-> Relied on clinical observation, I guess. I am not saying that O2 sat
-> monitors are useless, but this fixation that some people have is
-> ridiculous.
 
Reminds me of the newby paramedic I worked with awhile back. We were
taking a patient from the hospital back to the nursing home. She was
unable to communicate 2ndary to old CVA, but she was awake and in no
acute distress. For some reason, the medic hooked up the monitor, and I
heard her say "Uh-oh" in that way when you are fixing to be told to
step it up to code 3.
I was driving, obviously, and asked her what was wrong. She said that
the patient showed to be in V-fib. Mind you, at this point in time I
had no training at all in EKGs, ACLS, etc., and all I knew what that
rhythm was not good.
But, I did ask her if all the leads were on good. She said she checked
and they were. 
I asked her if the pt. had a pulse and was breathing, she said the
patient did, and was still awake and didn't look bad.
I asked her if she thinks she ought to call medical control to ask for
advise, since I couldn't help her out. She did. She asked for the doc,
explained the situation, and after a few moments of silence, she ended
the call, and said out loud, "That doctor is an idiot."
Seems he doubted the EKGs accuracy, since the pt. had a pulse and was
apparently in no distress.
By that time, we arrived at the nursing home. She then called the
patient's doctor, and he said the same as the first one. Again, she
thought that doctor was an idiot.
Well, by this time, all I wanted was to get the patient out of my
truck, into the hands of a more experienced person, no offense to my
partner. As I was reaching for the monitor leads (EKG was showing Vfib
still), I noticed the white one wasn't even close to being attached. 
 
Anyways, to make a long story longer, definitely don't ever treat only
your machines. I could just see her defibbing this pt. Augh.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
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