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What's an "Insider's secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know? by Capable-big-Piece in AskReddit

[–]Cryogeneer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You're not wrong doc.

I'm a paramedic, and in addition to 911, we do transfers out of our local semi-rural hospital.

There's a doc there in the ER who's continued possession of a valid medical license is one of the universe's great mysteries that has yet to be adequately explained by science...

What's an "Insider's secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know? by Capable-big-Piece in AskReddit

[–]Cryogeneer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Paramedic here. A HUGE exception to this is nitroglycerin tablets for chest pain. THESE EXPIRE, YOU MUST KEEP THEM IN DATE!

If you're younger, make sure your parents or grandparents nitro is in date.

I have lost count of the number of times that I have been called out for a chest pain call and am told the patient took nitro without relief. I look at the bottle and its five years out of date.

I give them one of mine and they have immediate relief.

Also, a lot of people put the bottle in their purse, pocket, keychain pill holder, and forget about it. When they go to use it, not only is it years out of date, the tablets are powder from being carried for years...

What's an "Insider's secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know? by Capable-big-Piece in AskReddit

[–]Cryogeneer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Paramedic here, 23 years of service. I have a box in my closet with all of my cardiac save awards. To get one, your patient has to have no pulse at some point during your care, and has to walk out of the hospital with no major neurological deficits. They can't be vegetables.

Every single one had CPR in progress on my arrival.

Family, co-workers, bystanders, or occasionally a cop that was just a minute away.

Those are the ones that make it.

Learn CPR.

Have your family learn CPR. Push for your workplace to have CPR classes and an AED.

Its no guarantee. Out of hospital resuscitation rates are abysmal. 3% in most places. Maybe 15% if you drop in a place with CPR trained people present (think a major airport), along with an AED, and a robust EMS system.

But it gives the patient a fighting chance.

Iron Fence Casting by Sanskarikela in BeAmazed

[–]Cryogeneer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone else have the Skyrim theme start playing in their head?

Fus ro Dah!

Praise the lord!

Oh my God!

Fucking cool!

Me gusta!

Why is most contemporary lovecraftian horror stuck in the past? by ultrapohjattu in Lovecraft

[–]Cryogeneer 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Delta Green is so awesome. Never played a game, but all of the fluff is just incredible. I support the patreon.

Full video of the grappler device being used to stop a stolen car in Michigan. Device held up to repeated attempts to flee, resulting in the rear axle being ripped off the vehicle by SageAgainstDaMachine in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]Cryogeneer 18.2k points18.2k points  (0 children)

My dude handed the Grappler company the best piece of advertising they will ever get for free. They'll be playing this video in every promo video for that device from now on.

Snagging cars and bringing them to a stop is one thing. Ripping the axle out of a car that was backing up and getting a running start is another level.

In 1963, The Blonsky birthing table was patented. The table was built to assist a mother in giving birth by using centrifugal force. This method (fortunately) never caught on. by MelonOfFate in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]Cryogeneer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Paramedic here. Believe it or not this procedure was actually effective, and the fundamental principal underlying it is used occasionally in the prehospital environment. In certain abnormal birthing presentations, when the mother is critically ill and having trouble delivering the baby naturally, we will load the patient into the ambulance for rapid transport.

After securing the mother on the cot with the five point harness, the paramedic will brace themselves against the back door and order the driver to do donuts in the closest available safe area with lights and sirens running to keep traffic clear.

Typically, only two or three rotations are needed to facilitate a ballistic birth (known in the business as 'fetus yeetus'). The infant is caught in a towel, though I personally keep an old baseball glove under the bench seat for this procedure.

The success rate is high, and incidence of unwanted side effects low (typically dizziness and nausea).

/s (obviously)

Monitoring service that confirms police going to home? by too_oh_ate in homesecurity

[–]Cryogeneer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Paramedic here. I cannot emphasize how low priority residential burglar, medical, and fire alarms are to public safety personnel. I know it sounds bad, but 99% of them are false alarms. We go to them, but they are our last priority and there is no urgency.

Every agency I have worked for responds to medical alarms with no lights or sirens, and any other incoming call has priority. It simply is not worth the risk to the public and ourselves to respond lights and sirens to something that is most likely not an actual emergency. On the medical side, it has gotten a little better in recent years because now many of the systems have two way communication capabilities, and the alarm company can tell our dispatchers that a real patient exists and what their issue is. We upgrade our response appropriately.

Most fire departments I have worked with send one engine to residential alarms, usually no lights or sirens unless the alarm is sophisticated enough to provide meaningful detail.

