JohnnyEMT

So let me know if I get this straight. You already had been to the residence earlier that night (an hour and a half earlier as you had stated) and had you obtained your SAMPLE history, you would have realized that he was a diabetic and realized that chances were his condition was probably associated with this even though he was A and O x 4/4. Is this something that you did? I know that with myself, my level can go below 2 mmoL (normal range is between 4 - 8) and I am still A and O x 4/4, and I present with a slight headache. Now, with this being said, you could have taken his BGL (blood glucose level) on the first call and seen if this was within his normal range and find out what meds he was on and the last time he had eaten. This would have helped you immensely on your second call with him. If you would have taken his BGL on the first call and realized that it was below his normal range, then you could have given him the oral glucose. Here, the EMT use D50W and can also hang a line of D5W to help prevent his sugar levels from spiking then falling below his normal range again.

I have done a few transfers with doctors in our unit (I was working with a basic life support services at the time) and the doctors were great when would come across an MVC on the way back. The doctors stepped aside and let us do our work, and we worked together as a team very well. This being said, I have also had doctors show up on the scene of an MVC and have had to deal with their swollen ego's as well as 2 critical patients. You can imagine my total shock when the doctor actually requested the the patient have x-rays done on scene :roll: The service that I now work with is an Advanced Life Support service, and we work very well with the doctors at the hospital. Up here there is a severe shortage of doctors (there is only 3 left in the community) so we are called to assist the hospital should they have a critical patient. I guess that there are pros and cons to having a doctor on the unit...but they have to realize that when they do step into out units they are out of their element and that we do things differently than they do. Can't see this happening up here.