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Permalink Reply by Eric Gregory on February 25, 2011 at 10:20am

"In doing QA on a report it was documented that a patient had ZERO respirations, but had an oxygen sat of 96%, so they left the patient on a non-rebreather, because and I quote "they were saturating fine""

I have no medical training and I know that's not a sustainable situation. The issue with these individuals is not technology it's a lack of common sense. If a person is not breathing you MUST take immediate action to remedy that problem regardless of their other vital signs.

These guys have a much bigger problem then a tendency to lean too heavily on technology.

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Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on February 25, 2011 at 12:36pm

I would compare this to a ff that relies on a TIC and ignores their other senses and training. It is not a matter of to much technology, but the fact of people just being lazy. Technology is a great TOOL, it can help us do our jobs and be more profiecent at them, but it should not replace our basic training and techniques. I agree with Eric in saying that these medics have bigger issues than relying on to much tech.

TCSS

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Permalink Reply by Dolph Holmes on February 25, 2011 at 4:27pm

I have to agree with you! As hospitals have gone more high tech and it has moved out in the field we are losing some of the basic skills to machines. I have not seen the sat of 96 but 0 resps...that is VERY scary. As a partner to a new EMT I had many discussions about what should they do first and my usual answer is look at the whole patient. Then ask some questions to narrow down why you are there. The KISS concept needs to be stressed to new folks and then go use the technology to confirm your suspicions where appropriate.

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Wolfe on February 26, 2011 at 9:14am

Eric, I fully agree with you that their other issues with the medic in question, and that was an extreme example of my point. I pulled the medic in to a meeting with the Medical Director, and let him deal with it. I think it is a combination that the medics are incompetent, lazy or too dependent on technology. If you look back to an "old" medic when you first came out of school, how did they assess their patient? Did they have all of the newest "gadgets", or did they truly use their senses? How do we fix this problem? Yes, technology has a place, and with the new EMT's, medics, and firefighters coming out of academy they are more apt to use it, but where do you draw the line of becoming reliant upon it, or using it as a crutch?

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on February 26, 2011 at 10:01am

I've developed habits over the years. If an FTO or a company officer can achieve simple changes in habits when observing this kind of behavior situations such as these can be corrected. Perhaps the students or rookies just don't know any better or fully understand assessment. A lot of folks will do just whatever they have to do to get by. Sometimes I'm guilty of that. Our challenge is to ask them to look a little deeper when they do their assessment using their understanding of physiology.

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Permalink Reply by AJ Zuccarelli on February 27, 2011 at 3:42pm

The problem is not technology, it is poor standards that allow almost anyone to become an EMT or paramedic, which leads to lazyness and complacency.
If anything, we need MORE technology, eg field Troponin levels, ultrasound, doing lab values, etc.

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