APA

...or Alternative Paediatric Analgesia.
Following up on my earlier post, a couple of days we were called to a Kiddie who had got his finger stuck in a door. Screaming his head of when we arrived, he calmed down a little once I got down to his level and introduced myself and told him we're going to make his finger better. Distraction part one, we're getting there.
My colleague then begins to bandage his finger, after taping it up she draws a big smileyface on the tape hlding it together. "Show me your teeth!" Kid give us a big gappy grin, my collegue draws little teeth on the smiley.
"Stick you tongue out at me!" Kid is laughing by now, pokes his tongue out at us. Smileyface gets a big tongue drawn.


We're ready to go to hospital. En route our patients finger is only "a little sore", but he is in good spirits. To keep it that way, I make him a toy elephant out of a rubber glove, and let him draw eyes, mouth and hair. Kid makes trumpety noises and plays "charging elephant on an african savannah" in the back of our van. But the fun doesn't stop there: Hairy the elephant (I encouraged Kiddo to give the elephant a name) and Kiddo get dressed up in swine flu masks and safety glasses, dad takes a picture for old times sake.


By the time we're at hospital Kiddo is happy, has a new toy and a story to tell at school next year. And I didn't have to give any chemical pain relief :-)

Misunderstood?

Standing in a pub at my girlfriends Christmas Party, a waitress approaches our group and offers me some sausage, dripping with oil, wrapped in bacon, dripping in fat. I am torn between health and hunger, but the latter wins.

"Yum. May as well die a slow and painful death" I say.

 "Thank you." she replies.

I should have stuck a wooden pole through her heart.

Pity the fooled!

A recent shift. We started off with a full drug bag, and managed to nearly deplete all our pain relief.
Did everybody really need the pain relief? Pain is something very personal - so if someone seems like they are in pain, they will get some pain relief.
Did everybody really deserve the pain relief? Not my call to make. I'm not experienced enough to say for sure if someone is faking their pain, and I would rather give out a little more than not enough.

I will be interested to see my take on this issue in a couple of years time with more experience under my belt.

Still a little hazy...

We pull up with the ambulance outside the hospital, ready for a transfer out. Still not quite there yet, it's my second shift back from holidays.

I stare blankly at my colleague in the passenger seat beside me. I then turn to the windscreen and give it a good, long, hard, blank stare. I am thinking. What do I do now? 

Ah, that's right, get the stretcher. What a jolly good idea!

The day could continue...

Rettungsdienst Frankfurt

I started my career in Germany as a volunteer ambo. So, going back there it was a given that I'd pop in to say hi to a few colleagues - and then I even managed to get a nightshift with them!

Unfortunately the pics didn't turn out well, but above are a few so you can get an idea of the workspace of Paramedics in Frankfurt.

Things work quite differently over there. For one, they have emergency doctors in response cars. Paramedics aren't allowed to do as much as in Australia, UK, US etc. I am preparing a couple of more blog posts to follow, comparing the (West) Australian Ambulance Service to the service in London and Frankfurt.

Until then, I have a night shift to go to tonight. After two weeks in continental Europe, I may have forgotten on what side of the road we drive on over here, but not to worry: I can always switch on the flashing lights in case I get confused...

London in Pictures

London is colourful. "Wait!", you say, "surely not now, it's November!"

a) look at the cool bikes strewn all over the city:

b) look at the enormous amount of bright yellow ambulances decorating the city. And if you had a good look recently, you may have spotted yours truly

having a ball next to the amazing Lysa Walder

who is an

with the

Detailed report coming shortly...

Back!

Back from Holidays.

Back from Europe.

Back to Life

Back to Reality.

What a Pity.

- ~ -

Three weeks including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Heidelberg & Ruedesheim. Plus two ambulance shifts and constantly on the lookout for anything with flashing lights - it's hard to kick the habit.

Stay tunes for detailed reports.