Divemedic

Seattle Cops Taking Sides

Check out this video of Seattle cops slashing the tires of motorists. Remember when I told you that the entire state of Washington was in Zone 5, making it behind enemy lines?

This is an election year. As the year progresses, expect violence and rhetoric to get increasingly worse, more widespread, and more obvious. The time from now until next January will become increasingly dangerous, especially in areas that are Zone 3 or higher.

Areas in zone 5 are areas where the government has ceded or lost all control and/or has openly declared that they cannot and will not provide basic government services like police, fire, and EMS. These areas are completely out of legitimate governmental control and can best be described as being behind enemy lines. Government authority has either effectively or openly sided with the insurgents and is providing them with active support. Anyone who finds themselves in one of these areas is advised to leave immediately, even if this means abandoning property.

By Divemedic, ago

High Capacity Paint Feeding Device

In Minnesota, a proposed law would require all painting to be done by or under the supervision of a licensed painter by restricting the sale of paint in cans one gallon or larger to licensees, establish a paint contractor board, and licensing for paint contractors painters. Companies like Home Depot, Sherwin Williams, and even the local hardware store would enforce that law if it becomes one.

The politician who sponsored the bill (Erin Murphy) has a bit of a conflict of interest. Her husband owns a painting company.

By Divemedic, ago

Why I am tired

Got to work, got my room assignment. took report, and all three of my patients seemed easy. After an hour of just sitting there, watching patients who were not really any trouble, I started thinking that I was going to have an easy shift for a change.

I was wrong.

I discharged a patient and wheeled her to the front door. When I returned to my little slice of the ED, there was an EMS crew waiting there for me with a patient. They told me he was normally on oxygen at home, and was coming in because it was taking more effort than usual to breathe. They hadn’t bothered to try for an IV, because they didn’t think it was needed. On 6 liters, his SpO2 was 88%. It got worse from there. So I called a respiratory alert. The respiratory therapist was busy, so never came. The doctor decided that the man was septic and ordered antibiotics. I gave them and went next door to the next patient.

I heard yelling and went back to see what the problem was. The patient was having an anaphylactic reaction to the antibiotics. Yep, turns out that he had an allergy that he didn’t know about. I had to do an emergency override for Epinephrine, steroids, and Benadryl. That was when the patient next door decided to desaturate. Then I had another EMS truck come in with a cardiac emergency. In the middle of that, the charge nurse came in and told me that I was getting a fourth patient.

All while the joint commission was there.

Fourteen straight hours of that. So that’s why I didn’t want to post yesterday.

By Divemedic, ago

What’s More Dangerous Than Guns?

Firearms are the mechanism of injury in about 61,000 emergency room visits per year. There are many items in your home that are more dangerous.

  1. Floors: 2.135 million hospital visits
  2. Stairs or steps: 1.027 million hospital visits
  3. Beds or bed frames: 912,000 hospital visits
  4. Bathtubs or showers: 431,000 hospital visits
  5. Tables: 327,000 hospital visits
  6. Chairs: 319,000 hospital visits
  7. Interior ceilings and walls: 293,000 hospital visits
  8. Sofas, couches, davenports, divans, or studio couches: 211,000 hospital visits
  9. Rugs or carpets: 206,000 hospital visits
  10. Toilets: 204,000 hospital visits

Assuming that you don’t want to commit suicide and also assuming that you aren’t a criminal, you are far more likely to be injured in a fall than you are by a firearm. Anecdotally, my hospital only sees about 1 patient a month with injuries from gunshot wounds. Just yesterday, I saw three patients with broken bones from falling in their home.

By Divemedic, ago

No Plans

I worked last night and it was quite a busy night. For those of you who are in health care, you will understand- the Joint Commission was in the hospital yesterday, which means that the administrators were everywhere, getting the vapors and micromanaging everything. On top of it, we had an unusually busy night.

So the tank is a bit depleted right now.

By Divemedic, ago