...this one speaks for itself.

Alright bros, this is going to sound dumb...But I am getting to the point in my career where the tones no longer wake me up. I have been on night shift 6p-6a for three years now and although it sucks, I'm in medic school so I don't think it would be wise to switch depts. For context, our station has a buzzer as well as tones, and I sleep in a recliner near said buzzer with my portable turned all the way up next to me. I'm one of those. It's not every call but it's probably once a week my Capt has to come shake me. Makes me feel a little embarrassed as one of the more senior providers on shift, but I'm out of ideas. Y'all got any?

Hi all,

I work as a Paramedic and have done for nearly 9 years.

Frequently of late I have been experiencing dreams that are full on. Imagine every case that is “gnarly” and combine it to a single dream.

Additionally I have dreamt of a pistol that was infront of me and where I shot my manager. (To be real, they are hard to work with and we head butt every single day. I do not trust them one bit).

Within these dreams whilst dreaming I know I need to wake up. But I can’t. I can think that what I am experiencing is not real and should just flick the light on, yet i can’t.

I’m not scared. I know it’s not real, there’s a part of me that finds it entertaining and comforting to be watching a free horror movie.

Can anyone elaborate that may have been down this path before?

Hello all. I am currently a detention officer with the goal of starting police academy with my current agency in May-June of 2025. It has always been a goal of mine to obtain my EMT-B as it provides a great understanding of BLS and basic first aid that will directly translate to a career in LE. I am wrapping up my bachelors degree, and with my current work schedule, I will need an online program with an in person skills lab (I can take a week off work if needed) and then clinicals. I have been looking at Texas EMS School. Does anyone have any experience with them or any other recommendations? Thanks!

And have you had to use it? How important of a pre-hospital medication is it in your opinion?

Just curious

Hello from Australia, firefighter here.

I’ve been tasked with researching different emergency agencies worldwide for a study on a topic of my choosing. I’ve decided to propose a study on the connection between endurance training (such as ultra-marathons, multi-day hikes, triathlons, etc.) and mental resilience.

I believe that participation in these activities, along with the training involved, fosters resilience techniques, goal-setting strategies, and overall confidence, which can enhance daily functioning and performance as a firefighter.

Does anyone's agency have a program where operational staff engage in endurance or physical activities to build resilience and promote well-being? Any insights or examples would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Recently a few hours ago I received a knock in my door, I opened and saw 2 ambulance workers saying someone called an ambulance, they said the caller did not give them a name, I was confused at first but when they said the called didnt give a name I said you been pranked called, I couldn’t stop apologising even though I didn’t do it, I felt bad that they wasted their time when there could of been a real emergency as well they genuine felt like really sweet and caring people and that made me wonder how many idiots prank call you guys when there could of been a real emergency?

Hi there - this is kind of an AskEMS situation and I didn't see anything in the rules against it but please feel free to let me know if I'm in the wrong place.

Last night at midnight, I was awoken by two EMS professionals knocking, ringing, and checking the lock status of my door. They were very kind and apologetic and explained that there had been a 911 call to this location. We were all asleep in bed (no loud partying or anything, just a boring fam with young kids that goes to bed on time) and none of our phones or Alexa showed any outbound calls to 911. They said they'd double check with their dispatch and see if they can figure out what happened. They then went back to their vehicle and left a few minutes later, so it wasn't a close address of a nearby home.

We have an extremely unique street name that is only in one quadrant of our city, and Google is telling me all sorts of frightening things about something called "swatting." I guess my question is, in your experience, is it common to end up dispatched to the wrong house? Do address miscommunications happen frequently enough that I don't need to worry about it and chalk it up to chance, or is it worth trusting my gut and finding a path for reporting this situation?

Edit: thank you everyone! Fast and reassuring replies. I appreciate you all for both this and everything you do.

I did that when I was 6 cause I didn't like needles.

