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Essential Equipment

26 comments

Peter Canning at Streetwatch: Notes of a Paramedic has been doing a regular series of the most essential meds in his drug box.

Not unusually, well over half of the drugs he carries never get used. That happens with quite a bit of the equipment we carry on our rigs. Reflective triangles, traction splints, bedpans, blood tubing… most of it gathers dust on the shelf.

But there are a couple of essential pieces of equipment that no EMT should ever be without, items so essential that many people consider them part of their wardrobe:

A wristwatch, and a pen.

And here is your fair notice: If you are an EMT student, and you show up for a shift on my truck and do not have a wristwatch with a second hand, and some sort of writing implement, I will summarily send your ass home to fetch them.

Just like I did this morning, in fact.

Way to start the morning, rookie. Your preceptor is monumentally unimpressed.

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Posted by on March 26, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized
  • Steve

    Oh but A-driver….they always gave the kiddos pencils and paper in grade school….I mean how dare you think that the youth of today should supply ANY ofthe equipment that they need for their jobs!!!!

    Steve

  • bobball

    Sadly, it seems like so many of these youngsters are of Douglas Adams' earth (yeah…I know they don't know who he is either…troglodites); where “digital watches still seem like a good idea”. Sigh.

  • maddmedic

    Thats good stuff…..Hmmmmim how did said partner plan on doing pulse checks, respirations? Or was he an EMT that planned on only driving? Have had a few of them over the years. They learned, or the walked..

  • emschick

    I've made rookies wear my bright purple ladies plastic wrist watch, that broke two of them of the habit of forgetting their watches.

  • Peter

    I'm confused; what's wrong with digital watches? If the essential element is needing to count seconds, my Timex does that just fine. (People who don't know how to tell time with an analog clock are a whole different problem.)

  • http://sixlettervariable.blogspot.com/ Christopher

    My $20 casio has a little window that fills up every 10 seconds, great for counting w/o looking at numbers.

  • HaydenW

    I agree, I've been a paramedic for 2 years, and I use a digital watch, it works well for me, and yes, I can read an analog watch, I just find my watch easier in the back of a rocking ambulance or helicopter.

  • http://www.theemtspot.com/ Steve Whitehead

    At some point I think it's helpful to make them wear a watch. And sometimes I think it's helpful to make them take it off. (Fast or slow; strong or weak; regular or irregular … move on)

  • Lou

    I'm a firm advocate of digital watches. Mine cost 10 dollars, is water/blood/bodily fluid proof, and I don't have to care if I scratch or damage it because 1)it only cost $10, and 2)it's as durable as heck. It counts seconds and I've never struggled to take pulses or count respirations with it despite its lack of second hand. I get frustrated when people try to tell me I'm incapable of using it and I should wear an analogue watch with a second hand because it's the only way to take a pulse accurately. Those watches are more expensive and less durable. thank you. </rant>

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  • Gerry N.

    I think I'd have the dipstick tyro purchase a cheap analog watch and a packet of pens at the next open convenience store, then put them in his kit as spares, after he'd gotten back from getting the ones he had at home. I'm a retired shipwright, and the name Ambulance Driver never gave me pause. Having had two rides in the EMS Van, I was delighted to find the driver both competent and caring. I could not possibly cared less if his, (In one case Her) title was “Meatwagon Mule Skinner”. All I wanted was for the blood to stop flowing and as quick a ride to the ER as was humanly possible. I wasn't even too concerned about the pain. Each time, the quick ride and competent second responder, I was first by wrapping the mashed parts in a filthy rag, care saved me from losing a useful, but not vital appendage. It is difficult to state the appreciation level for that. I've always been a bit thick on proper etiquette, but I hoped the boxes of donuts I took to the station helped.

    Gerry N.

  • James

    I have to admit, that after 20yrs in the military, i feel alittle underdressed without a pen. I have never gone without a watch for as long as i can remember! When I was in the military, not having a pen and paper was a good reason for your squad leader to tear you a new one! Had it happen to me adn I did it to my soldiers. And I do it to my EMT's when they “forget” the pen and watch.

