For Students: 6 Second ECG Simulator

Just thought I'd share this quickly for those Student Paramedics out there that stumble across this.

A colleague first showed the 6 Second ECG Simulator to me and it's a good way to pass 10 minutes of your time every so often to see what your interpretations are like. Arguably there's more on here than we need to know - but you can never have enough knowledge!

I'd recommend going through the teaching sessions for the rhythms before having a go at the game, and certainly stay clear of this until you've read into ECGs or started them at Uni.

Reflection: Would you call 999 for Tonsillitis?

So I'm back out on the road working on the Rapid Response Vehicle (those Ambulance marked cars you see zipping around your local city).

We received a call - Green 2 for difficulty breathing, partial airway obstruction, ?tonsillitis. It was originally graded as a Green 4 call but as it's allotted 4 hour response time had elapsed it had upgraded to Green 2 and we were asked to attend - the call had originated from NHS 111. At this stage it's safe to say my mentor and I let out a little groan as we made our way to the address, talking through the options available to us for this type of call - our impression at this stage is that it really didn't warrant an emergency Ambulance response.

However, it wasn't quite what it seemed! Read on to find out what happened next and a humbling lesson learnt for me.

Focus On: The Great Paramedic Intubation Debate

So if you're studying to become a Paramedic, it's very likely that you've heard about the great debate whether we as a Profession should Intubate patients anymore. The following is a whistle stop tour of how all of this came about and some of the issues around it.

Read on to find out more...