Focus On: Left Ventricular Failure (LVF)

Well my blog is filled with tips on becoming a Student Paramedic and ramblings in my Diary. So I thought I'd try and add some more information for those currently studying or about to begin studying. Prompted by a recent job I attended, I thought we would take a look at Left Ventricular Failure (LVF). Read on to find out more!

Diary: Week 11

So the second week of my Hospital placement has been and gone. Week 2 went pretty much as week 1 did really, lots of fundamental care with some lovely patients. I'm writing this a week late due to starting my Ambulance shifts pretty much as soon as I finished my second week in the Hospital so expect two updates quite close together.

Read on to see what else I got upto.

Diary: Week 10

Week 10 brought my first week of Placement. Switching from predictable days in University to back to back 12 hour shifts was 'interesting' - especially when my housemates insisted in screaming the house down when they came back drunk at 2am in the middle of those shifts... twice. So for anyone reading who is due to start Uni - try and get housed with other Health Care Students!

Read on to find out how I got on...

Diary: Week 8

Week 8 flew by and I found it really enjoyable. Moving and Handling came to an end with a more practical application of skills orientated session, so getting people out of beds and chairs in a hurry (ie about to perform chest compressions on them because they were in Cardiac Arrest) and out of tight areas like toilet cubicles

Read on to find out what else I've been upto this week including attending Court!

Diary: Week 7

Well Week 7 has been and gone.

As Placement approaches the course content is stepping up a notch. I've had my Home Station given to me and my shifts (lots of lates!). This week we've been learning how to take baseline observations including BP, Blood Sugar (BM), Pulse, Resp Rate, Glasgow Coma Scale etc. and more moving and handling (manhandling eachother up and downstairs on different sorts of equipment was fun and knee destroying all at once!).

There has been of course A&P where we've moved onto the Lymphatic system and the obligatory Study Skills where we learnt how to look after ourselves with regards to the stress and pressure that Uni can sometimes bring with it.

Personally I've been using my free time to further develop my understanding of ECGs and I also found out that the back page of JRCALC has guidelines on how to treat people that have been Tasered and hit with a Baton Gun further leading to my belief that this book seems to have everything in it. With placement looming in just over a weeks time I'm now just really excited to getting out into practice and wondering what Week 8 will hold (a courtroom actually! - more next week on that one...).

My Student Paramedic Reading List

So you've got an offer, or you've just began your studies and you're wondering what books should be filling that space on your shelves/drawers/floor (depending on the organisation of the Student...). Most Uni's will give you a reading list, some won't, but some of the ones that do will have a list as long as your arm that will lead you to think they get royalties from some of the Publishers.

So, what I thought I'd share with you is the books that I'VE found useful, you can make your own minds up from there! Read on for a breakdown of what I've got on my shelf and what I use them for.

Great ECG Resource: Acadoodle

Just a quick one for those Student Paramedics out there that happen across this blog, I thought I'd point you towards this site 'Acadoodle' if you haven't seen it already. It's got some great videos on there for ECG Interpretation and for the fundamental Physiology for the elctroconductivity of the heart, very easy to understand if you're struggling to get it to sink in from text books you may be reading - link is below!!

http://www.acadoodle.com/