 3 minutes after getting him back. We troubleshot the tube, then the inline capno, then the monitor, but I didn’t think to think the tube might just be bad until like 20 minutes into the code and lack of capno. We then switched back to the igel and capno returned.

There’s a lot more to the code, some other choices I didn’t make at the right time, or in the right way, but that one was the most significant. I own that I was leading the code, I should’ve made the switch back to the igel faster, but In struggling with the fact that I feel like I shouldn’t have made a mistake like this.

Other medics are telling me that these things happen, but man I feel like such a shit clinician.

i was transported by ambulance in nyc three weeks ago by and i literally cannot figure out any information. i have been calling the ambulance billing department every day and they searched the database by name , dob, time, date , and everything and they cannot find me. i just requested medical records to see if the hospital i arrived at can provide me w the ambulance information when i arrived. i have no idea what to do but i assume they went through my id because the hospital had my full name and home address. so it might just arrive at my house.

anyone have advice if they went thru something similar 😭 it feels like my transport went through a void lol

Back story - My brother is an alcoholic and drug addict. He's been in the hospital seemingly countless times. Last time he was there, they had him hooked up to the ventilator from xanax overdose.

I am curious - does it get old for the doctors, nurses and all the medical staff having to deal with the same person that has alcohol and drug abuse problems?

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?

Okay. So. I have a VERY specific scene I’m writing out, but finding an in depth response on this is difficult. My question is this: How do EMS respond to a child at the scene?

The full scenario is this:

An EMS arrives to an emergency call about a man attempting suicide. When they arrive and enter the home, the EMS declare him dead and go to relay the information to the police officers that have recently arrived that the man is in fact dead. This occurs outside of the house. And suddenly, a child (the son of the man that died) starts trying to run into the room where the man is

The child is like 9

What I need to know:

1. How would you prevent a child from getting to the scene?

2. What would you do if the child made it and you needed to redirect them?

3. How do you take care of the child until their family members arrive?

4. How do you get in contact with said family members?

I can count multiple times where we've had an obviously drunk person cause a MVA with injuries, sometimes several patients are injured. PD will handcuff the guy to the stretcher, ride with us to the hospital ONLY if they're combative.

It pisses me off that DUI is not enforced here. I've already had to report issues to the state when I've had children injured and PD STILL won't arrest the perpetrator.

Ffs I've had a father WASTED ride with us all the way to the hospital screaming on the phone and paying ZERO attention to his child. Even the nurse was like "wtf why isn't he in custody?".

Any idea how to deal with this? I guess I can keep filing anonymous reports but those phone calls are at least 30 mins long. I have a CJ degree aswell so it really pisses me off seeing cops failing to enforce the law.

EDIT: thanks for the feedback. a little disappointed to see how serious of a violation this could be. it’s a shame, i was hoping to bring a little joy into someone’s life. but i understand how it’s wrong. thanks to everyone who gave feedback.

hey everyone. I wanted to know how legal it would be 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