Oh it was a long shift.

We took over a day shift pt so they could knock off and we unloaded that pt nearly two hours into our shift.

82F - Fall, assist to feet a quick general assessment and she's fine to choose to stay at home.

Then we get tasked to go west for coverage, like 40-50klm away.
That's like the other side of the moon for us, get the GPS out!!!!!!

58F - Vomiting a Diarrhoea, we walk down the 'stay at home' path which is best, if there are no red flag exclusions, to manage this condition, she'd prefer this so easy job.

77F - Simple mechanical fall onto wrist and left hip. Osteoporosis Hx so transport is needed so off we go to try and find a hospital,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we found it eventually and then we waited. All hospitals were the same, that's why we got sucked out here because they didn't have any vehicles. It's part of the job, you accept it and get on with the job or it eats you rotten.

Six hours later we're back in the city,

94M - Pulled out his SPC, round trip to the hospital where it's re-inserted and back we go to the N/h.

21F - Knee injury while in bed alone! She says she rolled over, heard a snap with instant pain? No deformity that I can see so analgesia and transport.

94F - We're called for a blocked nose - SOB. She's in heart failure, that's why she has a pacemaker but the pulse is irregular!!! ECG shows more spikes than beats. Transport and not unload until nearly two hours past knock off to a day shift crew. Thank you girls.

986 jobs/130 shifts = 7.59 average.

Not long to go now just another 14 shifts to give me an annual total of patients

See you at the big One.

Taz

Not a day of any great note.

That's not to say that it wasn't enjoyable and we did meet some very interesting people.

53M - Slipped on the wet floor of a bus (it's been raining for two day +) C/o knee pain. He is clearly in pain but I can't see any injury, everything is in place and no deformity. The very least of my job is to provide adequate analgesia and I do that well. No one is in pain in the back of my ambulance and our pt is later discovered to have ruptured a tendon.

89M - Feeling funny. From the details supplied by the wife and pt it seemed like a TIA episode. With a Hx of CVA 20yrs ago we're transporting. His pacemaker is also firing twice before there is a complex.

9M - At school, jumped up to go to the board and write his name and fainted on the way.
The school has a duty of care but mum was already there and he was ok so she just took him home with some common sense instructions.

23F - Known epileptic who is not really compliant with her meds so had a seizure. Interestingly her contractions are that strong she dislocates her shoulder. It's happened before she's good otherwise and Hospital pop it in no problem.

55F - Lac to top of head just needed some stitches.

23F - ? # ankle. As we pull into the loading dock of the department store we're called off as pt has been taken to the medical centre in the shopping centre. Never heard anything more so it can't have been broken.

23F - 4/7 Hx of fever and cough, has seen LMO and got some AB's for a throat infection, returns to work because they're very understaffed. Feels very hot and goes to toilet to spritz herself, feels dizzy and sits herself down on the floor (this pt has more common sense than most). Woke up kissing the floor tiles and the boss shaking her. She may have been there for ten minutes or more but as it was a true LOC even though it's likely cause is the underlying infection and the pt's work ethic we transported.

87F - Vomiting and dizzy. As we pulled into the street we were diverted to a nearby MVA to assist another crew with an extrication of a pt with spinal pain.

Many hands make light work, we assist with the application of the short spine extraction device, pt reassurance while rescue chop and lop the car and the actual removal of the pt.

86M - Abdo pain, RLQ but he's had his appendix removed so it GIT related.

62M - In a book store and he had a confirmed LOC. Otherwise healthy gent was very slow to accept postural changes without effect, transport again is required because of the full LOC.

980 jobs/129 shifts = a 7.60 average




See you at the big One.

Taz

We are a dogless family now.

Our second dog Shona, seen here with my Kelpie cross Hope a few years ago has lost her battle with age and kidney failure today.
A friend always happy and loving gone.

Work was a bit thin too,

33F - Popped some pills and tells her dumb B/f that she now feels funny seven hours later. Maybe it was the entire night out that's making you feel funny? They changed their minds.

33F - Severe period pain. Second episode this year. My bet endometriosis interna, she was in real bad pain.

Transfer from Air Ambulance that was taken off us as we arrived at the airport.

57M - Renal Colic.

3rd party call about a taxi driver slumped of the steering wheel of his cab in the middle of an intersection. We were there in a minute or so and found nothing.

