Paramedic in the news

So this is probably old news, but I just watched the video at http://www.wfsb.com/video/22594581/index.html
 where the paramedic called in a STEMI and activated the Cath lab so the patient would get the angioplasty as soon as possible after arriving at the hospital.  It was especially cool that the medic on the news was a blogger (Street Watch) I've been reading for awhile.  Way cool.

Now, I need to get back to studying so I know what they were talking about.  What's a STEMI anyway?

rocked the first test

Yesterday was the first exam for paramedic school. I got one of the top scores in class. Slowing down and reading each question (and picking the best answer, not the first one I thought was "close") helped a ton. On almost every test in my Basic class I'd hurry through and lose 4-5 points to rushing. All those practice tests for the Basic National Registry improved my test taking by a fair margin.

After that we took the ALS post test(not graded). We were supposed to answer everything we could, but no guessing. I got a 44/100, which, considering we're on chapter 2, is fantastic. I got kind of lucky, since there was a question on Vasopressin (which I just read about, thanks Medicscribe! ) and a few questions about Cushing's Triad, which I knew all about since I diagnosed a friend and rushed him to the hospital a couple months ago (long story, golf ball sized mass in his head). I'm super happy with my score on that.

Onward to A&P, studying all day (and all week).

study sites, books, podcasts and lectures

Sharing some stuff for classmates and other medic students

Peter Canning writes a blog called "Street Watch: Notes of a Paramedic". Right now he's going through a list of the 32 drugs he carries, explaining what they do, alternatives, why he uses or doesn't use them, experiences with the drugs.  I love learning from stories, so this is awesome for me.

Get more at http://medicscribe.com/

Kelly Grayson, aka Ambulance Driver, from http://ambulancedriverfiles.com/ wrote a book compiled of his stories. I liked it lots. It's mostly humor with a bit of soul searching and tear jerking. I read it in about three sittings -- I had to, since I was always fighting my wife for the book. You can buy it at Amazon (or, if you know me, borrow it).
En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between

I've spent the past 6 months listening to a ton of medical related podcasts - especially ones focused on the prehospital setting. One of the best podcasters I found is Dr. Jeffrey Guy. He wrote a pharamacology book and helped write a Trauma book

Pharmacology for the Prehospital Professional

PHTLS Prehospital Trauma Life Support (Phtls: Basic & Advanced Prehospital Trauma Life Support)

I bought and read both books after I started listening to his podcasts. I thought if the book is half as good as the podcast, it'd definitely be worth buying.

Dr. Guy's podcasts can be found at

http://www.icurounds.com/

http://www.prehospitaldrugs.com/

http://www.phtlspodcast.com/

iTunes (iPod not required) has a ton more podcasts available. iTunesU has a number of college classes (lectures, sometimes notes) available. I haven't found any specifically for Paramedics, but anatomy and cardiology never go out of style. Just make sure when you search the iTunes store for "anatomy" you skip over all the "Grey's Anatomy" stuff-- wrong Gray and a focus on the wrong anatomy :)

If you have any other suggestions, hit the comments

How to memorize drugs

My paramedic textbook was nice enough to come with 101 note cards with drugs names on the front and a pile of details on the back including

Name/Class
Description
Indications
Contraindications
Precautions
Dosage/Route

Any tips for memorizing/learning them?  What worked for you?

2345

23 hours, 45minutes (and a big fat check) until I'm a paramedic student.

365ish days until I take my EMT-P national registry.

this reminds me of the saying - how do you eat an elephant? 1 bite at a time. Now? time to go read chapter 1.