We’re sent for hallucinations — a third party caller — a man’s daughter says her father is hallucinating and needs to go to the hospital. She says her mother is concerned. ** “We’ve been married 70 years,” the wife says in a deep cigarette voice. “Last night he says there’s a man in the shower….
Acknowledge. but Don’t Accept
A reader asked me to comment on the following article. Public Safety Personnel Work Through Danger Here is the most relevant passage: A few years ago, in a discussion among several of us who do critical incident stress debriefings, we talked about the difference between acknowledging and meekly accepting danger as part of one’s career. It wasn’t long…
Not a Bad Thing
Not a Bad Thing The state was here inspecting our ambulances. Everything was in order except all the pedi ET tubes in the airway kit were expired as were all the replacement pedi-tubes in the supply room. 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 – all expired. I didn’t even know tubes had expiration dates, but…
A Two Year Old’s Pain
Thirty percent of the calls in my town are patients over 80 years old. Lots of pneumonias, CVAs, COPD, hip fractures, etc. We rarely get kids. Started off the day with a 95-year-old who “went into a trance” and “fell out.” When we got there, there were people running toward the house in panic and…
Sick
Working sick. It happens all the time in EMS. Why? In EMS you get exposed to so much, its hard to make it through a winter without getting whacked by at least one bout that would put a salaried worker in bed with a thermometer in their mouth and a water bottle on their chest….
Arms
Nearly every day a stranger’s arm rests on my knee. I roll their sleeve up and strap a tourniquet around their arm just above the elbow. I usually have already eyeballed their hands for veins. Is this going to be an easy stick? Or am I going to work for it? While their arms rest…
Thank Yous
A number of months back I had a discussion about thanks or lack of thanks in EMS, after which I decided to keep a record of how many times I had a thank you said to me in a single day. My list only lasted a few days, but it was actually quite lengthy. It…
The Man Who Wouldn't Die (Part 2)
Here’s Part 1: The Man Who Wouldn’t Die Now Part 2: So I’m just sitting around thinking I’ve been doing nothing but routine EMS calls — lots of elderly flu, dehydration, falls, psychiatric, TIA type calls with nothing much to write about despite being so busy when the tones go off and we are sent…
State of the Union
10 calls today starting with two minutes after the moment I laid my head down after checking my gear. I’m on my fourth different crew of the day and I admit I am getting cranky. The goal is to reach a zen-like state where you can do each call 100% with full attention and senses…
A Tale of Two Codes
The Chain of Survival After finishing my paperwork I come out of the ER and sit in the front seat of the ambulance. My partner, who is in the back putting linen away, says, “About five minutes ago they sent an ambulance up to Pilson Way for a call where they are doing CPR.” “We should…
Why Can’t They Fix it
The suburban town where I work three days a week abuts the northern border of the city. It begins with a lower middle class black neighborhood, small one story homes tightly packed together. As you head north the houses get gradually bigger. On the mountain that lines the north and west of the town are…
Regional Meetings
On the second Tuesday of every month, I spend four hours at our regional educational standards and medical advisory meetings. I am not a meeting guy, but we have a good group of people and we get things accomplished, although as with any group sometimes it seems we are always rearguing the same issues. In…
Musings
It’s been very busy lately(five days in a row) — nothing exceptional, just the meat and potatoes of EMS — vomiting, hip fractures, asthma, hypoglycemics, lift assists, seizures, TIAs, MVAs. *** Some of our syringes have retracting needles. After you use them, you hit a button and the needle zips back into the syringe. I…
Helpless
A week ago I responded to a fall, a little eighty-year-old lady with failing balance, tripped and fell on the bedroom carpet. She was laying on her right side and couldn’t get up, she said. Her right arm was at an odd angle, but when I repositioned her arm, she had full range of motion….
Baby Medic – EMS Blog
I ran into a medic yesterday who tipped me off to a new EMS blog being written by an EMT/medic student who works for us. I have just read all the entries — it is excellent. So far it is about his ride time as a medic student, but I am hoping he continues it…
Bare Wrist
90-year-old man, unresponsive. The medical dispatch updates us, unresponsive, aides not certain if he is breathing. As I walk across the dark lawn in the rain I see in the picture window two large police officers lifting an old man out of a wheelchair and starting to lower him toward the floor. “The aide says…
Change
This week we had a training session to introduce us to the new CPAP machines we are getting, as well as to review intubation and surgical crichs. It all set me thinking about the changes I have seen since I became an EMT in 1989 and a paramedic in 1993. (I’m sure people who have…
Resolution
At the nursing home I get a quick report from the nurse (who is running the other way down the hall when we come in) which makes me think the difficulty breathing we have been called for is a patient with pneumonia or sepsis. The vitals she tells me are BP 83/34, Sats in the…
Vomiting
The three days I worked over Christmas, I did a lot of vomiting calls. Here’s a question: When you ask how many times have you vomitted, what are you really looking for? The number of times you have vomited or the number of vomitting episodes? I woke up yesterday not feeling too well. Soon in…
Christmas Eve: Fifteen on the Scale
It’s Christmas eve. We get called to one of the local nursing homes for rib pain. The room number sounds familiar. As we wheel our stretcher through the lobby, “Good King Wencelous” plays through the speakers. Gently shone the moon that night, thou the frost was cruel. When a poor man came in sight, gathering…