Social Media and the Medical Profession!

This sounds interesting doesn't it?

Most of us long term bloggers have spent plenty of time considering the possible ramifications of our posts on others and our careers early on in our blogging history.

I used the standards I observed in other's blogs when I first started.
I also reviewed these with my own personal beliefs of integrity and confidentiality.
I got criticism, some from peers, none of whom had the guts to put their name to the comments.
I reviewed my standards with the nine recognised patient identifiers used by the my health dept.

Several of my on-line blogger friends have stopped or greatly reduced their posting because of pressure either direct or veiled from peers and employers.
I was ordered to a meeting scheduled with management about my blog.
Two days later it was cancelled without reason and not rescheduled, I have always assumed that maybe they had actually read it after the secret squirrel gang had complained.

So it was with great interest that I read this document forwarded by an associate from the Australian College of Ambulance Professionals (ACAP)
Social Media and the Medical Profession and watch the YouTube film and open the pdf lower on the page.


Yes it's a long read but thought provoking and insightful so I recommend it to you even if your from overseas.

I conducted the Google test suggested to see how much information is out there on me (because ego is not a dirty word{Shyhooks circa 1975})

With my real name in full, nothing in the top 50 of 45,000 hits.
Christian and Surname only, 46th listing in top 50 of 308,000 hits.
With Taz, 45 of the top 50 of 37,700 hits.
Taz the ambo only got 40 of the top 50 in 131,000 hits.

Only one of any of these was about Facebook, the rest were blog related or news articles

Enjoy.



See you at the big One.

Taz

Some Amphetamines and some Hammer to end the night.

34M- From small to large hospital with a non-stemi.

42M - Men's hostel resident may have intimated that he had abdo pain but denied it when we arrived. We gave him the quick once over and left him there 'cause there was nothing wrong with him.

69M - He was describing sciatic nerve pain but had an active Hx of CA with boney mets so we couldn't discount skeletal cause. Transport.

42M - Amphetamine OD, sweaty as a pig, pants anywhere from groin to knees, pinging off the walls, totally inappropriate speech, running around in circles. It took three cars of our finest constabulary and one extra ambo crew to assist with restraint while I wacked our mechanical restraint device on him.
Five hours later he wanted to talk to the crew who brought him in. We recanted all the piss funny bits, told him that CCTV had recorded the whole episode and cautioned moderation.
I mean it's not like he's going to stop.

39M - ULQ abdo pain.

32M - Heroin OD, crew called us to hot response assist with an overdose. Extra hands in a difficult location. As we entered without any gear because it was to provide muscle they got told about the 'other guy' who was just sleeping in the other room!
Cyanosed, resp rate = 6, diaphoretic, GCS = 3.
They're easy enough jobs, oxygen and Narcan if needed. Our treatment protocol has changed in the last two years, it was 5ml/2mg mini-jets repeat twice if needed.
Now it's 400mcg or maybe 800 (max of 2mg) to bring them back but not enough to let them get up and leave. The plan is to be getting them to come to hospital for observation in case of renarcotisation.
Our dude to the 2mg and was still not fully alert so he got transported.



See you at the big One.

Taz

First night with the new partner and another famous person.

Not that I can tell you who.

31M - Shakes and weakness, that'd be the cocaine bender you've been on then. Elected to stay at home and ride it out.

36F - Directing the hubby into the car spot in a garage and got trapped by the bumped, like compressed. Released before we arrived. No obvious injury and had born weight but transport anyway.

21M - Waiting to catch a train home but was noticed by rail cops to be covered in blood. Got in a bit of a fight and had these two minor head lacs that had just bled a lot. cleaned him up and dressed the lacs and he went home because he was already very late!

32M - Tired and fell asleep in the Adult Sauna. I'm not saying anything more.

23M - IP that had traumatised member of the public just by being there. They called me up to come and wake him up from his doorway to move on so they wouldn't be so traumatised by him.

25M - IP, twat that thankfully the Police took home.

Six jobs and transported just one of them.

