Pocket Rockets

Since we recently got new uniforms, I thought it would be a good time to have a look at what we carry with us and on us during our shift.
This is not a new idea I must point out, check out these two older posts for the full history

Oh, and this is my contribution to The Handover, October 2010

- ~ -

My uniform, in its basic setup (no vest or jacket, no additional pouches) has 9 or 10 pockets (depending if I am wearing the jumpsuit or the two-piece).

Here is what I carry with me on a daily basis:

On arms: ball point pens: pens are awesome. You can write with them, you can reset calculators with them, you can use them for self defence if you're desperate. I usually carry in order to have a spare or two (a. hand to a relative t fill out some patient details whilst we are treating, b. in case they don't return it and I need a pen on my next job, and c. if my colleague forgets his…)
And a pupil light.

breast pockets: stay empty as of yet, I have found nothing to put in them. During the shift they get used to temporarily store stuff (med vials, patient details…all whilst moving the patient around so they don't get lost).

Waist/thigh pockets (you know, the ones you stick your hands in when its cold)
left: is the rubbish pocket. All on scene rubbish (as long as its clean and not sharp, e.g. plastic packaging) gets stuffed in that pocket, for disposal later at hospital or the depot. I don't like to leave the patient with rubbish if possible. All sharps go in the sharps bin, all dirty or wet things (alcowipes etc) go directly to a bin where possible)

right: If I come across coins for some reason or another, they go in here. I generally hate coins, and never start a day with them in my pocket.

cargo pockets
left: all my personal stuff: phone, wallet, house keys (and car keys if I happen to have driven to work that day). I am not trusting enough to leave them at the depot (although others blatantly leave their 1500$ laptop lying around…). Plus, you never know when you need them.

Right: Ambulance related stuff: Patient detail forms (hand to relatives to get some information), drugs protocol reminder card (adult and paeds dosages), what does this drug do card (the mini analogue version of Epocrates really), and a little green booklet with a few other ambulance related things).

In addition, I have my medium sized pouch clipped to my belt on the left, with 2-3 pairs of gloves, trauma shears, mini mag light, won-baker pain scale (only used twice in 18 months….should remember I have it there. When i used it it was really handy though).
Plus a permanent black marker (you never know, plus there was space left) and a whiteboard marker (write little notes on the window of your ambulance, e.g. a list of items to restock).

On my right belt side I have a mag light hoop thingy that will hold a 3 cell mag light (service issue). I always have a set of ambulance keys hooked to them, that then hang in my pocket (I can't stand hanging them from belt loops, they hang to high and rattle around, and make you look like and absolute try hard prick).

Anything else? I carry a few items in my kit bag, but nothing out of the ordinary (hi viz vest, cap with clip on LED lights, something to read in case we get ramped, spare pens).


What do you carry on you when at work?

The Handover - Wearing is Caring!

Here I am, trying to become more regular...you know, more fibre in your diet and...erm, I mean more bog blog posting...

So I've teamed up with the wonderful troupe down at The Handover for this months Handover...

*insert drumroll*

"WEARING IS CARING"

Tell us what you wear to work; your uniform, your gadgets, even trusty friends like Simon the Sturgeon (a colleagues stuffed fish who always rides on the dashboard).
Or Geoffrey.



So - write up a post, or start a blog if you need to (with blogger.com, wordpress.com or any other popular blogging platform) and send me the link of your post to me:

flobach at gmail dot com

Deadline is 30th of October, so get cracking and writing!

Here's my post, something to get started on (but by no means a guideline - get creative, people!).

Cheers in advance for you contributions, and a big hooray for the blokes who started and continue to look after the handover!

Wear art thou?

Back in the day...

Recently, our ambulance service treated us all to a uniform update.

The old uniforms had been around for over ten years, and were outdated in terms of style, functionality and visibility (that would mean that they were stylish and functional at one stage...no comment on that).


So we went from a 'dress' uniform (no, not wearing dresses) with dark green pleated pants and light mint green (horrible) pressed shirts to a more tactical style uniform - much better!


