This blog is intended to be anonymous (though I'm sure some hardcore digging could figure out who I am) and detail some of the events and calls I run as an urban paramedic. By keeping the details of where the calls and who the patients are, minimizing specifics and changing some details, and avoiding speaking about the agency for whom I work for - I hope to fully compliant with both patient privacy guidelines and any other rules dictating writing about patient encounters. Moreover, I have no financial gain from this blog and have not and will never place any ads or such that may generate any revenue from my stories.
Primarily this blog is my attempt to explain what I do to family and friends. Invariably, every time I mention that I am a paramedic, everyone always asks with bated joy in their eyes - "Do you get to drive the ambulance?" and when I respond with sigh "yes" they reply "that must be exciting."
The job of a paramedic goes way beyond driving, but the public perception is that we do nothing more than go to the scene of an emergency and scoop the patient onto a stretcher, run to the ambulance, and head off to the hospital once someone hits the back doors (as popularized by almost every television show and movie that has an ambulance in a cameo). Moreover, it is a common frustration amongst medics that firefighters get lauded as heroes for 'saving lives' when much of their traditional job involves saving property and perhaps, if lucky, a once in a lifetime rescue of a victim from a burning house. On the other hand, a paramedic can probably say that they legitimately save someone's life with their medical interventions at least once a month, if not more.
Finally, there is a huge difference between paramedics and EMTs though there is little acceptance of this by the public and is partly our fault. EMTs undergo approximately 160 hours of training which is about 4 weeks of full time training. Paramedics undergo at least a year of training in an accelerated program and closer to 2 years in a normal program for their position. By comparison, an R.N. requires 2 years (though there is a bachelor's degree of 4 years), fire and police academies last approx 6 months.
Like most paramedics, I started as an EMT and recognize the virtue of a well trained EMT but there are many limitations. The biggest thing an EMT brings to EMS is the experience they have garnered through running calls - it is the experience which sets them apart from other first aid trained individuals (like a boy scout or lifeguard). As a result, I will always take an experience EMT at the scene of an emergency than 50 boy scouts or even a podiatrist.
A paramedic, on the other hand, can perform almost every procedure a doctor will do for a patient in a cardiac arrest (intubation, IVs, medication administration). Medic training involves hundreds of hours of time in hospitals or spent as a student on an ambulance and demonstration of skill. Most EMT programs require 10 hours of observation time in an Emergency Department.
So with this blog - I hope to speak about pre-hospital medicine, including new treatments and protocols, while interspersing actual call experiences.
