JaxSage

The agency I work for does something that very, very few places in this nation do: we could legally deny a patient transport to the hospital if we do not think it is necessary. I don't mean that we try to talk patients out of going to the hospital, but that we could flat-out refuse to take anyone. This agency is just over thirty years old and from my understanding it has always had the authority to refuse pt. transport. Personally, I think it just makes sense for all 911 EMS agencies to have this authority. We're made for emergencies only, not to baby people and kiss their booboo's EMS in general isn't a place that could offer sufficient coverage. People everywhere complain of a lack of ambulance coverage, EMT/medic shortages, long response times, etc., etc. The common solution offered seems to be to have more money to put out more ambulances. Probably would be a great solution if you had enough people interested in working for EMS. But as you know, there's a high turnover rate in EMS and not enough people are that interested in the field. So, if it were up to you and you had to solve the issue of lack of coverage, how would you solve it?

Okay, just admit it. How many patients have you had a crush on...or have even fallen in love with? And...how many of those patients did you wish were your wife/husband??? I know it seems like a silly question...but...

Saying that it's not my emergency may sound heartless and disrespectful, I'll agree. But ultimately it comes down to the fact that if we lose a patient who went into cardiac arrest despite our best efforts, we get to go home after we clock out and we leave the job at the ambulance once we leave. To be honest with you, while I'm with the patient, I pretty much have no emotional attachment to him or her. At that moment, I could care less whether or not we could bring this person back to life or save him. After the call, however, it hits me to the point that I start thinking about the family, calling my wife and telling her the news, and feeling sorry for the patient and his family. But while with the patient, his problem is not mine and that helps me to focus on my job and to do a good job calmly and efficiently. This is not to say that I have no respect for the patient and that I don't care to do my best for him, but overall, it's not my emergency. It's like sticking a person with a needle: it hurts him, not you I don't know if I agree that a degreed program better prepares a person than a tech school. I really think it depends on the school, the instructors, and the student. I believe that experience is the best thing to help us be more calm and controlled during any type of call despite with educational route you took. I agree that the "old-timers" are much less prone to spinning off the handle than the young pups who are fresh out of school. I think with the older veterans, they've, in a way, seen it all -- that is to say that they've done it over and over numerous times and that they realize that no matter how bad a call is, the same procedure would be done the same way. ABC's are always first

EMT Sheri, I work for Durham EMS in North Carolina, and it could get so busy that we often run out of ambulances. We do things pretty quickly here, especially in red-tag medical or trauma calls. However, for the most part (just like anywhere else), the calls we respond to are either bogus or not serious enough for us to "load and go." By the way, when I say that I joke around during bad calls, I don't mean to say that I become a stand-up comedian. For example, one night my first call was for a bad shooting and the dude was bleeding all over the place. It was the nastiest and bloodiest call I've been to. However, I told the fire fighter who was in the back with me and my partner, "What a way to start the night, huh," while I was smiling. I don't think it's so much of the education that makes us calm, though it helps a lot when you know exactly what you need to do. No matter what call you go on, ultimately everything would be done the same way. Everything is routine no matter what: ABC's, initial assessment, control life-threatening situations first, so on, so on. Besides, it's the patient's emergency, not mine, so why freak out I usually have a saying on the job: "It's all gravy, man."

I found this one in a gas station in Georgia: "When I do right, nobody remembers. When I do wrong, nobody forgets!"

Probably one of the worst things about EMS is having partners who get too tensed up during a call and start spinning all over the place. I'm probably one of the most laid back and relax guys in my agency, the type of guy who would still be joking during a trauma code. And I love to have partners who are also calm and controlled rather than tensed and crazy. What do you guys think?