The medical tent in an Ironman... (Page 5)

1). Too much hijacking.
2). I'm calling this the TT Tan.
3). NOT ENOUGH HELEN!

[Hijack clarification On] IM Moo.  Ironman Wisconsin/IMWI.  Moo refers to the all the cows in the dairy state.  Mooooooooooooo.   [/Hijack clarification Off]

How come no one pointed out taking medical supplies from the hospital is STEALING! Guess who pays for supplies that are stolen! Plus not a good idea to post that you do that... just saying....

Loved reading this thread...

Haven't been around much (husband thinks I spend too much time on the computer...) miss you all...

I worked IMFL medical tent in 2006 and again this past year 2009. Both times they were run completely different. I guess it depends on who is running the show. In 2006 it was soooo crowded and it seems like everyone who walked through the door got an IV. However beds were so full we had to start kicking people out of beds (at the peak times) if they were starting to feel better just to give someone else a cot. Also we were administering 1000 cc Saline bags to people walking walking in. This past year there was a different guy running the show. He set up a triage outside the tent to assess patients. Of coarse there are certain ways to assess degrees of hydration from weight changes to questions about how their input and output was during the race. We rated them with degree of what they needed. If they could walk talk and werent vomiting or didnt have significant weight changes we didnt give them an IV. We encouraged oral fluids and provided them. This tent was a lot less crowded this past year and if they did need IV fluids they were administered in 500cc bags till patient was able to hydrate on their own and then the IV was discontinued and they were provided oral hydration. One guy actually came in 17lbs less than his prerace weight. And obviously those athletes who were vomiting or nauseous got IVs. It was these type of racers who took priority and beds were available when we needed them right away. The medical tent seemed to go a lot smoother this way as compared to 2006. A big concern was that in 2006 we were using so much supplies that they started to get depleted tword the end of the race (IVs, clean blankets, broth, gatorade, ect). And it was the people coming in late who have been racing the longest who needed everything the most. I have no opinion here but that was just my objective observation. Hope this helped Aquagirl.

Also after an Ironman im sure everyone is dehydrated but to certain degrees. Everyone needs to hydrate of coarse one way or another post race