Live sticks and hockey players

I finished my intubation clinicals last week. While it was exciting to be in the OR and perform intubations, I'm glad to get it out of the way before Emergency Department clinicals begin in earnest next week. My ED rotations are scheduled for the Erie County Medical Center, which is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the area. Hopefully I'll be exposed to a wider variety of patients at ECMC than at one of the smaller hospitals. The Veterans' Administration medical center is another popular clinical location among paramedic students, so perhaps I will do future ED rotations there as well.

Before being allowed to sign up for ED clinicals, though, we each had to leap the "live stick" hurdle. After practicing starting IVs on the mannikins, we got to partner up and perform the skill on a real person. To the lab instructors' great disappointment, none of the patients passed out while having IVs started on them. Although I don't particularly relish being unnecessarily perforated, I apparently have "interstates" for veins (according to the lab instructors), which made my partner's task quite easy.

The ambulance company I work for provides EMS coverage to Buffalo's HSBC Arena, which is home to the Buffalo Sabres, among others. As a new hire, I had to go to the semiannual "Arena training," which took place on Monday. This half-day training combined an overview of Arena policies and procedures with a tour of the facility and drills on its various levels. The nosebleed section, for example, poses considerable difficulties for spinal immobilization, so we spent some time learning how to overcome those challenges.

Another unique environment is the surface of the ice itself. Backboarding a professional hockey player and getting him safely to the ambulance--with the color commentators critiquing your every move on national television--leaves zero margin for error. To motivate us, we were shown this clip, which is the #3 Youtube hit for "Mike Modano dropped by paramedics" (start at the 1:11 mark).

On the plus side, I took $3 off of the company's CEO at dollar-a-question sports trivia, including this question: If the Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, how many total World Series championships will they have won?

Game Six is tonight; GO YANKEES!!