Vita Call alarm activation after the phone plug got pulled out of the socket. The dear old pt was fine.

81M - Arm and chest pain. We followed the cardiac pathway.

969 jobs/128 shifts = 7.57 average


See you at the big One.

Taz

Their not there or their Stupid!

First job, female being assaulted with a DVD case. We attended with the Police, found nothing.

25M - Unconscious on footpath with a pill bottle beside him. Can't have been unconscious because he was gone.

91F - SOB, Lovely pt , lovely family, everyone knows where this disease is going.

30M - 'I'm sick, everything hurts' Flown from Melbourne to see his daughter. Not important enough for him to have stayed off the gear and booze though. The mother of the child really didn't want him there. Again ham strung by the stupid people.

67F - Assist lift in a hostel after a fall.

25M - Found by Police absolutely shitfaced on drugs trying to walk on the road. For the public and his own safety we had to take him.

56M - Who knows he has gastric ulcers but still decided to eat a strong curry, STUPID.

81F - Lives alone and looked like she had gastro so while it's better to let it run it's course at home if you can tolerate the oral fluids an in a hospital she needed our help to transport her.

962 jobs/127 shifts = 7.63 average.
See you at the big One.

Taz

Shouldn't have expected too much for a Sunday.

34M - Partial obstruction from ??Food. Pt suffers autism so communication was poor. Air entry was good, pt was pink and walking but as we were about to go in the side door of the vehicle he had a large projectile vomit, turned to us and said I'm better now and walked back into the house.
Problem solved???

Took over a pt from a day shift crew.

83F - SOB.

35F - Vomiting from a bit too much GHB. A regular social user of the drug and had never suffered this before. A quick shot of some antiemetic that stopped the vomits and everything else was good. Left at home with B/f.

25M - IP who actually asked the police (who were going to take him back to the cells for public intoxication) to call an ambulance for him. Claimed BiPolar but en route said it was all a rouse to get away from the police.

42F - RUQ abdo pain, recent diagnosis of gale stones, got the pain under control and transport for a better pain management plan.

81F - Regular dialysis pt, a nice easy way to wrap up the shift.

954 jobs / 126 shifts for a 7.57 average


See you at the big One.

Taz

Just interesting people.

That's the only highlight from today's jobs.

62F - Assist to feet after a hour on the floor from slipping off the edge of the bed. We are about to undertake one of the larges field studies into the aged and falls in Australia but unfortunately the questionnaire's have not arrived at station.

31F - On her way to work and got back pain with nausea and vomiting? Seemed a very normal person and was happy to help her with the pain.

26M - Neck pain. Yawned and stretched in bed and heard a crunching sound in his neck and then couldn't move it because of the pain. Everything pointed to purely muscular. No motor/sensory deficit at all. Don't know what to make of it.

Bus V Car just turning into the street and called off for,

17F with abdo pain. NO not the usual period pain but she has gale stones, like it's full of them. A genetic pre disposition to them from both sides of the family and multiple members. Cholecystectomy is her next treatment.

64M from Air Ambulance to a big hospital.

48F - In the big smoke for one of those shop till you drop tours of the factory outlets.
Ten minutes into the three hour coach trip back up the coast she has a witnessed syncope.
Lasts less than a minute, all obs good when we arrived but still pale, clammy and sluggish on responses but GSC = 15. Had partook of the same lunch as the rest of the shoppers and been keeping up the fluids so it really was unexplained and if it wasn't for the pending long bus trip I may have still let her think she could refuse my transport offer.

947 jobs/ 125 shifts = 7.57 average


See you at the big One.

Taz

A normal day.

20mth M - Febrile and vomiting, the job was transferred to our Health Advisor in the despatch room and the parents decided to just take their own car like they had the day before.

80F - Had a big bowel motion and fainted gashing her forehead. It needed more than a bandaid.

82M - Call from Home Visit Community Nurse who was rightly concerned about the pts ability to cope at home after discharge from a month in hospital. Non compliance with meds, very poor diet, raging BSL.

75F - Fractured humerus from a nursing home.

19mth M - On a outing with family when they thought he became unresponsive. We got called off for a closer car but they didn't transport.

55M - Regular IP who rings about once a week to go to hospital and we can't refuse him.