See you at the big One.

Taz

And the total has been reached!

To recap,

Taking the number of days in a year and deducting 42 days for holidays.
Divide the 323 by 9 which is the roster cycle, four on & five off giving you 35.88.
Multiply roster cycles by four comes to 143.55 or say 144 shifts per year.

The following is the 144th shift.

89M - Discharge to nursing home.
91F - Transport to hospital for a fracture review.
18M - Recently diagnosed with an inflamed appendix, given oral ABs and told to come back if pain didn't decrease or increased. It got worse.
29F - Gastro, for three days now.
39M - Same gastro.
62M - From Medical Centre after presenting three days after being dumped in the surf. Dr thought he may have a carotid aneurysm?
17F - At school, near faint. Mum was coming to collect her. That sounds good.
3M - Fall in playground onto the the tightly regulated absorbent material under the play equipment. Over protective parent maybe because the kid just wanted to get back to the playground. They went home for ice cream.
20M - Has a mental health Hx and wigged out on the public transport. we transported him to a controlled environment to calm down.
66F - Mechanical fall and resulting face lac that was going to need stitches.
91F - N/h staff called for SOB. Pt was chucking an anxiety attack and playing it to the max. We did transport but when I talked to the family they told me she's been doing it more and more frequently.

And so that was it for my theoretical year of work,

1104 pt's seen in 144 shift for an average of 7.67 pt's per shift.


See you at the big One.

Taz

And final number of patients seen is?

To be revelled after one more shift

86M - Fall two days ago discharged and well for the last two days. Today decreased mobility.

75M - Confusion and dysphasia, the symptoms would resolve and then return. Still there when we did eventually knock off.

27M - With Police who will schedule the pt if we transport rather than the back of a cage truck.

78F - Near faint while shopping.

24F - Abdo pain but thankfully not period pain.

81F - Had a fall three days ago and only now goes and see's her Dr who wants her to have an x-ray now!!!!!!

70M - Heat Exhaustion a bunch of Americans running all round the place after some grand prize being followed by heaps of cameras and audio techs. I had to sign a release.

64F - 120mm lac to the lower right leg. Definitely needed stitches.

1093 jobs /143 shifts = an average of 7.64

See you at the big One.

Taz

This is worth a read.

From the Flobach Republic the question was asked what do we wear to work, what tools do we carry?

From the Insomniacmedic came this and strangely at our end of roster dinner the other night it was a topic of conversation before I had read the post.

Have a look, it is worth it, you'll understand.

Well done to both of you.

See you at the big One.

Taz

Shift Swap something different for me.

Shift swaps, someone needs a particular shift off and you work it for them.
You don't get paid for it except for any penalties and they repay you when you need a shift off.
Now I love my work and arrange my life around it generally so I don't normally do shift swaps because I rarely need time off and therefore don't need my shifts covered.

I have swaps owed from five years ago! But one of our guys was going overseas and really needed this one covered, he'd tried everyone else so I did it.

40M - Had used IV methamphetamine and landed at a relatives house screaming about someone chasing him with a gun. Then the other hallucinations started. He was much to wired for the back of our ambulance so the Police transported him for us to hospital and we followed.

20M - IP. Why is it that they can't scratch themselves but can vomit and spit? Credit to his sister, she did arrive to try and drive him home but not in a little two door coupe!!!!

23M - IP, punched once to the face, cut lip, refused transport.

20M - A decent lac on his finger but he was in custody so the Police came too.

32M - Very IP, horse play at a party saw him fall backwards with another IP falling on top of him. That drunk and unable to tell us his address, day, month or year even though he was talking well enough meant a collar and transport to clear the neck and head for maybe a closed head injury. I made sure his friend remembered what a twat he had been to my partner, the nurses and Dr's at hospital.

34M - Occipital abrasion. Refused transport and cried on his G/f shoulder.

23M - Contusions to scalp also refused transport.

29M - Epistaxis post alleged assault, refused transport or Police. Absconded the scene to hunt down the people who beat him up!

