Thankfully no rain this morning.

My newly Qualified partner turned up today.
I think I'm starting to cope with the Padawan Withdrawal I have been suffering quietly.
This will be the third roster without a Trainee.

78F - Delirium, Confusion is looks like either a CVA without physical deficit or a UTI.

78F - Recent Hx or PR bleed, pale, faint, transported.

56M - Thinks he is having a stroke, I think it's all in his head (Yes I did mean to write that) but we transport because we don't have the tools to correctly assess tools.

27M - Heroin OD, O2 and 400mcg Narc and transported.

88F - Reportedly a 10 minute syncope. Totally stable with us during transport and the two hour wait on stretcher.

45F - From Hospital to Air Ambulance to go home.

We were unable to locate the female seen by a motorist driving by who looked sad.?????

31M - Psych pt who had absconded from the Psych hospital over near the hospital that they used for external shots on the All Saints program. Luckily the was a crew from over there in our patch and it worked out great for them to take him back. Got them right near their station just before knock off.

70M - A member of the general public thought that this man needed help and tried to restrain him????? the man fought off the bloody do-gooder and when we arrived (as we have to!) yes the gent did have a poor gait, he's had a stroke and that's the way he walks. He refused a lift home so we went home instead.

463/62 = 7.47

See you at the Big One and you be careful out there.

Taz

It rained!

It really hasn't stopped.

Totally soaked when I got to work even with a rain jacket on, it just seeped in everywhere.

A very slow start at work it was too.
Three hours before the first job rolled in for me.

76F - A Twenty Five year Hx of Epistaxis. Several times a year they will get bad enough to require hospitalisation, today was one of them. It had been going for eight hours when we arrived.

51M - Ex heroin/methadone pt hanging out hurting. Sunday is not a good time to need a methadone program.

87F - Simple fall in the street, helped up by general public. Walked home and couldn't get to her floor. Proximal Humorous Pain, Iliac Crest Pain and Rib pain.

45M - 2cm facial laceration. Refused to come to hospital for glue or stitches.

65M - Assaulted with minor injuries, they caught the guy who did it too!

?55M - Call from the general public concerned for the safety of an ???? intoxicated person. The public were trying to restrain him for god sake!!! Luckily he escaped and we were unable to locate.

21F - At her yoga class. Crossing the legs to the lotus position and sharp click and the left knee locks up with major pain. With some analgesia we're just lifting to place on the stretcher and click it's good again!!! Transport for ortho exam and physiotherapy consult.

Now what are these numbers?

They're an average of my work load that includes the post just done, so in this case;

454 Jobs / 61 days = 7.44 jobs per shift


See you at the Big One and you be careful out there.

Taz

Not bad for a slow start!

62F - Febrile at 41.3 with elevated BGL.

72M - Simple head lac from simple mechanical trip, primary survey showed severe hypertension with both Systolic and Diastolic much elevated (200+/100+).

18M - Playing Aussie Rules and copped and elbow to the face, on field medics found central cervical pain that scans showed later to be worth the spinal precautions I took.

61M - Hypothermia from a rescue exercise near the airport. Discharged himself from my care before we left the scene after having the possible complications explained to him.

81F - Lower back pain, extensive Hx of cancer but scans showed no metastases but a fracture of the coccyx.

11F - Wasp sting, no airway involvement but much swelling and pain. I don't have anything to treat that in the car so transported.

21F - Just starting to experiment with Heroin, hopefully this episode today were we saved her life will get her of this terrible downward spiral.

Hope it's not raining tomorrow on the way to work.

447/60 = 7.45

See you at the Big One and you be careful out there.

Taz

I've been a bit quiet.

After sleeping the first day off I had a very important Union Sub-Branch meeting to attend the next night talking and voting about the direction of our next round of wage negotiations.