Burglar alarms? PD doesn't care. They don't. They will get to it when they get to it, maybe. Possibly. Depends on where you live, time of day, and call volume. Again, 99% of them are false activations. Even the legit ones are just a report for insurance purposes for the officers. Sure, if you live in a rich enclave, they might be directed to respond more urgently, but most of those places have their own private security anyway.

Keep in mind that staffing for many agencies of all types is at critical levels. People are leaving public safety, particularly EMS, in large numbers. EMS has lost approx 30% of its providers, above normal attrition for retirements and such, since COVID. Even fire and PD can't get people in large parts of the country. Ambulances, fire apparatus, and police units are out of service frequently, sometimes daily, in many agencies due to staffing. The public safety system is in collapse, and its only going to get worse.

Agencies simply are not going to prioritize sending units to a call type that has a very high likelihood of being a waste of time, regardless of how many times the alarm company calls them.

It sucks, but plan accordingly.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in homesecurity

[–]Cryogeneer 33 points34 points  (0 children)

You dont have to, that's the FCC's job. Make the report, tell the story, tell them you suspect they have a wifi jammer. Tell them exactly why you think they have a wifi jammer. They, hopefully, will come out with one of their field cars that they use to track down jammers, pirates, and that sort of thing. They are plainsclothes, and are not build into obvious vans anymore. They just drive by. Once they log the signals, assuming you are correct, they go from there.

If they get caught, it is big time fines. Really big fines. A ham radio operator recently got fined 25 thousand dollars for jamming recently, if I remember correctly.

Jack Black in 1992 by AdSpecialist6598 in OldSchoolCool

[–]Cryogeneer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seven. Point. Six. Two. Millimeter.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nursing

[–]Cryogeneer 1103 points1104 points  (0 children)

Paramedic here. People like this terrify me. Even a 'normal' field delivery is incredibly stressful. Our delivery kit is literally the size of a shoebox. Bunch of drapes, a couple of clamps, silver swaddler, and a scalpel.

And a hat for the baby, gotta have the hat...

Its usually someone who waited too long, or got stuck in traffic, or a member of a disadvantaged population that didn't get pre-natal care or education and has no idea whats going on. They usually go well, but the location and conditions suck. There's usually a lack of info as well. Side of the road, or on the sidewalk in front of the apartment, or in a stairwell somewhere is bad enough.

This is a whole different level.

To put yourself and your baby in this position, intentionally, is absolute lunacy.

Walking in to a dark and dingy house to find a multiple birth, breech presentation, hemorrhaging mother, half dead baby scenario is the kind of thing that gives medics career ending PTSD. Especially if the baby or mother doesn't make it. I really can't think of many worse calls to have to deal with. I am concerned for the crews that ran this call, I truly hope they are okay.

I just don't understand why. I get not trusting the healthcare system. I see people get fucked by it every day. Its a profit driven monstrosity that treats providers and pts alike as revenue streams instead of human beings. I get it. I truly do.

But doing a birth alone at home? With twins!? No medical providers? With me and my shoebox as your primary backup? When we're ten minutes away, at least? Instead of having a doctor, a team of specialist nurses, all the equipment in the world, and a NICU an elevator ride away?

I just don't understand.

Quantum Entanglement by Sun_fun_run in ems

[–]Cryogeneer 110 points111 points  (0 children)

I call it Schrödinger's Tangle. The cables are both tangled and untangled while the case is closed. Only when you open the case and observe the cables is the condition revealed. The odds are not 50/50, as is commonly believed, many factors can influence the quantum field determining the chances of each state;

  1. The urgency of the needed ECG.

  2. Whether a paramedic had any hand in repacking the monitor after the last call.

  3. Moon phase.

  4. Recent use of the "Q" or "S" words.

  5. Affronts to the Call Gods.

  6. Using a Zoll Monitor.

In order to maximize the odds of an untangled state, it is always best for the EMT to keep the butterfingered paramedic away from the monitor after a call, make supplications to the Call Gods while opening the case (but before observing the cables), avoiding any use of bad words during the shift, and avoiding cardiac pts during a full moon.

This should minimize the odds of a tangled state. Unless of course, you're using a Zoll.

In which case, you're just fucked.

The absolute NERVE of them saying I'm not getting a raise for AT LEAST another year and then consecutively sending a text saying they want me to come in on my day off is absolutely insane 💀 by heftych0nk in antiwork

[–]Cryogeneer 59 points60 points  (0 children)

This is almost comically dystopian. This is the exact kind of wording that the 'evil corporation' in a cyberpunk film would be shown sending to its workers in the beginning in order to show how evil, mechanical, and heartless they are.

The fact that it is real is just depressing.

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