21M - In custody, claims concussion, he was trying to pull the Police and our chains, when explained that ok fine we accept what you say so it'a up to hospital in cuffs for four hours of neuro ob's he changed his tune and recanted his story.
The Ambulance are not a get out of gaol/jail card.

1085/142 = 7.64 average jobs per shift.

See you at the big One.

Taz

Accepted one more o/t and knocked one back.

So I did another night shift at the station near home.

What a difference,

77M - IP (well maybe that's not so different) fallen over in the bottle shop!!! A straight cut on the scalp that will need glue or stitches. Problems are he's NESB (Non English Speaking Background) complicated with the intoxication, severe hearing deficiency and there's something about the uniform that gets him agitated. We over come these and unload at hospital an hour and a half later.

74F - One of the best Manic pt's I've had in a long time. She was at the airport trying to get on a plane to fly off to see some Dr overseas. Non medicated and with no physical health concerns we were able to transport directly to the psych ward and she had the staff there shaking their heads. She was harmless but way , way out there.

62F - Central Chest pain with an inverted T wave, sinus rhythm, angina history, radiating to the arm. Came on at rest was there for over an hour. Oxygen, aspirin, nitrates, pop a line in just in case. Cat 3 triage and wait. No movement in the department or upstairs on the wards. Treatment done on the stretcher, ECG, first bloods drawn and chest X-ray. Three hours to unload and the pt was pain free.

And that was it.
Three jobs.

1076/141 = 7.63


See you at the big One.

Taz

O/t at the home station.

40F - Abdo pain, toilet felt dizzy and knelt on the floor. Pain much resolved on our arrival, everything checked out good, pt stayed at home.

29M - In Police custody but behaving very odd so they called us, I'm happy that he's not using me a ticket out of gaol (as such). The hospital thought so too and kept him.

31F - Called to a collapse, pt said they thought their BSL was low so had ingested a couple of those sugar packets you get at a cafe. I think someone was too quick on the triple O call.

54M - Haemorrhoid haemorrhage. Significant enough that I wanted to transport.

35M - Chest pain. UTL.

29M - In the cells of a different Police station. They have to call but they were so apologetic when we arrived for this sook with what looked like a paper cut in the cells. I put a bandaid on it and didn't draw a smiley face.

19M - ?? fractured nose, it was straight but is bruised up really quick so maybe even zygoma or orbit fracture as well.

64F - From one hospital to another.

1073 jobs/140 shifts = an average of 7.66 jobs per shift.
See you at the big One.

Taz

The following night was also above average.

18F - Had threatened self harm in front of a witness. Look it was most likely just a simple argument about nothing but you can't pick up a pair of scissors and say something dumb because that's where I become involved and believing that you don't have to cooperate only makes it worse.
I really think that she just has some issues that can be resolved with simple conversation rather than medication or in patients services.

75M - Call was for a public assistance off floor but as a diabetic with high sugars post normal insulin and with reduced mobility we thought it better to transport.

20M - Was being transported by police and had a reduced GCS. By the time we arrived this very intoxicated young fella had perked up and the police were happy to continue with returning him to home.

54M - In another Police stations cells, c/o chest pain, key word that Police act on. Again very intoxicated and not very cooperative but we eventually got it out of him that five weeks ago he had suffered some rib fractures and it was those playing up. He didn't want to go to hospital but just some simple analgesia.

21M - After a domestic argument he got depressed and picked up a knife and started some bad thoughts. In a flash of rational thought he knew this was wrong and unable to think of anyone else to call he called the Cops. The knife was secured, he had had a talk to his mum on the phone but still would have liked to talk to someone about this episode. No previous Hx of mental health we did transport and found out later that he had flown of the handle at hospital staff with verbal threats and had to be restrained????

51F - With what I can only call a 'Man Cold'. Demanding hospital. Yes she was sick but no she didn't need a hospital or a bed, after being put in the waiting room she jumped in a cab while the case sheet was still being written.

