All Blog Posts (651)

I am ecstatic to report to you all that I not only passed the class, but I got an A on both the final and the class.

An A is always a sweet reward for a job well done, but this one is even sweeter because I fought so hard for that grade -- literally and figuratively. I not only worked through a lot of troubles with learning how to study and how to manage my time as an adult student, I also fought with instructors over the semantics of quiz questions.

I did it…

Well, it's official. Free healthcare is in. More people are now turning to Dr. Internet before consulting their primary care physician for a diagnosis. While it's certainly a lot more trouble to walk into an office than it is to type a few simple phrases into a search query. You're liable to get a more comprehensive examination of the facts than the internet can offer.



One of the problems that…

In honor of EMS Week, which is happening right now, I want to thank everyone out there in the field for what you do. EMS providers don't always get the recognition they need for the amazing jobs they do. So I decided to post the five things I think make EMS providers most awesome.

Thing is, I couldn't do it. Not because EMS providers don't do five awesome things. Rather, because everything I said was a variation of the following most-awesome thing ever:

1. We…

Last night's lecture was our final lecture. Nothing against my instructors, but we were all so thrilled to close our 1,200 page textbooks at the end of the night. I don't care who you are. Five hours of lectures is a lot, even with a 30-minute break.

Luckily, there's a Starbucks nearby.

I didn't leave campus once during break until three weeks ago. Something happened when May hit that made it necessary for all of us to head outside for a little breather. This…

I knew last night's quiz was going to be hard, because the subject was pediatrics and there's just so much to know and keep track of with pediatric patients. I maintained my most recent study strategy: effectively use my time not by reading the full text but reading all the call out material in the book and taking the book's online quiz until I get it perfect more than once.

It's been working, but it didn't help this time, because I failed. But misery loves company, and I am…

If you've been reading my blog this semester, you might remember when I first heard about the group scenarios we had to do in front of the class. (Could I Be a Trauma Junkie?) I was very excited, because they reminded me of the JEMS Games and seemed like a fun way to incorporate research, learning and coordination...and a…

I don't know what has happened to our class, but it's like someone flipped a switch because we are all suddenly very over this class. I think the professors are too. In fact, I know at least one of them is because he told us so during last night's lecture.

It's nice to be in the home stretch. This has been a fun endeavor, and I've learned so much. I've become intimately familiar with what EMS providers do, how it feels to be on a BLS transfer rig, what the challenges with the…

If you are considering home dialysis, you will need a good dialysis transfer set. You will need a dialysis transfer set that is easy to use at home and you are comfortable with. Dealing with chronic kidney disease at home can be tricky, but here are a few things to look for when considering a dialysis transfer set.

Make the catheter as comfortable as you can.

There are a few…

If you're wondering about my LOC when reading my subject line, don't worry just yet. I'm referring to how realistic the male students in my class were when playing the pregnant patient in imminent delivery.

I know emergency delivery isn't a common call, especially for BLS providers in San Diego County. But I still took this non-testable skill in last night's lab very seriously because I cannot think of a worse position to be in than to be delivering someone's baby and be…

This past weekend was jam-packed with EMS stuff since I had my ambulance ridealong on Friday and my hospital experience on Saturday. It was a tiring but awesome weekend. Both clinicals were fun, but in different ways. The ambulance had more downtime, but I felt more at home. The hospital had more things to do, but it was more self-directed.

BLS rigs in San Diego do mostly interfacility transfers, so we spent a lot of time waiting for appointments. I got some studying done, and…

I haven't had writer's block since starting this class and blog, but I have it today. I think the reason is because I am preoccupied. I have my ridealong tomorrow and my clinical shift on Saturday, so my mind is elsewhere.

I am excited about both. I hope to have some good calls, because every time I have gone on a ridealong for JEMS or one of the newspapers I worked for, I have had the curse of the ridealong. One time, when I was riding along with the Glendale (Calif.) Fire…

I have said before, and I'll say again, that I think I'm a trauma junkie. I'm really enjoying all the gross pics in the textbook. More than that, I like being a detective in determining the mechanism of injury or trying to rule out (and in) reasons for a typically healthy person to suddenly become dangerously ill.

Luckily, my simulations group teammates agree. Our scenario is going to be a fall patient. Someone who got caught up in a gravity storm. I'm looking forward to us…

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With all the MCIs going on in EMS right now, with the Boston Marathon and West, Texas, explosions, I'm going to keep this blog short today.

We're in the home stretch of this class. We have just four weeks left.  A LOT of people dropped after the midterm. My side of the room is mostly empty chairs. We had 32 people take the midterm, down from my last count of 37. I have a feeling it's more like 25 now. There's a buzz in the classroom and lab that wasn't there before,…

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon coordinating live coverage of the Boston Marathon explosions with our technical, enews and editorial teams. It was a somber day in the office, becoming more so as the event unfolded. We were bombarded with images of a bloody scene filled with debris from the two bombs that detonated at the finish line.

As an EMT student just embarking on the second half of the class -- the trauma block -- I started using each photo as a learning tool.…

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I always like to ask EMS providers whether they prefer medical or trauma calls. The answers are always interesting, and they're definitely well researched.

I thought I would prefer medical calls, but I think I might be a trauma junkie. Keep in mind, this is just theory, here. Perhaps when I get on a Kevin Ware-type call, I might just pass out from the gross deformity in front of me. But I think I might prefer those unexpected, load and go traumas. Come to think of it, I've…

Escape and Rescue from Submerged Vehicles

Yep, the subject line about says it all. Last week, I was so excited because I finally did very well on both skills assessment and a quiz. I felt like I had it all figured out, like I understood the trickery of the questions on the quiz. I also felt like it had happened none too soon, since I didn't want to fail the midterm.

But I did. I got a 76%. Passing is 80%.

I passed the skills assessment, forgetting some major (but not critical) things like the five…