Tour 1

Tuesday Day Shift (0730-1730):
- get there 45 minutes early because my supervisor told me to, just in case shift change happens early, & end up walking in on one night-shift medic sleeping in the medic's room and told to "get the hell out!" :P what a wonderful way to start my practicum, lol
- meet my two preceptors (who are both really nice)
- got ONE call the entire day... what a slow, slow day, lol. My preceptors were happy and I was bored. :P The call was pretty much just a transport case... nothing to do for the patient as it wasn't even an emergency but her nurse (in the group home) wanted her to go to the hospital...
- So, we went shopping for landscaping stuff instead, lol... shopping while on shift as a medic... never thought that was possible, lol


My Rig: Medic 23!

Wednesday Day Shift (0730-1730):
- on pace for one call per shift again until 3 hours before shift ends... and then end up with 3 in the day and having to work an hour overtime. Would be nice if I got paid overtime... actually, it would probably be nice if I got paid at all!! lol. My preceptors start saying I'm good luck cause they've had 2 very nice and relaxing days now, lol. One pulmonary edema (fluid in lungs), one hip injury and one SOB (shortness of breath).
- was at RGH and was invited to watch a doc take out eyeballs... lol... that was pretty sweet. The patient was complaining of chest pain and they took out his eyeballs! No, actually... it was an organ donor. But that was pretty sweet, lol. The optic nerve is a LOT bigger then I thought it would be!!


Medic 23!

Thursday Night Shift (1730-0730):
- quicker start to the shift... 2 calls right after one another... the first one had CPS (Calgary police service) on scene, lol, for an abdominal pain and the other was a pediatric one where a 2 year old had burnt himself with hot tea... very sad to see...
- 6 hours into my shift and it's close to midnight... and I realize that I still have another 8 hours before my shift even ENDS! sigh... it's going to be a LONG LONG night!
- 3 more calls the rest of the night... so I get about 2 hours of nap time.
- 1 of them was just some dude that was intoxicated which the police took care of. Another one was a patient with cerebral palsy that had a fall and possibly dislocated her knee. The last one was a very strange one: Some guy was assaulted at his home and knocked out in Edmonton and woke up in a Calgary park... very strange indeed!
- I get to hear about some strange homicide/suicide calls that other medics had... including the one in the Hamptons... basically 100 feet from my backyard... and another call that is too strange for me to even try to write out! lol


The cabin of Medic 23! Where the action takes place! :P

Friday Night Shift (1730-0730):
- slower start to this shift... a couple calls that required us (as medics) to sit by at building fires incase there are people that require treatment... and when I mean building fires... I mean... somebody smelled something strange and called fire...
- 5 calls tonight + 2 building fires and 3 canceled calls.
- 1 call was someone being investigated by Calgary police that was trying to use medical 'illnesses' to get out of being arrested. 1 call was a schizo patient who was having times of paranoia. Another call was a fall that really didn't even need to be called in. We had an extremely intoxicated patient that fell face first into the ground that required hospitalization. And finally a rollover on Deerfoot with spinal injuries.
- Overall, only about an hour of nap time this shift. The firefighters in my hall got yet another night where they got to sleep pretty much the entire night... again... maybe I should go into firefighting instead!
- So, a relatively simple first tour. Nothing too hard or drastic. But I do need to get out of my 'in-class scenario' type mentality... cause the way they teach you in class over and over again until it's drilled into your head is NOT the way you do it in real life in most cases, lol. So, I need to work on my confidence in switching things up depending on the situation and the patient better for next tour.
- A classmate of mine had a terrible first tour... 3 codes (clinically dead - unconscious, unresponsive, not breathing, no pulse) in 3 days. Including an 8 month old kid that did not survive... Man... that's got to be insane! I'm glad I didn't have to be on that call! That would be INSANE!


Station 23: Fire and EMS! Pump 23, Medic 23, Medic 223 and Medic 323