Sirens and SMURD in Transylvania: The Final Post

Here are some random things I've learned or observed in Romania:

Everyone gets fluids - even if it's not indicated by our Aussie guidelines, no worries - give them prophylactically!
Up to 10 paramedic/SMURD staff at a single patient emergency scene is not uncommon.
Catheters are a decent replacement for torniquets
Sharps safety? Ain't nobody got time for that!
They don't have NPA's here, only OPA's and LMA's
Vacumats and "Metallica" (scoop stretcher) are hands down the most valuable pieces of equipment to a Romanian paramedic
People are generally rather surprised we've come all the way from Australia and 95% of initial responses is the exclamation "oh! you have kangaroos" accompanied by mimicing the skip. Hopefully we've shared something more and broadened their understanding and appreciation.
Jason and I got the record for highest and lowest blood pressures seen. One patient topped it at 254/180, if I recall correctly, and the lowest one was 42/34 or unreadable.
If a Hungarian speaking Romanian has upset you call them a "vossfay!" but be prepared for a very shocked reaction. "Fossicor"is a less offensive alternative
Romanian doctors have a practice of wearing dressing gowns if it's a colder day than usual. I never quite figured out why such a wardrobe item was acceptable as professional uniform haha.

SMURD by night

My favourite Romanian word is: cu placere = you're welcome. It's just so very satisfying to say. The only problem is that I'm always the one saying thankyou, not them, so I didn't get the chance to say it enough. James loved it too so sometimes I have a suspicion that his whole motivation for being polite such as holding the door of a restaurant open for us was so that we'd have to say 'Multsumesc' (thankyou) and he'd get to use the response!
My favourite Hungarian word is: "Agashigadre!" meaning cheers. In Romania, every enemy can be made a friend or every problem solved by sharing a drink with them! Wine and beer are abundant and affordable :) We have all established that Hungarian is the hardestlanguage in the world. I just found out that our friend Aushi is actualy "Orsi" - I'm so sorry, friend!! It's difficult enough to pronounce but to spell, virtually impossible!

Last sunset we saw in Turgu Mures

One thing I didn't anticipate but a big take-away from the trip was the 6 of us learning off each other: SA has the best student training & experience but the worst chance of a job, yanosh should start his own ECG teacher channel on youtube, VIC has the prettiest most colourful CPG's, and Perth interestingly gives you placement in the NT. Since all of us are at different levels of experience and course progression we learned heaps just by sharing stories.

To top it all off our last morning in Romania we looked out the window of Retro hostel and saw snow falling!! Our last goal of the trip is now ticked off :) Our last morning was also great becasue we were provided with a free breakfast of pancakes & banana, so Tori didn't have to eat bread and cheese for the 25th morning in a row! (P.S. this is a shoutout for Retro Hostel - I'm helping the guy there makes his pancakes world famous!)