  • Peri

    Watch, pen, paper, gait belt and stethoscope…those were drilled into us in my CNA class and the instructor would not allow us on the floor without them. If you forgot any of the five, your assignment was to clean bed pans and make beds…all. day. long. On the plus side, the one guy in my class got really good a making beds…

  • http://everydayemstips.com/ Greg Friese

    The other requirement for any student is a brown bag lunch. No assuming that we will have time or want to stop for food when the student gets hungry.

  • Ambulance_Driver

    Good point, Steve. Character of a pulse is just as important as the rate.

    Of course, you'd never know that if you got your heart rate via pulse oximeter, which apparently what this kid intended to do all day…

  • Ambulance_Driver

    Better to let him get his first meal break about 9 hours into the shift, Greg.

    I mean, that's what they'll encounter once they're out of school! ;)

  • curtorde

    Ahhh, and the benefit of a watch with a second hand is that it can be used as a compass if you're in the back country. Comes in handy after you have hiked 4-5 miles to get to you patient without a cross street sign as a locator :) . This is assuming someone is old enough and passed the basic navigation class as a scout. Cheers and happy hiking to the patient.

  • landlockedtxn

    AD, you said it…

    In nursing school, if we didn't have a watch with a second hand, our name badge (security reasons), and pen, we were sent home for the day. A lot of the young ones learned very quickly to be responsible.

    Keep up the good training!

  • rodmedicman1

    That was one thing I remember about Kelly being one of my preceptor's. If you showed up and had your watch on and a pen you started the shift off right. After that, well….he taught you everything you needed to know. Taking a long haul transfer cardiac patient kelly sitting in the captain's seat watching you watching the monitor and checking the patient's vitals every 15 minutes. That grin of his and a lil nod of his head meant that at least you were doing something right!!!

  • http://www.theemtspot.com/ Steve Whitehead

    Ouch.

  • 40lizard

    This is so funny! but oh so true! We have to have our paperwork folder, pen and ears(stethoscope) with us at all times- because our instructors do make suprise visits and obviously you don't want to go out on a clinical without those items anyway even though the babies do forget! LOL LOL hahahahahahah

  • Crazylegs

    In the UK we're not allowed wristwatches, we have to wear a fob watch – it's much easier to handwash beyond the wrists when you're not wearing a watch.

    Other than that – the only other 'essential' is a pair of nitrile gloves in your pocket (preferably multiple pairs).

  • http://notesfrommosquitohill.com mack505

    I switched to a carabiner (fob) watch years ago. I had been wearing a metal-banded wrist watch, and I started to notice what was collecting in the band. It wasn't pretty.

    But it does have a second hand, and I never work without it.

  • Geodkyt

    When I was an infantryman, I used to hang a watch from the left shoulder of my web gear, so I could glance down without moving my hands. Coincidentally, it also meant I didn't get that freaky skin crap some others did under their plastic watchbands after a week or so in the field in high temp, high humidty conditions.

    Since it was ALWAYS on my field set (as opposed to the pristine issue set I left in the locker for inspections), even if I forgot my regular watch (I don't feel dressed without a watch), I still had a timepiece.

  • fakingpatience

    Hi I have been reading your blog for a while, and just wanted to comment on this post because of a funny story that happened to me recently. I brought two watches with me by accident, wore one on my wrist and kept another in my bag. I lost the watch on my wrist transferring our first pt to the ER, so I thought, good thing I accidently put my extra watch in my bag today! I used my other watch for the next call, and then we had a call right after that, and when I went to get the pts pulse, I looked down at my wrist, and my watch had stopped working! We had one more back to back call after that, and I found out that my cell phone has a stop watch on it when all else fails :)

  • fakingpatience

    Hi I have been reading your blog for a while, and just wanted to comment on this post because of a funny story that happened to me recently. I brought two watches with me by accident, wore one on my wrist and kept another in my bag. I lost the watch on my wrist transferring our first pt to the ER, so I thought, good thing I accidently put my extra watch in my bag today! I used my other watch for the next call, and then we had a call right after that, and when I went to get the pts pulse, I looked down at my wrist, and my watch had stopped working! We had one more back to back call after that, and I found out that my cell phone has a stop watch on it when all else fails :)

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