70M - Fell over drunk in a park and the public called an ambulance without asking him if he
needed one, which he didn't.

28M - Abdo pain. It took forty minutes for a car to successfully get to the payphone (us) but he hadn't stuck around for us. Maybe he had gone to the small inner city hospital four blocks away or the bulk billing medical centre across the road.

22F - Playing touch football and 'rolled' her ankle. One look at it and it failed the Ottawa exam, very deformed.

And that's 940 jobs/124 shifts or a 7.58 average.



See you at the big One.

Taz

A call from my telephone company.

We had changed our broadband limit last week and received a call today to discuss our telecommunication requirements.
We increased our download limit from 50Gb to 200.
We have a mobile phone each as well as the home land line.

Apparently whenever you change your plan the computer throws it up to be reviewed by a consultant to see if you are still eligible for any benefits you may have been getting or in our case extras we were eligible for.

The review of our bundle and phone use has shown a saving on my mobile plan, our home phone and looks to save us anything from $80 - $100.00 per month.

Hows that for a good news story about phone companies!

See you at the big One.

Taz

welcome to another follower!

G'day to Firefighter/Paramedic.

I hope you find my ramblings of some interest, I guess you do otherwise you wouldn't have signed up as a follower.
As with all readers if there is something you don't understand (most likely from the way I wrote about it) or if you would like me to go into more detail, drop me a line or make a comment.

See you at the big One.

Taz

Got to love the Friday/Saturday nights double.

Can the fun continue on the second night?

(I'm not short they just had Killer Heels on)
While enjoying a coffee on Oxford Street early into the shift I was recognised by one of these lad-ies. I had apparently provided assistance to one quite some time ago and they just wanted to say thanks and pose for a picture.

67M - Dementia pt at a nursing home who had recently been transferred there for higher restrictive care. He didn't understand this and had been doing his best to escape to return to his hostel. It's a booked transport so whilst I know that there is nothing the ED can do and really it's more a management problem for the nursing home, I can't refuse to take him.

F - ?? fainted with head lac, hoax call, two other units responded to the same address during the shift with less and less urgency. It's a Hungary Jacks restaurant so a note has been put on the system to ring if this address is ever used again.

75M - Public assistance to his feet and then bed.

80F - History of episodes of rapid AF that usually self resolve. Tonight it hasn't after three hours. Several hours later it still hadn't responded too well to meds either.

25M - Tragic job. Pt fell five meters or more to a concrete slab landing horizontal. GCS=3, visible injuries haemorrhage from nose and mouth nothing from ears, haematoma to occipital region, one pupil dilated, strong radial pulse but decreasing heart rate.
ICP arrived at same time along with ten or more Cops.
Stabilise spine, maintain airway, scope and run, active treatment en route was a 16G cannula and some metoclopramide from me, spinal care by one ICP, my partner did suction and bagging the other ICP drove, it was maybe a whole kilometre transport distance. Second pupil dilated by arrival in Resus. CT showed a huge midline shift and the family are flying out with small hope.
He'd been in the country a day, just one day and was sky larking around drunk at a backpackers.

35M - Social workers could see the pt but couldn't get into the premises due to a locked screen door. Pt may have been dead they thought. We carry crowbars in the side locker for just these jobs. Pt was dead, dead drunk. Rescue arrived as we were leaving.

20M - IP. Two inebriated older gents approached us and didn't ask if we needed help or offer to assist they just pushed into our treatment area and said 'we're Doctors'. I told them he was just drunk and again they swelled their chests and stated they were doctors. With restraint, I informed them, that was nice but as this wasn't a hospital and there were no nurses around to do their work and as we were Qualified Paramedics they could move on.
I have a very good relationship with my ED and local clinics doctors but if I was drunk outside a Goth/Emo club in Sydney identifying myself a a doctor is not something I would do, twits!

20M - Also IP.

Multiple pt at a brawl. Cops didn't find it and neither did we.

21F - IP.

76F - Vertigo, a little hypertensive. No one single whole symptom more like a collection of half symptoms. Transported.

That's 931 jobs in 123 shifts for an average of 7.57 jobs.



See you at the big One.


Taz

A day off for a course and Bam!

An introduction to Emergency Management.
No assessment, good presenter and I got paid to do it.