The benefits in my humble opinion

• the dark green/teal does not show up stains (although it does attract white hospital linen fluff)
• the uniform represents our workplace environment (less office, more outdoor)
• the breast pockets velcro open, no more fiddling with unbuttoning them and having everything fall out when bending over
• no more epaulettes, rank on breast patch and on back patch. No more stuff getting caught on your shoulders, no more fiddling them on new shirts; also makes for a cleaner look.
• name (left) and rank (right) on little velcro patches, no more stab wounds from those bloody name badges
• pen pouches on sleeves
• Cargo pants - big pockets with velcro for stowing heaps of stuff and accessing it easily.
• Reflective stripes on pants, reflective piping throughout uniform, relfective rank patch on back, reflective name and rank patch on front.
• much more rugged (it seems) material, with mesh underarms and mesh flap on back (great in 40+ degree Perth summers)
• Overall fit is much better, and looks nicer on staff (the old stuff was baggy where it shouldn't have been, and tight where it was inappropriate).

Oh, and the best? We get Jumpsuits….yeah baby! Love 'em!




What are your uniforms like? Have you recently changed or are you going to change?
Interested to hear about your rants, raves, preferences and improvements!

It's a Given

Inspired by Tazambo, and in relation to my earlier post, here is a list of standard service issued personal equipment, Head to Toe:

• Baseball Cap
• Akubra Style hat (Nobody wears it, impractical, but I have been challenged to wear it for a set of four!)
• Safety Glasses, both clear and tinted (with a band so you can hang 'em round yer neck)
• 6 Shirts, long or short sleeved
• a jumper
• a bomber jacket (warm and cuddly, but doesn't look very ambulancy)
• a hi-vis rain jacket (with removable insulation)
• a belt and buckle
• a MagLite belt holder
• 3 pairs of pants (no cargo, dress style pants unfortunately)
• 4 pairs of socks, thick or thin (100% cotton)
• Boots or shoes.

Personal Equipment:

• MagLite (I believe a 3 D-Cell big one)
• Mini MagLite (2 AA cutie torch)
• Bulbs and batteries if they need replacing
• Pens en masse

All in all, nothing to complain about. It's good stuff we get, the MagLites are awesome (both big and small), and if we need anything spare, we'll get it (although I have been told it may take a while...)

The only thing I would like to see introduced are some cargo pants. Two additional pockets would be excellent.

on me

Inspired by this post on Random Acts of Reality I will share with the world what I carry with me on the ambulance and in my uniform.
This will also be a good reference if one day I look back on this blog post and reminisce "cor blimey, that was me as a junior ambo just starting out, what a whacko :-) "

Starting from top to bottom:

• Cap: to be worn if it is a) sunny or b) my hair is pointing every which way and it just won't listen to it's master (me)
• White T-shirt: for those chilly nights (and winter days), worn under my
• Shirt: meticulously ironed, you could slice bread with the crease on the sleeves
• Left shirt pocket: contains two pens (how often do you give someone a pen...and then you're stuck with nothing) and patient detail forms - for relatives on scene to fill out addresses, phone numbers, medical history etc. Also my namebadge is attached.
• Right shirt pocket has my penlight (to check pupils for reaction and maybe nystagmus). I've also got a little drug wheel with our current drugs and doses. Then a little booklet with extra info (mass casualty help, burns rule of nines, drug indication and contraindications, paedoayric tips and apgar). Plus a little notebook.
• Jumper, to be worn if cold, has a pocket on the sleeve for one to two pens and maybe a penlight.
• Further down the line we've got my bellybutton, which always has a bit of fluff in it, just in case you need a bit of padding, or a pillow for you dear insect friend.
• Moving right along, my belt has a 3 compartment pouch, which houses a pair of trauma shears (excellent for cutting clothes and bandages). Next to it a mini maglight, a permanent marker and a whiteboard marker (writing things on the windscreen, like stock to be replaced in van, obscenities on other crews trucks...) and two pairs or disposable gloves.
• Right hip has a maglite belt loop for the big long maglight. Normally though I just clip the van keys to it (even if we are attending that day we have a set of van keys on us). Around that is a roll of micropore tape, always comes in handy.
• My right trouser pocket stays empty, my fingers are usually housed there when I am pretending to look cool. Actually, the van mobile phone lives there. And the van keys hang there - I hate dangling keys, it gives off the impression of "look at me I'm important".
• left trouser pocket is the rubbish bin, I hate to leave my scene untidy.
• left bum pocket houses my personal phone and my iPod touch (with an offline Wikipedia database - very handy!)
• right bum pocket has my wallet and my home keys, which are kept in place via a lanyard that loops around my belt.

Unfortunately we don't have cargo pants. Two extra pockets would be awesome, I'd rather have my bum pockets clear.

All this seems a lot, but I use it. Gotta be prepared.


In a next post I'll write what else I carry with me in the van.



What do you carry on you during work? Even if you don't work on an ambulance - I'd be thrilled to know!