D-Day OVER!!

Oh man... it's finally over... for this semester at least,
First off... it's so freaking cold out!
Also... Thank God that I was able to change my flight back from Vancouver to last Thursday. Cause the original flight I was supposed take on Sunday was cancelled and I wouldn't have made it to class today. And if THAT had happened, I would have been booted from the program! So, THANK GOD!

Otherwise... left the house at 7 this morning... got home a bit after 7. Crazy eh? Class started at 8 this morning and class didn't end till 6:30 tonight! Ack. That's 10.5 hours of school. One hour lunch in between. But otherwise... the entire day was on testing. Sheesh. Talk about nerves.

Anyways... to update: Read the BOLDED for important information; ITALICS for description of failures. Everything else is more a recap for myself.
Skills Testing:

• Vital Signs: Pulse (rate, rhythm, quality), Respirations (rate, rhythm, quality), Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose Level, Oxygen Saturation, Pupils (reactivity to light and equality), Skin (Color, Condition and Temperature). To be done all within 5 minutes. PASSED
• Primary Survey: Scene Survey (hazards, BSI , bystander information, explore bystander information, MOI , # of patients and whether or not backup was required), Patient Overview (angulated fractures, deadly bleeding, skin , patient level of distress, patient position) Primary Survey (LOC , A , B , C , Head to Toe Assessment) Transport Decision. PASSED
  
• Oxygen Station (ability to use oxygen tank appropriately, ability to know the indications and contraindications of useage, understanding of which mask to use , understanding of oxygen flow rates for each different mask, understanding of oxygen concentrations for each different mask, ability to bag a patient adequately for over 5 minutes) PASSED
• Basic Airway Management (indications for use of a oropharayngeal airway and proper placement, indications for use of nasopharyngeal airway and proper placement, proper airway patency maneuvers ) PASSED
  
• Suction Station (knowledge of proper suctioning techniques and different equipment) PASSED
• IV Station (understand the technique of setting up an Intravenous Line, aseptic technique, ability to show a good IV insertion, understand the technique and indications for setting up a saline lock instead of an IV, ability to show good saline lock preperation) FAILED Forgot the aceptic technique for saline lock - basically means I forgot to clean the injection port for getting saline. And contaminated fluids are usually not healthy for a patient. Re-test in 2 weeks. Stupid mistake. Should pass on retest easily.
• Medication Station (understand the technique, indications, contraindications and locations for IM injections, understand the technique, indications, contraindications and locations for SQ injections, understand the technique, indications, contraindications and locations for a PO , understand the technique, indications, contraindications and locations for a SL , understand the technique, indications, contraindications and locations for a Inhalant/Nebulizer) FAILED Was unable to properly describe the locations for IM and SQ injections - basically I knew where to do it, how to landmark it, but was unable to use the proper medical terminology for describing it. Re-test in 2 weeks. Easy to learn medical terminology for locations I already understand and know. Just know the proper names from now on.

Finished skill testing around 1130. We were in groups of 6... so, each of us had to do a medical scenario and a trauma scenario. Though when we do a scenario, noone else is allowed to speak or make any indications that they are helping the individual being tested. Got through one scenario before lunch. Breaked for lunch for an hour. And I was UPSET! Retest on skills that I KNOW how to do... but just made stupid mistakes. Sigh... but that's life.
From 1300 straight till 1800 were 11 more scenarios. I almost fell asleep. Sheesh. I had the 6th and the 12th scenarios, so I had to wait for most of mine and it drives you nuts just waiting to do your test cause you just start psyching yourself out.

