Exams

Yeehaw! Exam week is finally over! I really think that this has been the most stress-free week of my entire life though. I had to take an exam (midterm) for AP English (Literature), AP Biology, AP Statistics, AP Latin (Literature), and AP US History. I thought they were all pretty easy *knocks on wood*.

In further news, in 6.5 months I'll be going off to UVA! I can't wait, and the major that I'm planning on seems so cool (biomedical engineering). A lot of people have asked what biomedical engineering actually is and what it does so I will use that as a topic in a future post.

It's nice to know that the job also has a future. At UVA, a job fair is held for employers to come and try to recruit students. There are so many employers that UVA actually has to turn some down. At least I know that when I graduate, even as an undergrad, I'll have job security.

I have also noticed one of the recent comments on my blog. It was great, my station and I got a good laugh out of it. We printed it out and it now proudly hangs on the "wall of stupidity," so congrats "seeingdouble," you're actually known for something. Now, normally I would not justify such inanity by commenting on it but I will make an exception this time. Perhaps she truly does not understand in which case I will point out the error in her ways.

First of all, I did complete the required courses and I am a registered/licensed EMT. Now here comes the kicker, "Anyway, getting your own jump bag together seems like a bit of a waste of time. If you are working on a box, they'll have the supplies you need." So you think that I'm going to put together a jump bag to carry into duty on an ambulance that already has a jump bag? Amazing. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Throughout much of the country are these regions known as "rural" areas. It can take anywhere between 20-30 minutes for a truck to get to the scene. Thus it's important for emergency medical care to reach the scene sooner. That's where a personal jump bag comes into play. I'll review what can happen in even 10 minutes, in case you don't realize how important this is:

-A patient in an MVA has stopped breathing- without being ventilated, within 10 minutes, this patient will go into cardiac arrest and become brain dead; needless to say, there's no coming back from that.
-MVA patient/unresponsive patient/altered LOC- needs help maintaining an airway; it doesn't matter if the patient is capable of breathing on his own if he doesn't have a patent airway
-MVA patient/assault victim is cut in the throat- an occlusive dressing and bleeding control will keep this patient from having an embolism or exsanguinating.
-A diabetic patient has overdosed on insulin or forgotten to eat- Glutose (glucose paste) can be given to keep the patient from becoming totally unresponsive so that he can be transported to the hospital and have D50W administered. This saves the patient from the complications (brain damage, organ damage, etc.) of hypoglycemia.
-A patient overdoses on a drug/poison that would normally cross the stomach membrane barrier rather quickly- Charcoal can bind to this poison and help prevent it from being from being absorbed into the organism.

But wait, there's more, "If you are planning on happening upon an accident and playing hero, I doubt you'll need that big *** bag of supplies." [Edited to remove curse words for people that are more intelligent than that.] There are more emergencies than just trauma calls; kindly see above.

Here comes the funny part (again), "I'll have to check with my husband, but as a EMT-B I don't think you are allowed to administer glucose and charcoal without the supervision of a EMT-I or P." Maybe you should leave the thinking up to people that are capable of it, okay?

EMT-Basics do not operate under the licenses or supervision of Intermediates or Paramedics. EMT-Bs, Is, and Ps, all operate under the license of a medical director (who is an MD). I hate to tell you this, but not only can I administer glucose and charcoal, but my medical director has also given me permission to administer: epinephrine (in an IM injection), nitroglycerin, oxygen, aspirin (ASA), and albuterol (via nebulizers which are kept on the truck).

Thanks for the comment, "seeingdouble." It was a great opportunity for an educational case!