A-MFR From Class to Reality
A little background information for those of you who do not know. The A-MFR is the Advanced Medical First Responder course offered through St John Ambulance. It is higher than what is considered your Standard First Aid Course and allows you to insert oral and nasal pharangeals as well as use oxygen and a SAED (Semi-Automatic External Defib). It is a two weekend long course and was required for me to continue to be part of the St John Ambulance Emergency Response Team.
A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity (which is a good thing, but a bad thing at the same time if you know what I mean) to put my skills that I learned in the classroom to work. This was my first bite of the on scene life and I have to say, I loved every moment of it. I now have no doubt in my mind that I am destined to become a Paramedic. This is the life that I want.
Onto the scenerio. My partner and I were working a sporting even when one of the head co-ordinators came rushing over to us explaining that we had a player down. Immediately I grabbed my trauma bag and was on my way over by foot while my partner started the ambulance so that we would have the additional equiptment if required.
Arriving on scene I found myself coming up to a girl who was complaining of a sore neck. Apparantly during the game she had been hit by another player a suffered from a "whipping" of the neck as she described it (think of the whip lash you get when in a car accident, it was pretty much the same thing). She was sitting down in a chair, though I was somewhat annoyed that they had moved her around before I showed up, and since I'm trained to suspect a spinal injury in that situation and she was complaining of a sore neck I had someone come over and steady and support her head for me. While my partner was bringing the rig over I made quick work through my primary survey assesing her breathing and circulation and took a quick history having yet another bystander record down the information for me to later fill out in my report.
Once I established the baseline of what I had to, and took a quick set of vitals, I asked for my partner to get me the cervical collars from the rig. Once I measured up th proper sized collar for her, the panic set in. I had never actually put a cervical collar on a patient before, and before when I had practiced it I ended up having to readjust a few times to make sure that the collar was in the correct position. Glancing up at my partner, he was watching me but I knew that he wasn't going to do the collar for me despite the fact he had more experience than I did (something I now thank him for). So I went in to apply the collar sliding it up her chest as I had been taught to and thankfully - someone was looking out for me upstairs - the collar slid into the right place the first time around.
Once the collar was tightened I took another set of vitals and went in to doing a full head-to-toe examination finding out that she also had pain in the middle of her back in the lumbar region. I assesed her pusle, mobility and sensation in each of her limbs as well and checked her pupils for equal reaction to light and ears and nose for any fluids. By the time I was done this, the paramedics had arrived on scene and took over the assessment boarding her and putting her into the ambulance.
One thing I have to complain about though. The paramedics weren't the friendliest to us. Yes, I realize that they have a job to do and their own set of regulations, but would it really hurt them if they asked approximately was our vitals were or a brief background of what happened? The idea of St. John Ambulance is to bridge the gap between the injury and the ambulance arriving on the scene. As a Advanced Medical First Responder I am considered part of the Emergency Medical System. There is a reason for us to exist and that is not for the soul purpose of being ignored. If we work together as a team, then things will run a lot more smoothly and the best care will be achieved for the patient. That is, of course, my opinion and I'm more than certain it is not the opinion of everyone else.
A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity (which is a good thing, but a bad thing at the same time if you know what I mean) to put my skills that I learned in the classroom to work. This was my first bite of the on scene life and I have to say, I loved every moment of it. I now have no doubt in my mind that I am destined to become a Paramedic. This is the life that I want.
Onto the scenerio. My partner and I were working a sporting even when one of the head co-ordinators came rushing over to us explaining that we had a player down. Immediately I grabbed my trauma bag and was on my way over by foot while my partner started the ambulance so that we would have the additional equiptment if required.
Arriving on scene I found myself coming up to a girl who was complaining of a sore neck. Apparantly during the game she had been hit by another player a suffered from a "whipping" of the neck as she described it (think of the whip lash you get when in a car accident, it was pretty much the same thing). She was sitting down in a chair, though I was somewhat annoyed that they had moved her around before I showed up, and since I'm trained to suspect a spinal injury in that situation and she was complaining of a sore neck I had someone come over and steady and support her head for me. While my partner was bringing the rig over I made quick work through my primary survey assesing her breathing and circulation and took a quick history having yet another bystander record down the information for me to later fill out in my report.
Once I established the baseline of what I had to, and took a quick set of vitals, I asked for my partner to get me the cervical collars from the rig. Once I measured up th proper sized collar for her, the panic set in. I had never actually put a cervical collar on a patient before, and before when I had practiced it I ended up having to readjust a few times to make sure that the collar was in the correct position. Glancing up at my partner, he was watching me but I knew that he wasn't going to do the collar for me despite the fact he had more experience than I did (something I now thank him for). So I went in to apply the collar sliding it up her chest as I had been taught to and thankfully - someone was looking out for me upstairs - the collar slid into the right place the first time around.
Once the collar was tightened I took another set of vitals and went in to doing a full head-to-toe examination finding out that she also had pain in the middle of her back in the lumbar region. I assesed her pusle, mobility and sensation in each of her limbs as well and checked her pupils for equal reaction to light and ears and nose for any fluids. By the time I was done this, the paramedics had arrived on scene and took over the assessment boarding her and putting her into the ambulance.
One thing I have to complain about though. The paramedics weren't the friendliest to us. Yes, I realize that they have a job to do and their own set of regulations, but would it really hurt them if they asked approximately was our vitals were or a brief background of what happened? The idea of St. John Ambulance is to bridge the gap between the injury and the ambulance arriving on the scene. As a Advanced Medical First Responder I am considered part of the Emergency Medical System. There is a reason for us to exist and that is not for the soul purpose of being ignored. If we work together as a team, then things will run a lot more smoothly and the best care will be achieved for the patient. That is, of course, my opinion and I'm more than certain it is not the opinion of everyone else.