LenS said:Bet they won't ship them here to MA!
If that's true, you folks are truly screwed, and need to move.
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LenS said:Bet they won't ship them here to MA!
sellscottsell said:I found some great first aid supplies here
http://www.actiongear.com
You can order Quick Clot battlefield agents and more. This is serious stuff, but if needed, the real McCoy.
Optimistic Paranoid said:Much of it is various ways to do splints and bandage various body parts, and we have nurses and physician's assistants on duty around the clock, so we know we'll never use that stuff, all we really have to do is keep the kid alive for the five minutes the professionals will need to reach him.
Optimistic Paranoid said:A Naseo-Pharyngial (sp?) Airway and a way of dealing with a Tension Pneumothorax (sp?) finish out the kit.
TonyD said:Gary brings up some very valid points. First, being that the number one rule is, First, do no harm. (The second is, if you drop the baby, pick it up. But that's another topic.
There has long been the dispute between Paramedics, RN's, PA's, and even MD's. There has been more than one occassion in my 14 year stint as a Paramedic that I've had law enforcement physically remove an "MD" from my scene and my patient.
Again, Gary is correct when referring to the first priority of a true trauma patient is preserving the "Golden Hour" and delivering a viable patient to a trauma surgeon in a trauma facility.
Tension Pneumo / Hemothorax can be treated at the basic level as it relates to a sucking chest wound by having the abilty to recognize it, properly position the victim, and properly applying an occlusive dressing, maintaining an airway and artificial respirations if needed. Decompressing and intubating are ALS functions.
The attention to, and the splinting of, angulated extremity fractures often cost the life of the trauma patient.
The pelvis, however, contains enough "hollow" space to allow exanguination. Again, these can only be treated definitively by a trauma surgeon.
Basic life-saving can be summed up, I believe, in being able to properly apply the ABC's, protect the C-Spine, and controlling massive external hemmorage while arranging for prompt professional intervention.
Hope this helps.
TonyD said:I'm allergic to NKDA! Does that come in ampules or multi-dose vials??
Garys said:I don't know, I can never find it in the PDR. I did once have a patient tell me he was allergic to Oxygen. THAT was intersting too.
Gary
Garys said:You think so, huh? If the agency that you are referring to is involved in the business of keeping people in facilities where they don't want to be, those RNs and PAs are well trained in primary care. They are NOT, as most RNs and PAs are not, trained in emergency care. The professionals will be whatever EMS service is called to remove the kid and transport him/her to the hospital.
Chances are the PA or RN is going to be looking to you, I hope you paid attention during that joke training.
Garys said:If you plan to use either of those, I'd add the phone number of a good attorney. No, wait, make that two good attorney's. One criminal defense, one civil litigator. Nasopharyngeal Airways are beyond the scope of practice of first responders. Any sort of treatment of a Tension Pneumothorax is beyond the scope of practice of both a first responder OR basic level EMT. John and Tony may be wonderful instructors and the course may have been interesting, but I somehow doubt that it certified you to do any of the treatments they demonstrated.
Optimistic Paranoid said:Hmmn. Looks like I kicked over a can of worms here with my post.
First, let me clarify one thing. I don't think the first aid training I receive is a joke. I think the joke is that the Dilbert's World Bureaucracy I work for mandates that I take training in techniques that the very policies they have put in place GUARANTEE that I will never be able to use on the job.
Which, for all practical purposes, means CPR and controlling bleeding by direct pressure
It's interesting that someone else here mentioned that they had had an MD or nurse led away in handcuffs by LE. That could never happen in here.
Nevertheless, the bureaucracy here requires that I take an annual refresher in such techniques, just so they can check off a box on a form somewhere. And that's what I find funny.
On the other hand, I've taken a course with an MD with twenty years of ER experience, and he tells me that I not only CAN do it - IF I HAVE TO - but that if circumstances warrant it and I DON'T do it, then my loved one will die while I stand around helplessly waiting for you professionals to show up.
Finally, not to put too fine a point on it, I appreciate where you're coming from as far as NORMAL circumstances go, but isn't this a SURVIVAL forum, where we also consider situations so screwed up that no help will be available and we'll be thrown totally on our own resources?
Regards
John