Come back to a night shift and what a shift, just like the ol' days.

9M - Up here for a soccer camp just with Dad. Coughed the wrong way and Dad panicked. The young fella was ok and Dad decided to self manage.

32M - Heroin OD. Easy job pt didn't want to come to hospital with us.

24M - Cut on the tip of the thumb. He asked us what we thought. Now I didn't say he should visit Bunnings (hardware store) and buy some cement and toughen the F$%k UP. But my partner might have. He stayed at home.

Called to an UNKNOWN job, got called off.

54M - SOB, speaking in full, complete, lengthy and rambling sentences. Maybe just a bit pissed and anxious. Stayed at home near his booze.

MVA - Two taxis nil injuries.

20M - IP, got called off.

30M - Assaulted cousin when they both got on the grog big time and then passed out. An ED won't do anything for a simple broken nose but GCS under 10 vomiting boy needed a trip for observation. When he woke up he didn't remember a thing!

36M - Abdo pain, got called off this one too.

38M - with Police, had been escorted out of a hotel and then appeared to start fitting. More like drug induced dystonic twitches. Cops found heaps of different gear on him and his presentation made us think that he may have been in the K hole (ketamine - a rapid-acting general anaesthetic).

26F - Had got bumped on the hear by a door. Hotel security called for an ambulance even if she didn't want us because it was nothing, which it was.

40M - Homeless dude in McDonalds with busted apart trousers, no shoes and a bad smell. Who are they gonna call. Small hospital in the middle of the city was the right place for him tonight.

50M - IP who can't walk,,,, Amazing how a good accidental wedgy can fix that. For public safety and even his own we transported to a waiting room.

24M - A member of our fine Constabulary who was sprayed by a co-worker while taking down a bad guy needed us to de-contaminate him. Don't know if the bad guy needed some too,,, don't really care from the abuse coming from the back of the cage truck.

85M - Asthmatic. You can really do some good by recognising a proper asthma attack. Three nebs and some adrenaline started to fix him up but a trip to hospital was needed too.

15 jobs in a 12 hrs shift!

920 jobs/122 shifts = 7.54 average.




See you at the big One.

Taz

14 in 12 hrs!

Of course not all were transported or even found.

72M - Currently being treated with chemotherapy for leukaemia. Febrile and weak.
80F - Fall at home assistance required - Called Off.
A person unconscious on a train, arrives in five minutes - Called Off when someone woke them up.
46M - Motor scooter rider racing a truck off the lights and cuts in front. Clips the truck and gets stuck under the front wheel until the truck stops. De-glove of the leg with no vascular injury, fractured pelvis and abdominal haemorrhage. Stabilise, package, scoop and run. He needs surgery.
40M - Anxiety and sore legs requesting transport to hospital.
81F - Transport for palliative care - Called Off.
45M - Chest pain at a sports ground - Called Off.
72M - Haematuria in his SPC.
55F - Ankle injury, positive Ottowa examination and x-rays later confirmed.
80M - Social work required, he walked into a clinic for tests he had months ago. We tracked down his LOM who said he had been showing signs of cognitive degeneration and confusion.
??M - Cancer Hx now with leg pain - Called off.
92F - Not feeling herself, not sure who she was feeling so we transported.
??M - Called from a payphone demanding transport to have a plaster cast removed from his leg. Didn't stick around for us, UTL.
85F - Long Lie, had been on the floor for nearly thirty six hours. Luckily for her it was a nice warm dry apartment with thick carpet and she had been pulling herself around to try and reach either the phone or the Vita Call pendent she wasn't wearing. Transported.

905 jobs/121 shift = 7.48 average

See you at the big One.

Taz

Now for a complete WANK!!!!!

I've just had a quick look in the ACAP Shop site for some thing else.

They have off to the side a Ten Most Popular list!

Guess who's book is number six!!!!!!!!!

Ambowife and I are pissing ourselves laughing.

On a more serious note there are no immediate plans for book signings.



See you at the big One.

Taz

A long weekend in the bigsmoke.

We have the Grand Final of two different codes of Football and numerous dance parties.
On previous occasions Ambulance services have been stretched to near breaking point.
Operational management appear to have taken note and are calling in overtime crews to be,,, floaters or area resources. Not assigned to any one station but an extra crew to help the regular rostered crews.