• Medical Scenario: Pt unconscious and unresponsive. Airway occluded, Bradypnea, Bradycardia. History showed that he had overdosed on dilaton (drugs to control seizures). Nothing much I can do within my scope of practice. Suctioned airway to clear. Inserted OPA to keep airway patent. Initiated Oxygen therapy with a BVM at 15L/min to improve perfusion. Initiated IV access with NS TKVO incase medications are required. However, no drugs are within my scope of practice to give to pts under drug overdose. So, ensured critical interventions were dealt with; proper primary survey to determine other injuries was completed; Load & Go as he was a critical pt; Proper recordings of vitals along with a proper history and understanding of both to diagnose patient properly; Rapid Transport = PASSED 97%
• Trauma Scenario: Pt unconscious and unresponsive after being hit by a motor vehicle while jogging. Airway occluded, Bradypnea with occasional Apnea, Tachycardia, Hypertension. Hematoma found on head. Bubinski Reflex had no response indicating head trauma/spinal trauma. Cleared airway through manual airway management; Inserted OPA to keep airway patent. Initiated O2 Therapy with BVM at 15L/min to improve perfusion; Initiated IV access with NS TKV incase medications were required; Spinal immoabalized patient with c-collar and spine board; Placed patient in a semi-fowlers position to decrease pressure in cranium; Rapid Transport = PASSED 89%

Overall, not a bad day. Way too long though. Was out of the house for 12 hours. Sat through skill testing and scenario testing for 9.5 hours. Was last to do medical scenario out of my group of 6. Was last to do trauma scenario as well. Was last to find out my marks at the end of the day. Screwed up on 2 of my Skills because of stupidity and ignorance. Time for bed.

Oh and 4 more exams. BTLS, Professional Practice, Anatomy and Physiology #4 and Medical Terminology Final. 2 more retests. All EQUALS: HERE I COME PRACTICUM!

D-Day

Monday, November 27th, 2006!

80% or above = pass = continue in EMT-A Program
79% or below = possible retest = booted from EMT-A Program

No longer multiple choice exams... but it's time for the practical exams! Trauma Scenario. Medical Scenario. Skill Testing. Dum Dum Dum! Probably the most nerve wrecking day of the entire semester. The day everyone stresses over. The day everyone loses sleep over. The day everyone pulls their hair out and even the toughest of guys will allow some tears to flow.

Well... figured I havn't blogged in a while and wanted to post a blog under this new beta version... so far everything seems about the same. Also... missed YAC last night cause I was exhausted from studying and practicing scenarios. I have a feeling I'll be missing church tomorrow as well to continue going over my signs and symptoms in order to better diagnose a patient properly in the field. And then Monday Morning... D-Day. 0800-1700.

Well, lets hope I PASS!! Me and my platoon is probably going out to celebrate afterwards, lol. I told them I don't drink, so we'll probably hit up a resteraunt or something instead of the bar! haha, I'm such a party pooper! Otherwise... after Monday (if I pass) it will be clear sailings from there on in till the next D-Day after second semester. One more Anatomy and Physiology Written Exam... One more Medical Terminology Written Exam... One more Professional Practice Written Exam... and then it's time for some CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! And after that... PRACTICUM! Excited... yet Nervous...

anyways... later all. Wish me luck!

EDIT: Apparently my template was not compatible with the new Blogger: Beta. So I've gone back to my original blogger template (with a few minor tweaks). I actually liked my newest blog template but whatever. This will do for now. Now comments should work again. I'll try to figure something out for my better template later... after I'm done studying... which I need to get back to now. Thanks for the distraction PRISCILLA!! :P

Flames Analysis: Forwards

The Calgary Flames have recalled Dustin Boyd and Brandon Prust from their minor league team. The Omaha AkSarBen Knights are currently 8-0-1 and are one of three AHL teams to still be unbeaten in regulation. Boyd is also tied for the AHL scoring lead with 13 pts in 9 games.

The Rookies

Their recall from the minors should light a fire under some of our (a)pathetic veterans such as Amonte, Friesen, Lundmark and Richie!

Boyd is probably a short-term call-up... just cause the expectations of him are a lot higher. He's expected to become a number one centerman for the flames and I believe he needs more time to improve in the minors first. Though, he''s probably quite capable of centering the 4th line regularly for us right now, possibly the 2nd, but not the 1st. And he won't learn to be a number one centerman with the limited ice-time he'll get with the big team. However, that is up in the air. Cause if he does take over the 4th line center position. I believe he could still get quality ice-time to be effective and still work towards becoming the number one center of the future.

