81–90 of 328 posts
I’m so sad to see this. For anyone who reads this, get a day, learn CPR, and buy that machine if your parents or whoever has history of heart issues. The machine doesn’t fix every kind of heart diseases but the trainer told me it decreases the possibility of death from a heart attack greatly. I recall that the possibility is lowered by 50% if you do CPR and 80% with the machine. It is not hard to use the machine as i…
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I can speak to this. I recently joined a community first responder association (I've always wanted to know what to do in case of a medical emergency) and was shocked to hear the members' horror stories of how long it can take an ambulance to arrive. Like the author, I grew up with the narrative "in trouble, call the ambulance, they'll scream through the streets to get to you in moments". That might still be true wher…
Wow melbourne is getting that bad! Does your org have a name?
Since 1998, in Melbourne for anything that might need a defibrillator a fire engine is sent at the same time as the ambulance (EMR Emergency Medical Response Program). https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2002/177/6/cardiac-arrests-tr... Medical Journal of Australia article. There is also GoodSAM https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/goodsam/ for individual helpers
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Incompetence and laziness among doctors is a big cause. As a professional you've probably worked with many colleagues you thought were bad. Well there are doctors like that too. Many of them. And unlike in tech, they don't get let go if they're bad. They stay around and keep "treating" patients.
I was thinking this the other day about GP. If I work in tech I work in a team and we pair. Why doesnt this happen with doctors. Why is everything all on one mind to get wrong or right. Yes there is a team of doctors sometimes but they communicate via emails async and you visit one then the next and so on. I guess I know the answer. Money.
For really complex cases there is the Mayo Clinic model (also used in a few other health systems). A patient can come for a day and be seen by an integrated team of specialists to get a diagnosis and treatment plan. But this isn't really scalable.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-centered-care/what-makes-...
I’ve been reading Influence by Robert Cialdini and just finished a disturbing section about how we are wired to obey an authority figure even when it causes harm. In this instance, the 911 dispatcher was the authority figure. Sad story.
Causes harm is the hard thing to know. In the London Grenfell fire the dispatchers said stay in the appartment. This is correct advice, except when some dodgy supply chain middleman puts effectively what amounts to gunpowder up all the external walls.
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Is it recommended to take or give aspirin ASAP before the EMTs arrive? If so, I wonder if the dad took it.
Assuming no sensitivities/allergies, give 300mg chewed for faster absorption immediately. Normally (where I am) the dispatcher will tell you to do that on the phone.
My condolences, very sorry for your loss. I work as an EMT (911) and resourcing is certainly a problem. In my small city, our response time is around 5 minutes, and if we need to upgrade to get paramedics, that’s maybe another 5-10. However, if we are out on a call, out of service, or the neighboring city is on a call, now the next closest unit is 15+ minutes away.. sometimes there can just be bad luck in that nearby…
I'm coming at this as someone who had an MI at a relatively young age: For the goals -- and this may differ between EMT / paramedic & protocols -- but I would really wish that there was a blood draw done in the field. Before they bring you to the cath lab with a suspected MI, the ER is likely going to draw blood to get troponin levels at a 2-hour interval. You could save some time & heart muscle by getting a blood sa…
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Perhaps 2020 hindsight, even.
The 2020, in hindsight was largely correct. COVID was a highly infectious disease, it put a lot of people in the hospital, and a lot of people in the morgue. Social distancing and wearing masks slowed its spread, until an effective, safe vaccine was developed. Horse paste was not a cure for it, and after further investigation it turns out that it only had a positive effect on patients who, in addition to having COVID…
But let’s not pretend that many of the precautions and policies weren’t performative. Mask mandates were always dumb. Most people didn’t wear effective masks and many didn’t cover their noses. You had to wear a mask on airlines long after the vaccines were available and everyone took them off at the same time to eat or drink.
The US government down played that immunity wore off within six months and that the vaccine was much less effective than they publicized at first even when there were credible studies and evidence from other countries health departments and domestically.
Again, I have every recommended vaccine imaginable. I get a flu shot every year and Covid shots at the recommended times