Well, in a massive stroke of luck I got teamed up with probably the keenest medic on the job. Which suits me fine, as I strive to be the keenest student on the job :-)
To sum it a in a silly little rhyme:
The 8 weeks flew
my confidence grew
And now I'm with someone new.
Gotta get used to working with my new crewmate, the first shift seemed OK, I'm sure we'll get used to each others working ways.
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Things I picked up:
- Went to a broken tib/fib, sporting injury. Never really done one before, and I openly admit I've always felt that I am rubbish at bandaging, and the calls that come with having to bandage people limbs. Must remember to expose the limb (in this case, cut his socks off).
- Broken bones (legs, in this case) can interfere with peripheral (in this case foot) circulation. I was damn proud of myself to remember to check for a cap refill less than 2 seconds, also checking for warmth and neurological deficits (with I damn well forgot to write down on my form). What I did forget was to check for a pedal pulse. If you want to find a pedal pulse for yourself, check this out (from http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/extremities.htm).
- Whilst on the subject of exposing - remember to expose bilaterally. It was only en route that my paramedic reminded me to take the other shoe of, to be able to compare colour etc with the healthy foot.
The other two jobs were nothing special - a chest pain (getting good at these, but still not quite there yet) and a transfer from airport to hospital with a grumpy doc accompanying us.
Nightshift tonight...I wonder what awaits us?