23F - Found by Police drunk and asleep in a doorway. A tourist from interstate she was so lucky the Cops found her. We gave her a lift back to her motel and to the room and her worried friends who had lost her in the Cross.

63M - At a Police station with blood around his mouth not making any sense. The blood was dried red wine and he was just speaking a complicated dialect of 'Pistonese'. Pistonese is a common dialect of the Derro allys of most large cities which while similar to slurred speech is much harder to translate due to varying speed, syllable structure, dribbling and interspersed laughter. The old fella had called in on his way home to thank the Police for being heroes and reducing crime in his suburb. After I explained this to the station front counter staff they shook his hand, accepted his thanks and we took him home.

1065 jobs/139 shifts = 7.68 jobs per shift average.

See you at the big One..

Taz

But the city was busier the next night!

94F - Hospice to ED with decreased GCS.

21F - IP, was at home and friends didn't seem to understand drunk and vomiting. Left at home once this common phenominum was explained.

37F - Inflamed PEG tube site.

78M - Discharge to n/h following negative tests after chest pain.

18M - transfer from one hospital to another.

18M - Two small lacs on nose from a rolling brawl (one that moves). Move on order by police.

17F - How many times do we have to tell you she's not having an ASTHMA attack. Sit down and put this mask connected to nothing on her and stop patting her hand. Went off to find her BF who was in the brawl.

15M - Head lac, he was in the brawl too and left with his friends to go to hospital to find his other friends whom I may have said had gone there, I'm hoping that the triage would see the bandage and investigate as that was all he'd let me do.

21M - Who can't blow air out of his ears! We think he must have gone swimming today (tourist) and had water in the ear. Someone must have smacked him in the head because we got cancelled as we pulled up.

Assist another car with a 'King Hit' male pt who really was just a pissed knock, he ended up having no cerebral bleed to blame his behaviour on.

36M - Domestic argument and he lost his front left tooth, bleeding had stopped so he was going to see a dentist on Monday.

24M - Another 'King Hit' but he was in the middle of the road under the Coke Sign in the Cross. Again no bleeds or fractures found at hospital.

??M - IP, walked into a wall???? Police to him to provide a lift home.

72F - Febrile and nausea. An infection some where! Hospital can find it.

1057/138 = 7.66 jobs average per shift.

See you at the big One.

Taz

The Shire goes crazy.

The Shire is 20 odd klm south of Sydney, a suburban area that is often joked about in an extreme rural bumpkin or Froddo Baggins style.

They were sucking cars in from everywhere. We got a cold backup of a single responder from the middle of Kings Cross and at nearly an hours drive time in traffic.

But the day started out in the city as normal.

65F - From hospital to Air Ambulance and home.

??M - With a cut over his eye and running around disorientated?? Call came from a third party and the police and us found nobody.

59F - Mechanical fall on uneven surface and face planted. Resolved epistaxis and a very minor lac but she requested hospital over seeing her GP.

26F - Well known syncope when exposed to emotional stressors. This time has done it at work during a safety presentation. I was happy with her story, work hadn't seen it before they freaked she was happy to take the rest of the day off and go home.

28M - Headache and vomiting, had mainlined some methadone. These are adverse effects from this. Transport for management and to clear other doubtful causes.

46M - Narcotic OD in public toilets. GCS = 3, Resp Rate = 6, Sweaty, Tachycardic a simple job that we handle every day. Oxygenate well before the narcan and up he pops with no vomiting or aggression. Shame that he was released from prison today and here he is shooting up and his shooting buddy has buggered off with the rest of the hammer and the money from his wallet. No honour amongst thieves or junkies.

34M - A pt with a rather obvious mental health history from the first ten words out of his mouth. Starts telling me about this back pain from a footy match 17 yrs ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Porno Videos on the floor, a bong on the table, IV drug paraphernalia lying in open view and a pt who sounds like he just dropped out of Wayne's World. At hospital, where they didn't even come and get his details off my paperwork they know him that well, I take his BP and he states that magically I have fixed him and can he go. I weep on the inside and say a thank you to the Gods for saving the ED staff from him at least.