I got the call to be on one of these crews at my local station with a senior officer from a very far away sector who made for a very interesting and delightful shift.

19F - Going to the dance party but peaked way too early, probably a bottle of vodka consumed prior to getting to the venue and she never made it past the entry point. That's $145.00 in ticket price gone up in smoke or down the drain like vomit. Which ever you prefer.

48M - SOB, got called off halfway there for,

35M - Motor bike V Car, the details said high speed but on scene it was more like under ten km speed. The rider got clipped by a driver pulling away from the curb. Maybe a fracture in one of the small foot bones but nothing else. Transport for an X-ray.

22M - Facial injuries from the airbag deployment in another MVA. An abrasion on the inside of each forearm and he was wearing glasses so a very small lac lateral to the eyebrow. Everyone was cleared and not requesting hospital assessment.

72F - Pet cat had killed pet bird. Had been interviewing tenants for a rental property and thought she had taken her night time tablets too early. After spending some time on scene the pt decided that she was going to go to bed and have a nice sleep rather than go to the hospital. We were happy with this also.

68M - SOB with exertion. Hx of CCF, obese, actually asked for the injection that would make him strong again. What can you do? We transported for a review of his meds and re-evaluation of accommodation from hostel to maybe higher care.

74M - SOB and then chest pain. Rapid AF. Symptomatic for around three weeks and hadn't seen LMO yet. Knew his history quite well and had never been told of AF so it may have been a new symptom. Doesn't matter really he was always going to be transported.

33M - IP after celebrating the Dragons win and fell over backwards. A good lac on the occipital but the booze sealed the collar and spinal precautions.

84F - Anxiety, decreased mobility, incorrect analgesia for ?? arthritic issues, not coping at home. Hospital on a long weekend is not the place for her to be but like so many other health care service we don't have the resources to deal with her otherwise.

Knocked back another shift because I have an order for some more of my Trainee Question books for the Aust College of Ambulance Professionals bookshop.

891 jobs/120 shifts = 7.43 average

See you at the big One.

Taz

Working with someone half my age.

Who finally likes to stay out all night too!
Shame there wasn't the work to go with it.

91M - Has been a semi regular caller with catheter blockage problems but he tells us he goes out each day to the cinema, shops, malls, places of interest because he doesn't like sitting in the retirement village (not a nursing home) waiting for the Grim Reaper so for my money he can call whenever he wants.

39M - Abdo cramps and pain. Initially regular vomiting but the gun's empty now and no diarrhoea yet. Is very embarrassed about ringing us but the pain was really bad. Shame that while with us the pain had stopped so we gave no analgesia which is included in the cost of our attendance, just transport. The diarrhoea started soon after we were triaged.

27M - Outside a strip club with a shoulder injury. The gentlemen on the door didn't know anything, we couldn't find anybody so we left, UTL.

60 males brawling at Australia's most well known beach. Yeah right!
The cops cancelled us five hundred meters from scene.

70F - Did one of those 'foot on the accelerator instead of the brake' type accidents in a multi level carpark. The barriers had stopped the car which is lucky seeing as it was five levels above ground and the airbags had deployed but neither had sustained any serious injury. We were called as a second crew the passenger was complaining of chest wall pain and the driver knee pain.

37M - Sleeping outside a pub in an old hospital gown and track pants. Social services at the little hospital in the city would be just right for him and could also fix his scabies infestation.

18F - IP, friends had left her. Lovely polite young lady who appreciated our efforts and concerns. Must have been from the country!

46F - Head lac. Was in a convenience store being emotional/drunk, store owner called us and the cops. This is the story we got from her, doormen and independent witnesses.
46 mother of three went into a strip club for a QUIET drink??????
Starts chatting up some bloke and ends up throwing punches at him which brings the show girls into the story as they jump her and attempt to break up the fight (throw some jelly in there too and I'd watch,,,, naaa just joking, I'm in uniform I can't)! And that's how she got the injury.
Does she want us, no.

57M - Central Heavy Chest Pain. Too simple, even had a significant family history.

And I'm stuffed. The two extra day shifts straight back from holidays that's what did it.
I slept well into the evening and missed a farewell drink with a colleague.
But that's the way it can go.

882 jobs/119 shifts = 7.41 average

See you at the big One.

Taz