I gotta agree with Lonestar on this one. Whats funny is Ive run into the same situation myself but whats funny is once the crews find out that I have previous experience in EMS theyve tended to be a little more professional with me. Ive seen them give other co-workers of mine crap over 911 calls but when they find out Im the one that made the decision that the patient needed to go out they change their tune which I find weird.. I mean yes I spent 8 yrs in the field before going into Nursing that shouldnt make a difference in the end to my estimation we all have our roles we fill in the medical chain of care be it emergency, acute, sub acute, etc.. I mean no offense but any medic questioning a nurse who knows her patients and whats normal and not with them and knowing whats an issue.. Besides I know at least in my facility we always have to get the OK from the MD on call to send them out unless its a blantant medical emergency (IE Code, Unresponsive Diabetic (after TX X1 with Glucagon if Low),) The Charge nurse during shift usually makes the decision if the MD cant be contacted in time (which is me when Im working).. Now I did come across a situation one night which I did actually have an issue with the EMS crew and I did file a complaint. Patient fell down found face down semi-responsive with a previous DX of a spinal fracture (non displaced and non surgical intervention within the previous 2 weeks just prior to arrival at our facility). I had the Aide stay with the patient and hold Cspine while I called MD and then 911 and then took over CSpine after doing quick assessment of the resident awaiting EMS arrival.. They did NO immobilization of the resident just literally picked him up on the sheet he was in. his head was nearly hanging off the end of the cot. Granted fortunately he had no furtther exacerbation of his previous injuries but given his HX and a confirmed Fx I was blown away by their field TX of this patient and even a couple of my coworkers were aghast at what they witnessed.. (BTW no Id never had had an encounter with this particular crew before). But EMS is run by the Hospital System in the jurisdication where i work so getting word back to their MC wasnt too hard.. I dont know the final outcome but I do know that their Supervisor did appologize to us and the family (his wife had been in the room when it happened) for what happened and said it was definitely a deviation from acceptable policy.
PS I got my start under the old EMT-A standards in the early to mid 90s when it wasnt just a med and trauma station along with CPR/AED and you had to actually do random skills up in Virginia which apparenlty they are finally going back to that thank goodness.. IN fact I look forward to moving back to VA next year and returning to doing some field work again once I finish my next step in my nursing career (and after I fully recover from upcoming back surgery which is why I walked orginally from EMS due to back injury and went into Nursing but has finally caught up with me again and now going ot get things fixed for good and probably will finally feel better then I Have for years {Very Bad DDD L4-L5 and L5-S1)