Can someone explain in what situations would you use pushdose epi over an epi drip? I feel if you have to administer more than 1 dose of epi, then the drip should be the option you use. That way the timing between each dose is one less thing you have to keep up with in the back of your mind, yet I feel like so many medics still prefer pushdose over making a drip.

Also, can anyone truly explain to me how to correctly set up a dirty epi drip. I was told you mix 1mg into a 250 bag, and depending on your desired dose in mcg dictates what you set your gtts to (I.e 1 mcg = 15 gtts, 2 = 30 gtts, 3 mcg = 45 gtts, etc). How would you set it up in a larger bag (500 or 1000) to get the same desired effects/dose?

hi friends - I ran this past Friday night / Halloweekend in my college town, and two of the calls I ran may lead to some really weird situations HIPAA-wise. one of the patients (Pt.1) was someone I know, run into them once or twice a week. the other in question (Pt.2) was a friend of a friend who attends the same university. since all of us also went to the same high school, there's a chance they'd know me too.

I know the safe answer is "do not discuss", but how do I stay HIPAA compliant in this case? if Pt.1 brings it up directly to me, I'd be allowed to speak to them about it but not anyone else, right (or best not to discuss in normal life at all, even if they ask me)? there's a chance Pt.2 figures out who I was (they weren't super responsive at the time) and asks our mutual friend - I ofc couldn't talk to the mutual friend about it, but if he asks me directly if I picked up Pt.2, I wouldn't be able to confirm that either, right?

these are pretty narrow circumstances, and I do plan to just stay as mouth-shut about it as possible, but I'd really rather not risk saying or doing something that endangers privacy for either one of them. particularly if you are or were a college town or small town provider, your insight would be much appreciated <3

So, part of this is me processing events, part is sharing my story to make our profession better.

I was very recently a victim of drug facilitated sexual assault. Went to a bonfire at a "friend's" house with coworkers (coworkers weren't involved in the act). It was a bit of a drive for me, so I made arrangements to crash overnight and drive home the next day. I generally don't drink alcohol in public. Important note, I'm 6ft tall and built like....a typical paramedic. Too many snacks and not enough exercise, I'm in no way attractive.

Host kept attempting to ply me with alcohol, which I nicely refused. He offered soda, which was cool. Brought in a red solo cup, ice and everything. I have a few, start feeling generally "sick" and sleepy. Chalk it up to the current plague going around, excuse myself, and crash out on the offered couch for the night.

I remember bits and pieces from then, but I distinctly remember waking up with someone on top of me committing penetrative sexual assault. I remember trying to push them away, then going back to sleep.

Woke up in the morning without clothes on. Confronted the person I stayed with, and was told how I got so drunk, vomited everywhere, and he had to trash my clothes. I legit felt hungover, and my brain wasn't working, so I went with it. I always have a set of sweats in the car, because puke be happening at work yo.

Started remembering more and more during the day, and finally convinced myself to go to the ED. The ED couldn't do a SANE exam so I needed transferred. Called my boss to tell him I would be out of work the next day, and kinda broke down and told him everything. He sent an ambulance to BLS me to the next hospital, and the crew was extremely understanding.

So, the other reason for throwing this here, some continuing education. Know what your local hospitals can do. If you get a scene call for something like this, I would recommend calling the hospital right there and seeing if they have a SANE nurse on staff. Getting transferred kinda sucks, and arranging transport back is even harder without medical necessity.

A SANE exam is going to have limited treatment outside of physical injuries. I'm not one to beg for drugs, but I really wish I could have gotten some anxiolytics. If you can, use them, just make sure you communicate exactly what you gave and when to the SANE nurse.

SANE exams suck and are extremely invasive. If your patient is willing, clue them in about what will happen, and that they can say no at any time.

Be ready to talk about anything or nothing with your patient. All I wanted to do was talk about what kinds of runs the BLS crew had been doing.

Anyway, that's my TED talk. From the drug screen, I was given GHB, an opiate, and benadryl.

