'Start An I.V. With D5-W....'

God... that brings back memories. Emergency was the show that made me as a kid want to be a Firefighter. I did it too. 13 years as a Volunteer Firefighter and 12 years making a living as an EMT...


Brian
 
I loved that show!!! I wanted to be a paramedic, but in my area there were no such things at the time. Now, paramedics are called EMT's and they are pretty much everywhere. I heard that L.A. dumped their dedicated paramedic trucks years ago, now the EMT's respond in a fire apparatus.
 
Where did you get "D5-W?"

The ER doctor clearly stated "start a lidocaine drip and insert an esophogeal airway."

"Emergency" was one of my favorite shows. While working as a paramedic (one of the first in N.C.) in Raleigh, everyone on duty would gather in the break room and watch, hoping against hope that we'd not be dispatched while the show was on! :icon_lol:

BTW, paramedics and EMTs are not the same thing at all. Paramedics are much more highly trained, in many cases more highly qualified than even trauma nurses.
 
The line "start an I.V. with D5W" was a pretty common line used when Roy and Johnny were on scene with the victim. D5W is 5% dextrose in a water solution and is actually a pretty standard thing. The solution keeps the vein open for easy administration of other medications as well as providing hydration and keeping the blood sugar level reasonably high.
 
In the old days we didn't always have a "mfr mix" for a lidocaine drip, so we mixed our own in a "bottle" of D5W (before the handy bags of solution).

old navy corpsman
 
stansdds said:
The line "start an I.V. with D5W" was a pretty common line used when Roy and Johnny were on scene with the victim. D5W is 5% dextrose in a water solution and is actually a pretty standard thing. The solution keeps the vein open for easy administration of other medications as well as providing hydration and keeping the blood sugar level reasonably high.
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As a paramedic, I'm well aware of what D5W is, I was just curious because that was not in the video clip... I was taking the subject line literally... :bump:
 
stansdds said:
If you can find it on tv, watch a few episodes. They went through a lot of D5W.
Click to expand...

If you read my reply, you'll learn that I was a regular watcher of the show when it first aired. My fellow paramedics and I would gather in the break room to watch it together... :173go1:
 
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