85F - Acopia we took Hubby as well because he wasn't much better. There comes a time when it is no longer safe to live at home.

85M - SOB, chest infection most likely.

1043/137 = 7.61 job average per shift.

See you at the big One.

Taz

What are we? The psych and pissed bus?

Just one of those days really, while others got some good work,

20M - At a drop in center with blood on his pants. Yeah like old washed blood, there was no injury Services not Required.

66F - Has been battling a chest infection for three days but had three syncopal episodes this morning while talking to her daughter.

35F - Has also been fighting respiratory symptoms and today coughed the wrong way and hurt her back?

64F - Depressed, feels like she can't keep going but doesn't want to harm herself just wants a talk to the mental health team.

??M - Self harmed with scissors and then buggered off. Police were still looking when we left.

57F - IP in womens refuge, not allowed, has to be medically cleared by Dr before they will accept her back.

42M - Regular IP who just needs a bed. Missionbeat fixed him up when we called them.

31F - OD in another womens refuge, same deal.

51F - IP, abusive, depressed non compliant, call in the cops and put on our mechanical restraints and then load onto the stretcher.

These two both required use of our powers under the Mental Health Act.

Not long now, the total shifts done each year by an officer after six weeks holidays would be 144. Today was 136 and 1034 jobs done for the shift average of 7.60

See you at the big One.

Taz

Some O/t.

With a new person that I have not met before from the country.

2/12M - Sounds like a febrile convulsion and we're transferring from a small hospital to a big but have to drive to another station to collect our baby seat.

Get there and get called off to a car into a shop. Low speed it really only just mounted the footpath and broke the glass front window. It did totally munt the fully sic lowered suspension and body kit. Everyone refused assessment.

Got the seat and went and got the kid. Happiest little fella, totally stable and charmed all the nurses at the Kids hospital.

81F - From hospital to a nursing home thirty odd kilometres away.

30F - Swollen lip. Claimed she didn't know what was happening but doesn't realise that even if we take you to a new hospital they can check on other hospital presentations within the health system and see your treatment yesterday somewhere else for the same thing.

76M - From Hospital to Air Ambulance to go home.

1025/135 = 7.59 Average jobs per shift.

See you at the big One.

Taz

But it got better tonight.

77M - Rigors & Fever, has had an invasive procedure today with sedation only but also has a history of malaria. Doesn't matter he's sick and does need a doctor with resources now.

27F - IP, true to form obnoxious vile and much worse than any drunk guy. Absconded from hospital after mouthing all of us, fell down immediately outside and the hapless room mate helped eventually to the road and a taxi.

25M - Decreased LOC over a plate of Oysters Kilpatrick. Known young street dweller who had some new threads on and went into a restaurant and ordered food. Unfortunately he'd had too many pills and fell asleep before he could enjoy the meal that he didn't have money to buy. The job came down as a Cardiac Arrest.

38F - Respiratory Distress or hyperventilating. Took an hour but we got her down and left her at home rather than the ED.

50F - Gale stones. Admitted to McDonald's in the afternoon.

30M - Small face lac. On the door at a Pub, got a glancing blow to the face that just pulled the skin. He wasn't interested in us or transport.

38M - Swollen foot. Give him his due, had a bicycle stack three days ago and hurt his ankle and tried to self-manage at home. It wasn't getting better and he couldn't bear weight at all now.

25F - Totally Drunk. Able to give us the finger, tell us her name and open her eyes to voice. They don't realise just how dangerous this condition is for them medically and morally. This young lady still had her underwear on because everyone could see it, the 'Baby Doll' dress wasn't covering much. She couldn't even hold her head up, what if she had been in a back street rather the main street.

59M - Alleged rib pain from an alleged assault.

74F - From private hospital to the air ambulance to go home.

Returning to base there's a building fire that we had to drive past and even though they needed our car back on station for day shift we are still an available resource right there and then.