Stay safe out there guys and gals.

Whenever people ask for the "worst job ever", they're pretty much asking us to relive that terrible job, sometimes to the point where it bothers us for the rest of the day, having to go home etc.

Anyone else get annoyed by this?

Best of luck to those of you working the late shift tonight....this is in relation to daylight savings time

I have some commitments that are going to pull me away from my job as a paramedic here for roughly a year. I'm a little worried about how much I'm going to lose, being that I won't be working in a medical capacity.

I'm talking about procedural skills, scene management, recognition of serious events, some of the "you either have it or you don't" kind of stuff.

I've been an EMT for 3 years and will have been a paramedic for 1 year (+1 counting school) by the time this happens.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Just curious what to expect when it comes time for me to get back into the field

Thanks in advance!

Getting narcanned sucks. As the naloxone occupies your opiate recepters and kicks out whatever it was to cause you to go blue you enter hell. It feels like being roasted in an oven at 500 degrees. After the oven heats you up to 500 degree it now turns into a freezer that is -50 degrees, and then again heats up to 500. While your in this oven/freezer it also feels like your being spun around 5000 times a second in a gurney so you are hit with nausea like you drank 2 handles of vodka in one shot. While all this is going on someone is banging your head with hammers and you're hyperventilating like you ran 500 miles. You feel like your about to shit 4 Thanksgiving dinners. You don't know how you got there. You don't know who all these fire people are or even that you even did drugs. Your swesting bullets and think youre going to die. Your first thought is to get up and GO.

Not all of us "junkies" hate you guys. Im not mad my high is fucked up im mad i had wasted others peoples time for my bullshit when i would have rather been okay with being dead. I was lucky to be given oxygen before naloxone, and to be given only enough to help me breath and didn't assault people there to save my life.

All that being said I'm lucky I'm here and based off what I was told im lucky I wasn't a complete asshole. If you get these calls a lot just know there are some of us who appreciate you and are sorry for the headache

Is it because they want meds or something? I just got intrested in the path of EMS and just wondering, cause I see a lot of EMT's and paramedics making videos about fake seizures. Just wondering, thanks!

Working for a new company, they do not provide job shirts but you can give them your job shirt to embroider and put their respective logos on. I have a 5.11 job shirt that I love but I don’t want to ruin it with my jobs logos in case I ever want to leave for somewhere else nor do I want to pay for a second one.

Anyone have any recs for a cheaper yet good quality job shirt?

(The alternative is I always wear the company issued high vis coat, I will not be doing that)

If there is anyone here who doesn’t use their login for the paramedic coaches video vault anymore, do you mind if I use your login info?

Hello all,

I’ve heard recently about some more progressive EMS guidelines recommending alternative ratios of chest compressions to breaths for infant resuscitation. I believe it was something very low, such as 3 compressions to 2 breaths, rather than the traditional 15:2. Has anyone else heard of this or do you work in a system where this is applied? It is very possible that the people that have told me this are talking nonsense.

I work for a 911 (ground) ambulance company with 50 or so employees, and my boss is looking for a good brand of jumpsuit. What brand/company do you use and what works? We have some very tall and very short employees, so having the option for them to be tailored might be nice but not absolutely necessary. Our 911 area rarely freezes and never snows, so it would not need to be for extreme cold weather, and short sleeve would be a nice option.

{A)EMT fired after video of ambulance patient spreads throughout community

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/11/01/emt-fired-after-video-of-ambulance-patient-spreads-throughout-community/

I hope y’all don’t mind me asking this here, but my husband is an EMT and usually works 48s. He typically eats fast food when he is working but he’s wanting to eat healthier. What’re some things that y’all like to take to work that allow you to reach your diet goals? So far I’ve got stuff like hummus, pretzels, yogurt, meat sticks, popcorn, and stuff for chicken wraps. They have a full fridge and kitchen!