Procedures


Airways

  • Neither the oropharyngeal nor the nasopharyngeal airway is considered intubation. They may be utilized as necessary for Do Not Intubate (DNI) patients.

Blood Glucose Monitoring

  • Check blood sugars during a significant neurological event. Any time a patient has had a change in responsiveness is a good opportunity to check blood sugars.
  • Each container of monitoring strips has an expiration date. Even with the correct strip code you may not get a correct reading if the strip is expired for use.
  • No more coded strips!

IV (intravenous)

The Laerdal Stifneck Select Adjustable Extrication Collar

Zoll Monitoring Defibrillators

  • If the Zolls will not monitor and/or gives false high readings, check the large defibrillation pads in the back pocket. If they face each other and/or are pressed together tightly the unit will not monitor. Take out and turn around or take the pressure off of them. Then the monitor should work.
  • If you monitor or defibrillate a patient it is always expected that a Summary Sheet printout will be included with the patient report. Not only might it be used as an example for training purposes but is a necessary part of the legal paperwork should a run be called into court. (Press Summary->Print Chart->Print All)
  • If the patient has salves or lotions on the trunk of their body, monitor or defibrillator pads may not stick even after trying to remove the salves or lotions with alcohol wipes. One solution we found is to liberally squeeze antiseptic hand gel (alcohol based) onto the area for the pad and then use a towel to wipe the area clean.
  • Problem: Faint image on the printout. Solution: Try changing the paper with a fresh pack. The printer is a thermal printer. It "burns" the image on to specially treated paper. The paper is ruined if it absorbs moisture or is subjected to high humidity for a period of time.
  • The instructions to set the defibrillator clocks may be found inside the inventory books for each rig.

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