Standby at a building fire. One deceased on scene and one transported by another crew for probable smoke inhalation who cracked the shits and walked out of the hospital an hour later.

1020/134 = 7.61 average jobs per shift.




See you at the big One.

Taz

A quiet wet night.

44M - Homeless, sore feet, requesting hospital but not expecting a bed. During our conversation he mentioned his schizophrenia but that he currently had plans that he would like to follow to improve his situation. Positive attainable goals, well done. Fungal infections and they called Mission Beat to collect him and take him to a shelter for a bed and some social work.

37M - Near syncope. Bent down to the floor from the hips and was dizzy when he straightened. He decided that he was probably ok and to go home.

34M - Sick, no like really sick. Returned home from overseas a week ago, travelling to major cities only. Five days ago started to have fevers with joint aches. Seen his doctor three times for blood tests,,,, maybe Hep A they think but change it to e coli. Start him on oral antibiotics two days ago with paracetamol for the fevers. Tachycardic, Febrile at 40.4C, Hypotensive 90/50 and hours later in hospital while they had all his symptoms under control they still didn't know what the infection was.

19F - Surfing down the banister of the big staircase in the backpackers and fell off. Luckily bounced a few times and landed on her feet totally uninjured but scared the willies out of her.

30F - Another backpackers, got up to go to the toilet in the dark room and tripped over a siutcase and dislocated her shoulder.

And that was it.

1009/133 = 7.59


See you at the big One.

Taz

I've cracked 1000 jobs for the year.

80F - Community Alarm activation. Pts daughter had contacted mum as we pulled into the street and cancelled us outside.

89F - Took an unwitnessed tumble at the n/h and had a minor head lac and had complained to them of mid back pain. The lac I could see but depending on how and when you asked about the back pain?????

72F - Had a fall two days ago landing on the chest wall but didn't want to see a Dr until today when she struggled to breath because of the pain.

59P - Near syncope, total knee replacement six days ago, discharged five days ago even though she had a similar near syncope when leaving. Transport for further investigation.

31F - Well known developmentally delayed pt who doesn't like her group home and absconds to the city usually to end up in the hands of the police because she becomes a nuisance in a public place. They handball to me and I handball to the social workers at the hospital.

30M - Chest pain on descending on a flight to Sydney after a big Loong weekend in Melbourne for the Cup. First bloods looked ok when we had left after a delay unloading.

Two cyclists collided and both suffered right shoulder injuries so there were two case sheets.

So that made eight for the day and 1004 jobs over 132 shifts for an average of 7.61 per shift.
Remembering that I have calculated that I would do 144.3 shifts over a year and that I am just adding every shift I do till I reach 144 and then I'll have a figure for a year.

See you at the big One.

Taz

The Race that Stops a Nation!

They don't stop ambulance work.

38F - Sprained her ankle at the train station.

32M - Epigastric pain, burping and farting,,,, sounds like gas.

84M - Terminal CA pt with ascities.

??F - Chest pain but not bad enough to wait for our arrival lights and sirens.

10M - SVT! no really hospital to hospital transfer.

32M - Street dweller who was ?? post ictal. He didn't want anything to do with us.

20F - Regular normal bad period pain, lucky me I had my female partner today. Not so lucky for the pt.

88M - Much increased confusion and agitation. Development of his dementia.

48F - Slipped at the races and hurt her shoulder.

78F - ? arrest, I called it dead on scene.

996 jobs/ 131 shifts = 7.60 average.




See you at the big One.

Taz

Hello is there anyone out there?

Ha! I should talk.

I just haven't done any o/t and I completely forgot to write up my last shift so I missed a post there. I guess I'm a little flat after losing Shona, I still catch myself looking for her but that will ease with time.

Ambowife now has an urn above her workstation just like I have on my computer tower containing the ashes of our beloved pets.

I have been doing some stuff work related on the days off.
I have applied for relief station officer positions within our sector.
Attempted to finally complete some online education on 12 leads.

So that's what I've been up to

See you at the big One.

Taz