Prust should be ready for a long-term stay. He's projected to be a checking-line winger and or energy-line winger with potential for some second-line duty. He's not huge, but he'll fight anyone. He plays like Yelle where he'll sacrifice his body for the play. He plays with his heart on his sleeve and plays all-out every shift which is something we have lacked this year from our forwards. I personally think he is better than Richie and Lundmark. Though, not as skilled offensively as Lundmark, at least he won't disappear for long periods of time like Lundmark does.

Nystrom is also still with the team currently... still hasn't been sent down to the minors from the onset of training camp. However, he's still out with an injury... but is listed as day-to-day. Another hard-working player that plays with his heart on his sleeve. Likened to be the next Yelle with more of a offensive ability (kinda like Nilson). If Nystrom gets healthy and is cleared to play... I think the line of Nystrom - Boyd - Prust would be awesome to watch.

The Veterans
Busts - Not Reaching Expectations - Disappointments
Richie has been useful as a 13th forward due to his ability to play all 3 forward positions, but is expendable due to a lack of skill and size. Lundmark has done nothing to prove to anyone that he isn't anything BUT a first round bust. Friesen is inconsistent but has shown glimpses of excellence (great speed, great work along the boards, great forechecking, great backchecking)... same with Amonte and Huselius. But all three are being paid too much for what they are actually bringing to the team right now and none of them are reaching their expectations. Amonte is not scoring cause he can't seem to keep the puck on his stick long enough to do anything with it, and the times that he seems to be able to actually hold on to the puck... he shoots 5 feet wide or passes 5 feet ahead of the intended teammate. Huselius... what can you say about him? He's always been inconsistent. Too much skill and not enough hockey smarts. He stickhandles as well as anyone in the league and his ability to keep the puck in the offensive zone is awesome to watch... but he rarely shoots and always loses the puck before he can find someone open to pass to (precisely because he is unwilling to shoot regularly - the opposition plays the pass instead of worrying about him shooting). Tanguay falls under the bust category not because his expectations were too high, but because he is simply playing too tentatively out there which leads to inconsitency for someone of his skill calibre. He needs to regain that confidence and start skating and playing with more of an edge. Similar to Huselius where he looks for the pass too often and needs to look towards the net more and crash the net more. All these players listed above need to improve or face the possibility of being benched and replaced by the rookies just called up. Huselius and Tanguay are the only 2 out of that list that I don't see being sat out because they are still producing and creating chances... but just arn't reaching their expectations.

Reaching Expectations
Yelle was playing well before he was injured. Nilson has stepped his game back up from a poor season last year (poor in terms of offense - he still led the team in +/-) and still hasn't gotten the points per say this season, but the chances that he has created this season are akin to when he played with Nemo and Donovon... but Amonte and Friesen as his linemates currently arn't helping any... and McCarty and Lundmark before that didn't help any either. McCarty is playing to expectation as an energy line winger and "heavy-weighter" though he clearly does not belong in that weight class.

Lombardi and Kobasew have been a plus for the team this season... though consistency is still something that is lacking from both of them. They are dominant in 2/3 of the games which is an improvement from the 1/3 of the games from the past season. But they are playing to where most expected them to be this season. They are adding secondary scoring and are using their speed to their advantage in the New NHL... but consistency is the biggest issue.

Langkow has been playing well as far as I can tell. He's a quiet kinda player that doesn't draw too much attention to his play. But he's still getting points and creating chances. In my opinion... he isn't a number one centerman... but until Boyd or Lombardi steps up and proves that they CAN be that number one centerman, Langkow will continue to anchor that position. But I believe he thrives best as the 2nd line centerman. Highly reliable though.

Iginla has been playing well considering he usually has a slow start to the season. Seems to be adapting as the season goes on to the New NHL. Confidence seems to be building and should continue to improve. Especially if the rest of the team gets going and supports Iginla up front.

Trade would be nice... but the players we want to give up or can give up are not worth anyone good. And getting someone good would require us to lose someone we NEED like (Iginla, Regehr, Phaneuf, Kipper) or a prospect (Boyd, Nystrom, Prust, Taratukin, Chucko).