The night after that was a station meeting at work with presentations from Clinical Training staff outlining the recent additions to the P1 Qualified Officers drug kit and the developments in changing us from a protocol driven per-hospital service to guidelines and allowing for the clinical knowledge to be used.
Extended Care Paramedics to inform us of what they can provide as for non acute pts, kind of like the CARe pathways I have open to me but just more of them, such as sutures, re-insertion of catheters, reduction of certain dislocations,,, interesting stuff.

And then just an update from Management in particular was our KPI (key performance indicators) that have been dropping for the last month or so but one of our own Team Leaders has been conduction her own data survey and has figures that indicate near perfect compliance! The problem may be that the data is collected for jobs in our catchment area but not exclusive to our crews so cars from out of area may very well be what is letting us down. Further investigation to be done.

I have Fifty of my Question Guideline booklets to complete to restock the ACAP Paramedic Bookshop and that as I have posted before is a lot more time consuming that many realise.

Scored an O/t tomorrow so hopefully I'll have great work to post about.

See you at the Big One and you be careful out there.

Taz

A wet and cold night.

And it seemed to have more work, well more than last night.

78M - Regular dialysis pt back to nursing home.

Assist load, hot response for an ICP car with a pt with decreased LOC.

60M - Urinary retention.

59M - gobbled a few boxes of Paracetamol, his liver is stuffed but they send him to an HDU (High Dependency Unit).

22F - Wrong place, wrong time got beat up. Facial injuries mostly, the left eye was swollen shut and the may have been early battle signs on the left side also.

59M - Decreased LOC, Tachyponea, Ashen palour. Many things it could have been so called for ICP backup and treated as Pulmonary Odoema.

38M - Brought himself to the attention of Beat Police and felt the cuffs hurt when they were on!

65F - Chronic Alcoholic, been on a bender and seeking help.

440/59 = 7.46

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.Taz

Good Grief! What a Sunday.

39F - Abdo pain, similar to previous episodes of Gale Stones.

49M - Mental health Hx and he 'Mainlined' Methamphetamine yesterday and is hearing bad voices

74M - Post Op for CABg and returning home from city hospital.

And that's it

Three jobs over the entire twelve hours

432/58 = 7.45


Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

New roster.

I start it on my second day shift and single.
Luckily there in a new Padawan on station (this will be their third shift) who's partner is going to be later so we'll team up.

40?M - Passed out, outside a Mexican Takeaway! that's you first hint.
GCS = 7 (1,1,5) my sternal knuckle always makes 'em move.
He's spitting, he refuses to speak or open his eyes but the pig can roll to the edge of the stretcher and spit on the floor. His friend says he has had some pills (MDMA, Ecstasy), most likely some GHB and alcohol all quite deliberately, he is totally responsible for his current state, which as we pick him off the roadway included urination and defecation in his jeans and it stinks (did he have some Tex Mex ? ) None of it got on us but not a nice way to start the shift.

34F - In Police custody and had some abdo pain, there are known issues with her upper left quad and would be happy with some simple analgesia (which Police can't issue) and left to complete her business. Too easy.

79M - Deceased, I spent a little more time here as it was her first one and to carefully go through the process of identification no life signs, asystole, nil pulse, nil resps, very cold peripheries with some core warmth, dependent lividity, rigor,,,,,

72F - Dementia, ??? septic ulcer on leg. You know how you can provide much comfort with simply holding the hand of the pt? This one would reach out for your hand, move it around to get the right position and then dig her unclipped finger nails in and she was gritting her teeth with effort and snarling at you!!!

47F - Chronic knee pain. Does have pins and screws in one and one screw has come lose and the other knee is worn out!

51F - Transported to detox clinic.

44F - on a long haul flight she got chest pain with radiation eight hours out. As there always is there was a Dr on board as well as one of our local Ambos. In flight treatment, Aspirin, Nitrates and O2, fully resolved and nil return for the remainder of the flight. Full primary examination, nil pain but known history and refused to got to hospital will consult LMO. Everyone has the rights to poor decision pathways.

429/57 = 7.53

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz