A pain in the guts Paramedic prehospital ambulance abdominal pain Ask yourself, honestly, is attending to a callout for ‘adult patient complaining of abdominal pain’ anywhere near your top ten of ‘let’s go partner’? Maybe not quite in the basement […]
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The Lazarus phenomenon – paramedic friend or foe The initial excitement has long passed, your own excited, racing heart replaced by the weariness and aching back that comes from over thirty minutes of vigorous cardiopulmonary resuscitation. That fatigue has been […]
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Acute spinal cord injury vital signs Having determined that a patient cannot be prehospital cleared from suspicion of spinal injury, we have to think about the other vital sign changes that might be present. Some of these will be slightly […]
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Acute spinal injury movement and transport Having determined that a patient cannot be prehospital cleared from suspicion of spinal injury, we have to provide effective spinal care until ED arrival. Primary SCI happens at the time of trauma and not […]
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The surgical airway What could be more dramatic than being unable to intubate a patient, the pulse oximetry reading plummeting, a desperate turn to the BVM resuscitator not able to do anything about arresting the slide, the hypoxic bradycardia and […]
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My great idea fell from the sky. Literally. It wasn’t spontaneous. Well in a way it was of course, every idea has to have that first spark moment. But this one was nearly ten years in the making. I was […]
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One prehospital pain and analgesia strategy Pain is one of the most frequent complaints amongst the patients we attend as paramedics. In managing pain, the intention for paramedics always is to exercise clinical judgement. Patients with serious pain will probably […]
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Sedate or not to sedate, that is the prehospital question You are attending to an elderly man who has dementia. He is in an aged care residence and, looking at him, doesn’t have much of the muscle strength he may […]
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Can you help my mum please? There was really only two options for this callout. ‘Child caller,’ the dispatcher had said. It was either a hoax or someone in a really bad way. Normally the hoax callers like to talk […]
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What’s Christmas day without Christmas dinner? The radio suddenly blared, its tone rudely summoning our minds back into work mode. From reflex, I moved to press pause on the remote control beside me then grunted. This was the television and […]
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Just close your eyes……for the last time We stood outside the now smouldering house, safely back but with prime view. Only minutes earlier flames had been leaping from the front bedroom window and through the roof. In rapid time one […]
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I didn’t notice you were there too I was busy. Sitting in the clinician chair in the ambulance call centre there seemed to be an endless backlog of hospital enquiries, urgent bookings and other tasks all seeking my attention. Requests […]
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Sorry, I did say that didn’t I I knelt before the man, intravenous needle in my hand. His colour was ashen grey and sweat poured from him as if it were a spray bottle I held. His free hand rubbed […]
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Oh no it’s you again Jim came into my life in the worst possible way. I spent a day getting to know him and his wife in a hospital delivery ward. At the end of it, his infant, his first […]
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Don’t forget the new guy The delivery ward was busy. It was a major hospital and today several mother’s to be had all arrived within a few hours of each other in various stages of labour. My luck was in. […]
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